Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-04
OUR INVASION OF PARIS
French Capital as Affected by
American Goods.
SEEN IN THE STORES
MANUFACTURED ARTICLES AND
PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL.
Rapidly Growing in Favor With the
French People-Enterprisin
Business Houses.
Copyright. 1902, by Frank G. Carpenter)

week in the footsteps of the American in
vasion. They are as plainly marked as the
footprints which Robinson Crusoe found on
the sand of his desert island. The big hotel
in the heart of the boulevardes where
am writing, is filled with Americans, and
| am surrounded by American signs. Our
consul general has his offices just over the
way with the American flag flying from
mole out of one of the windows; Spaulding
the Chicago jeweer is just below, and Tiff
fany e Co are on the opposite side of the
street In the same direction 7 see the sign
of the F,auitatIe Life Insurance Company,
which has Gently bought lot under the
shadow of the opera house, where II *
reefs TO build an American building, ana
around the CO, ne is the office Of the Amsri-
can Express Company, with reading rooms
containing the leading American paper
There are American newspaper corresponds
erts scattered throughout tie puildlnSs
nearby, and within stone thFo"
here are a score Ct our nanufactrr rs ana
others who are here pushing American
goods I am debating this letter to an
American machine at which It's p'etty
French typewriter girl who writes EnsHsn
and We're I fond of American INKS.
might stimulate my tongue with Jlgger or
Kentucky whisky at the American par IN
this very hotel.
American mdCu1ueS d GSlllS'
Speaking of typewrters. all of the chief
American makes are being sold throughout
France and the French typewriter girl is
already an institution of Paris. she is as
bright as, her American sister and is often
as pretty and more stylishly dressed She
appreciates how to charge for her work
and when she catches a wandering Ameri-
can she makes him pay well. The usual
rates for transient work of this KIND IN
Paris is five francs or 81 per hoGr: FOR
long Jobs there is a considerable reduction
and for steady work the prices are ABOUT
the same as at home. the Remingtons
have A typewriting school which they ad-
vertise as Eco.e de Stenograph-e ana tne.r
machines are here called Machines Ecrire
The Smith Premier, the 1ost the Calsraph-
the Rar-Iock the Oliver, the Densmore.
the Jewett and the Williams are American
machines which I have seen and most OF
these have offices on the bouleVardes In
the same locality may be found the toium-
bia monographs and graphophOnes offered
for sale or talking or singing in French at
fixed prices.
There are five different brands of Amer
can bicycles for sale in one shop near the
Madeleine ard American sewing machines
are advertised on the kiosks and other
stands throughout the city. The Frencn
have no typewriters OF their own worth
mentioning. and at ,nis writing the Ameri-
can sewing machine is considered by tar
the best and it gets the trade
The French Eat American Groceries.
Our American foods are slowly but surely
pushing their way into the markets of
Paris Not few of the largest grocery
establishments advertise American goods
and some of them make such goods q spe-
cialty l visited today the grocery of Felix
Potin at the junction of the BouieVarde5
Haussman and Malesherbes Il is the great
est establishment OF the kind in Paris and
perhaps the finest grocery of the world. ]
found the windows piled high with Ameri-
can goods. and placards hung up here and
there advertising American soups. CaIltor-
MIA fruits and other .delicacies Among the
curious thircs we've Little Neck CLAIMS in
tins and Goldfish balls from Boston. Their
were also tins of DOtted ham. tongue, tur-
key and chicken silver spray succotash and
cans of corn on the cob Among the soups
were oxtail. mock turtle hare soup and
clam chowder. each of which sells for 2S
cents per can. green turtle and terrapin
snuDs a. 40 cents per can and mu.ligataw-
rey and others at lower rates. ] talked
with the manager. He saws that American
goods are steadily increasing in popularity
and that they are making their way among
tho French.
I heard the Same from another grocer
! close to the Place Vendome, in the heart of
! the Rue de IN Paix where the leading
French dressmakers are situated. This man
is handling American cereals American
WHISTLES. crackers and biscuits from New
! York. as well as the various goods ] saw
at Potin's
Even the Groceries Are Artistic.
! At all the grocery stores our goods are
well displayed. The French are the most
! artistic of all window dressers and they
can give us many points on preparing mer-
! chandise that it will catch the custom
/ ers' eye. l spent some time looking over
| the fruits. vegetables and meats at Potin's.
] h. ytyr x,l01.
each strawberry lying half wrapped in a
! green leaf and in regular rows in Nat boxes.
| The boxes appear to be covered with glass.
and the strawberries are prettier than any
! fruit you have ever seen. They are big
/ as hens eggs and as rosy as the cheek Of a
| freshly washed baby. The covering of the
! boxes is a thin film of hard gelatine as
| transparent glass.
Then there were peaches in boxes laid In
| the same regular order on white paper,
with a pinch of red tissue paper tucked in
each hole where four peaches touched The
effect was beautiful. Other peaches, eSpe-
| cially fine were displayed on beds of white
| cotton, and l noticed that the price of eight
| of these was ~ francs, or almost 20 cents
| each.
| The chicken and game were dressed with
| their heads turned under their wings. They
| were laid on their breasts on the counter
| and a little printed price mark was placed
| Each cut of meat was beautifully wrapped
! or tied up and each bore its price mark.
Our Goods in the Department Stores.
| find American goods for sale in the de-
! partment stores of Paris. There are sew
| eral such establishments here and some
| quite as large DIS any in the United States.
| Indeed l doubt whether there is a de-
| partment store In America larger than
| either the Bon Marche or the Louvre. The
| Bon Marche has five floors and a base
, ment, each of which covers acre, sc
| that it has about six acres OF floor space.
| 1t employs 1000 clerks and does a bust
| ness running high into the tens Of mil
! lions of dollars per year. 1t was founded
| by the of halter named Boucicault
| about fifty years ago, who began in a
small way, but who gradually built up
| the business into one of the greatest of
| Paris
peculiar thing about the Bon Marche
| Is that 1t is managed on the cooperative
| principle. Boucicault married common
working girl, and after he died his wife
| took the business. When she died she made
will leaving 1t to her employees and as
| sistants, so that the establishment now
| has about 500 stockholders, and every clerk
gets some percentage over the amount
| paid him for wages In 1880 the shares
| In the company were worth about 1000,
the same shares are now worth over $50, 900,
and pay annual dividends of 5000.
A Store That Feeds It's Clerks.
| ~.