The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-09
TILES On IHE MARKET
ARE LIKE OTHER MERCHANDISE
IN FRANCE, WHERE MANY FAM
lilies E'NEED THE MONEY"
ALL GRADES OF N0BLENEss
Agencies in Paris Where One May
Become "a Count or Marquis
fer Proper Com
sideFatiOn.

The world may be getting more demo-
cratic all the time, but the demand for
patents of nobility is still 1ourishing,
and in certain European capitals a brisk
trade is still done in titles. You select
the grade of nobleness to which you de-
sire to be lifted, write a discreet letter
or answer one that has been discreetly
written to You, pull out your purse
and presto; you are q blu-blOod with the
and presto; you are blue-bood with the
best of them, and discover a lot of ami
able, brave and hi~h-strung ancestors of
whom you had not dreamed before In
1aris, for instance, the center Of this
modern commerce, there are a number
Of agencies to deal with, says a Paris
correspondent of the Chicago Record.
You are fortunate if they do not get
at you first. Nearly every tolerabiy
prominent member of the American
colony Ito be a prominent member
means to be able to pay rent of $50
a month for your hOme) is deiuged each
year with suggestions that such or SucA
an old family, titled and illustriOus is
in temporary need of money and would
like to sell its name and station for a
sufficient consideration. In nine cases
cut of ten the letters state the truth.
The OLD family does exist. Its name
may be found in '@Tout-Paris," the
Partisan bluebook; and certainly the
old family is in need of mOney-they all
are. The purchaser gets no property
with his title, and in some cases the
old family has been known to keep the
title after having sold it, merely recOg-
niZing the buyer as a relation and re-
ceiving him-generally her-in their
home and circle of friends Any num-
Der of modern 'Viscomtes" whose fathers
made fortune in Italian olives or Bal
,I,4 Do.
ian society in this way. The thing is
not found out for a long time-often not
at all-and if it does come to light so
much confusion and mutual recrimina-
ton result that things stand about even
at the end.
MUST NOT BE CLOSELY INVESTI-
GATED.
It is a fact that scarcely a score Of
French noble families created during the
present century can bear having their
records traced too keenly. Something is
sure to be ferreted out which makes them
the laughing stock of the bouleVaTds for a
day, before the next sensation comes up.
One Of thc most recent cases of the kind
was that of the "Viscomte' de Greuzet
who turned cut to be the natural child
OF Partisan washerwoman, who had
been a miser and had saved enough
money to enable her son to buy the title
of one of her former patrons. He owed
his tailor so much that the later exposed
him in sheer revenge, having learned the
story from the ''viscomte' in fit of con-
f1denGe
Some Of the buyers of titles are Ameri-
cans. In office of United States Con-
sul-General Gowdy one can often meet a
''marQuise,' a 'viscomtesse" or ba
rome" ard converse with them in Eng
lish curiOuSly free from accent Not that
the consul has a penchant for the nobiI-
ity. On the contrary, he is a true demo-
crat in the literal sense Of the word. But
the transplanted American nobles are
glad to know if any new positions have
been created in the Paris consulate, and
have that at least in common with the
untitled among the colony in Paris. Some
of them are doing" journalism. One of
the most successful acts as a ladies'
guide to the dressmaking district Of
Paris. Still another Though her little was
got from the pCpe) is a lady of leisure,
and guides young American ladies
through the intricacies of the borderland
of the Faubourg set. The husband of
is lady-the Marquise de W.-does not
re the tile, but is simply a quiet bust
ness man in New York, who seldom goes
BROAD. and never heard of the protocol.
lis spouse ii must be confessed, looks
more like the real thing than many
genuine ''gIande dame" whose title came
from Attila or the Visigoths.
REFUSED BY GROCER.
The paeal titles are just as fimsy as
those that are purchased though no
body with one of them respects the bar
gain counter mobiles as worthy of re-
spect Paris is fairly flooded with papal
narquises and countesses. Felix Potin,
the Wholesale grocer, is the only person
on record who refused a papal patent
in that part Of the world. He sent sew
eral car loads of provisions down to a
stricken village in Calabria few years
ago and put it down to profit and loss.
But his reward came in the form of a
patent of nobility as "Comte- de Potini."
The brave man, in the face doubtless,
of lis wife and daughters would have
none of it. He had not labOred all those
years and built up the best business of
the kind in France, il not in all Europe,
only to be leveled with title at last
to the grade of those who inhabit the
side streets of the handsome old st. Ger
main quarter across the Seine. The story
is told of the erratic Whistler, that when
the Munich art jury sent him q third
class medal a few years ago he returned
1t with his ''thirq-class thanks" Potir
was too simple for elasticity, but he sent
the honor back to the vatican with the
fere with his business legend which
was a more naive rebuff than the paint
er's famous rejoinder.
NOT OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED.
And all these would-be mobiles get less
Of a run for their money in France than
they would anywhere else. The French
government does not officially recognize
titles and when, for example, the COmte
Boni Alexander Pierre Rene de Castel-
lane, husband of Anna Gould, gets his
tax notice from the marie it reads simply
Boni Casteliane So with the rest OF
Them, even to the Due de Charles. Some
OF the old nobility of the land make a
pretense Of a fine democracy by signing
simple unembroidered names to the end
Of newspaper articles-nearly all of them
have a trade, profession or some oc-
cupation these days. But if Figaro omits
their titles in its we'll known column Of
Gle Monde ct la Vile" nobody is more
crestfallen than they. Figaros society
editor has even received protests from
some of the injured mobiles, Henri di
Orleans, among others, who thought that
leaving out his title of prince consti-
tuted an affront. Anyway, it seems now
to be clearly understood in Paris that
when any of the Jeunesse Royaliste seek
the votes of the proletariat or talk chau-
whistle doctrine, the handles are left
off their names; but when they retire
to that exclusive heaven in the Bots de
BouIogne. where polo reigns supreme
they have entered another world and call
UP again the old regime around them.