The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-29
PARIS MUST GO UNWAsHED.
WAsHEBWOMEN ARE ON A STRIKE
FOR HIGHER WAGES.

Now That the Crowds Have Begun
TO Arrive They Are Putting the
Screws ON the Laundrymen--HoteIs
and Restaurants Short on Clean
Linen-some OF the Foreign Build
ings CompIeted--Congre VIII
Prove an Interesting Feature.
Copyright 1900, by the Associated Prees.)
Paris, April 2s--A famine of clean linen
Is more disturbing to Parisians than the
incomplete condition Of the Exposition
grounds.
Eight thousand Paris washerwomen have
struck for higher wages and shorter
hours, and serious inconvenience has all
ready been caused. The hotel managers
and keepers of restaurants bitterly COM
plain that half their linen Is not returned
from the wash, and private families are
also feeling the pinch.
The strike commenced at Boulogne-sur-
Seine and spread TO several other environs
where laundries are situated. The laun-
dry work people around Paris number be-
tween 10000 and 10000 and If the strikers
succeed in securing their adhesion, the
mass OF Parisians will have to go un-
washed.
The fact that the influx of visitors to the
exposition has begun, necessitating heavy
demands on the laundries. gave the wash
erwomen opportunity to put screws on
their employers. The masters offered a
partial increase Of wages, but the strik-
ers thus far have refused to compromise.
No serious disorder has yet occurred.
but the police are taking precautions and
detachments of gendarmes have been
drafted to the districts where trouble Is
possible. There is some talk of the strilx-
ers marching into Paris to urge the city
| laundry people to cease worh--a sort of
Coxeys march of washerwomen on Paris.
A Serious Problem.
This ebulition of labor difficulties calls
attention TO the serious possibility of
| much graver distur Dances, arising from
the throwing on the labor market of
thousands of worl1men by the completion
| OF the exhibition, and OF the central por-
ton of the new Metropolitan Railway.
| These great undertakings attracted to
Paris great numbers of provincial car
| penters masons, painters and unskilled
laborers, and the problem the government
has now to face is the disposal of these
| through the country, In order to avoid
a great labor crisis I'm Paris, the conse-
quences of which IL would be difficult to
| ANA0ctSs lii0 itSt HltdSufC Ol lbe gov
ernment has been to post at all centers
of work placards enumerating undertake
ings iE the provinces directed by the niin-
istry Of public works.
Progress on the Exposition.
The fortnight's work on the exposition
since the opening has done much to bring
order out of the chaos which obtained
when President Loubet declared the ex-
position open. Perceptible progress is be-
! ING rnada daily and ri oh oap dp1
sufficient to repay them for the trouble of
visit. The galleries are filling up with
| the exhibits which are being rapidly in
stalled The foreign sections. in this re-
spect, are further advanced than Frances
own building and the American exhibits
are keeping well abreast of those of 9th
er countries. Most of the foreign national
| pavilions are now on the eve OF inaugura-
! ton, and several have already been opened.
| Bosnia and Hungary being the latest to
unclose their doors. Both of these offer
charming interiors and are characteristic
ally and artistically representative of
their respective countries
Two small fires within the exhibition
grounds have caused an outcry from the
| French and have brought home to the
administration the danger of a confagra-
| ton In view of the meagre facilities for
fighting fire, measures are now being
taken to remedy this situation.
An Instructive Feature.
| The side of the exposition which will
probably be productive of the most bene-
! fetal results to Humanity is the series of
congresses, embracing every branch of
human thought, which will be inaugurated
by the opening of the horticultural con-
gress on May II. At these congresses
America will be worthiy represented by
delegates, whose names form a brilliant
array OF men and women, renowned in
their respective branches OF thought.
The Oldest cafe i'm Paris, the Cafe Pro-
cope, which was founded in 1889 by Sicil-
ian, closed its doors this week. Among its
clients were Voltaire and Rousseau and
lIarat, Danton and Hebert, who used it
as a revolutionary club Napoleon was a
frequent client, and there Gambetu, Flo
quet and Ferry OTTER spoke against the
regime The cafe had fallen upon evil
days and was obliged to close. With its
disappearance vanishes a famous literary
and political landmark that attracted pill
grims from all countries