Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-02

Correspondence OF The Bee)-
A This Rhone valley is one of the
I&&Al richest parts of the French re-
49, public. Its products amount to
hundreds Of millions Of dollars a year, and
there is scarcely a family which has not a
hoard stored away in a wooden stocking un-
der the %rafters. 1t already buys many
American goods, but the field is not half
worked. Lyons, where | am writing, has
a population of 500, 900. 1t has excellent
stores, but they are filed with French,
English, German and Belgian goods, and
the chief American products to be seen are
California fruits, Chicago bacon, typewrit-
ers and sewing machines. And still the
American shoe would walk rapidly into the
hearts of the better classes, and our Ice
cream soda would soon make It's way into
the affections of the Lyonnese maidens. |
found American soda fountains doing a good
business in England. There are none in
Paris and only a few in Berlin and Ham
burg.
We should have a good trade here In
American drugs. We ship many to Eng
land, but none to speak of to France. The
French drugs are poor. They are made by
the natives OF diluted extracts and adul-
terated solids. You have to take doses the
size of horse powders to accomplish the
ueSlTeu result, ant IL h0ulNihNo Us 'N
are put up on the homeopathic plan. Our
consul at Lyons recently sent out for a
dozen two-grain quinine pills, representing
the word grain by the letters gr. The drug
gist interpreted this to mean gram, and
the result was that the dose taken was big
enough to kill an ordinary man. The qut-
nine was so weak, however, that II only
made a buzzing in the consuls ears. lie
complained to the druggist and tried 10
have him introduce American specialties,
but so far has only succeeded as to porous
p~lasters. The druggist says that hemica
products will not stand the voyage across
the Atlantic. and he intimated that the
French goods surpass the American.
There is one specially in the drug line
however, that the Frenchmen concede to
be worth imitation. This is the American
drink. You see the sign American bar"
over one or more saloons in every continen-
tai city. The principal hotels of Europe ad-
~vertise American drinks, and the genuine
American bars have plenty of custom. The
American cocktail makes the Frenchman
smile and he rises responsibility to the
Kentucky high ball"
The most of the bars, however, are
frauds. They keep no American liquors ana
the drinks are manipulated by French bar
tenders who cannot speak English. The
other day an American rumm dropped
into one for a drink and called out in loud
tones: Il want a glass of American
whisky"
"Comment?" said the waiter, with a puz-
zlcd look on his face.
Bring me a Manhattan cocktail" said
the drummer.
Comment"
And thereupon the drummer got angry
and cursed the Frenchman for putting up
an American sign, when he had no Ameri-
can drinks and could not even understand
the American language.
There is a real American bar in Lyons,
and II is the most fashionable drinking
place in the city. It was started by a New
Yorker, who thoroughly understood the
science OF making the insidious but de-
structive American cocktail, and who did
II so we'll that he has made a fortune out
OF the business.
And still l don't see why the French
should care for American liquors, when
they have the best and the cheapest wines
of the world. You can get good claret here
by the barrel for 4 cents a quart, and
champagne which is not at all bad for 20
cents a pint or 10 cents a glass. A fair
claret is served in the restaurants at IL