The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-28

| ican grocer and several large American | jewelry stores. Among the queerest or | the latter are those which sell paste dia- | monds and gold filled American watches. They advertise the fact that their clocks | all speak English and call their jewels | real American diamonds. The so-cailed | diamonds are today the most brilliant | things shown on the boulevards. There | is one company which has four or five | shops filled with brilliants and paste set | in every possible way. It has the same price for every article in it's shop win dows whether the stone be as big as | the head of a pin or the size of a wal | nut. The price is francs, or $l.6O. The goods are displayed under electric lights. and a crowd of French men and women gathers about the shops every evening. As far as I can see the stones look as | brilliant as the real diamonds. costing thousands and tens of thousands of francs, which are shown in other jew elry stores near by, and the jewellers tell me that only experts can tell the dif- ference.
 Cost of Living in Paris. I have received a number of letters | from Americans asking questions about the cost of the different methods of liv- ing in Paris. It is just about the same here as in other parts of the world. You can live for little or you can pay as much as you like. The hotels are rather expensive, but there are a great number of pensions or boarding houses where for a dollar a day and upward you can have a furnished room and all your meals. You shodld get 0 good one for about ten francs. You can also rent room without board for from 30 to 50 francs a month, service included, and there are restaurants everywhere that will furnish you meals.
 Nearly every family in Paris lives in a fiat. It is uncommon for man to have a house to himself. and when so the house is called an hotel. Rents are so high that only the rich can afford so much style. Paris is city of stores and apartment houses. The stores are on the ground floor and the apartments above The latter range in size from two rooms upward, and vary in price from a few francs up to thousands of francs per month. All apartments are usually taken for year, the payments being made quarterly, either on the Sth or 18th of each month. If you leave you must give notice for some time before hand.
 Flats are rented both furnished and unfurnished. Those who wish to rent un- furnished flats can hire their furniture for so much a month. The furnished flats are of course the higher, and one must be careful in making his contract for them. It is very important to have carefully attested list of the furniture and it's condition, or at the close you will be charged for more than you had, and old breaks will have to be rem s-l died by cash or by new furniture. In many places the landlord will de- mand that you pay your rent before go- ing in, and you will be asked for six months rent m advance. At the end of the first three months they will come down upon you for an additional three months rent, so that your rent will be kept about six months in advance all the time. ""% 5a%
 Foreigners Must Pay Taxes.
 Shortly after taking a house or fiat in Paris the American is called upon by the tax collector. The authorities here assess taxes not on what you have, but on what you appear to have. If you live in a certain style you are taxed propor- tionately, and the criterion Is your rent. The tax ranges from Il to IA per cent. of this amount, so that if you pay $500 year rent you will have to pay about $55 year in taxes.
 This Is common in all parts of Paris not only With those who rent houses, but those who rent business establishments The per centage of tax increases with the amount of rent paid, so that the man who pays a thousand dollars a month rent is assessed much more proportion ately than the man who pays one hun dred dollars per month. The amount of business a man does makes no difference. The authorities say that if he pays certain amount of rent he should do a certain amount of business, and If he does not 1t is his own fault and not theirs. The very poor pay almost no taxes whatever.
 Big Fees for the Concierge.
 The thing that grinds the American most is the fees These are connected with all stablisbments~and they have to be paid. If you live in a fiat you must fee the janitor or janitress known as the concierge. In an unfurnished apartment 1t is customary to pay about 1 per cent of the rental to this party on taking possession and signing the lease, and he will expect other fees from time to time. and a cash present on ev- cry New Year day. For these fees you get your front door opened at night your letters taken care of if you are away, and the public hall and staircase of your flat building swept. If you don't pay the fees you can be made very uncom- forta ble.