Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
RIBBON METROPOLIS
st. Etienne is the Center OF
the Industry.
CITY OF FACTORIES
FACTS ABOUT THE MINING IN
DUsTRY OF FRANCE.
Petroleum Bricks and Coal Dust
Briquettes-French Rail-
roads.
CITY OF FACTORIES
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence OF The Evening star.
Copyright, 1902, by Frank G. Carpenter9
ST. ETIENNE, France.
Have YOU ever heard of st. Etienne? 1t
is the ribbon town of the world. 1t makes
most of the trimmings for the hats ana
bonnets of Christendom, and there is hardiy
a weU-dressed woman who has not some OF
it's goods on her person. There are Two
hundred factories here which do nothing
else but weave ribbons, and there are thou
sands of looms upon which these French
men and women are weaving the brilliant
strips of silk in their homes. Four-fifths
of all the ribbon and silk braids made in
France and about half of all made in Eu-
rope come from here. We patronize St.
Etienne to the extent of almost s2,000,O0O
every year and it's total output of ribbon
annually sells for almost s2OOO0.0O0.
This is the Birmingham of France. 1t is
situated about three hours by rail south of
Lyons. on what might be called the roof OF
the country. The land is mountainous and
filed with beds of manufacturing coal
rode through tunnel after tunnel in coming
here from the silken metropolis, and am
now in a country which is not unlike
the Black Country of England. There
are Smokestacks everywhere. The air Is as
dark as that of Pittsburg, and the popula-
ton is largely made up of the working
classes.
St Etienne has $50, 900 people, mostly the
employees of the ribbon, gun and cutlery
works. Long lines Of coal carts are to be
seen moving this way and that along the
streets. SOoty-faced miners in caps and
blouses, go through them to and from their
work, and with them are pale-faced weav-
ers and jaunty factory girls who work only
on ribbons. At night the public squares are
filled with these working people; men and
a nd hoy NJ 0i a
fn-arm, the band plays, and the people sit
under the trees and chat
Street Scenes.
The street scenes here are different from
those of gay Paris. During the day all is
business. Men go along with great baskets
on their backs, and women are to be seen
pushing carts Of vegetables through the
streets selling their wares from door to door.
Much Of the retail business is done by ped
ding. Girls travel about with packs on
their backs and sell from house to house
as the peddler sometimes does in
America. Men push carts and some pull,
being harnessed up like beasts.
One of the queerest sights is the ribbon
porter. or the girl who carries boxes of rib
bons piled one on top of the other until they
reach high above her head. She carries the
boxes In her arms and can hardly see her
way for the bundle in front of her. She is
bareheaded and barearmed, and is almost
always good looking.
Then there are school boys and school
girls going along with bags of books on
their ba cks. The small children nave their
legs bare from the calves to the knees, and
the boys wear black gowns hiding their
trousers. There are old women in caps. ard
a multitude IF young women without them
The Ribbon Girl.
I like the looks of these ribbon girls. They
are gay and giddy and decidedly French
From the style of their clothes you would
not think they worked for only few cents
a day and put in ten or eleven hours &C
cording to the season. There are 10000 of
them who do nothing but weave ribbons.
One of the chief factors tells me that the
best of his workers come from the families
He says that the girls must be deft rather
than skillful, and that they must tie cold
hooded. If the maiden perspires her hands
are liable to stain the delicate ribbons.
This whole country is q beehive of house
industry. Outside the great ribbon factor
les there are thousands of looms upon
which the people weave ribbons in their
homes. Many are connected with the cleo
trio power plants of the city. a charge of
cents per loom per day being made for tie
current There are thousands of girls about
St Etienne who work in lace and other
thousands On the farms who make lace
when they cannot work in the fields. There
are also many men who manufacture cut