The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-05
FRENCH COMMUNE
 LOSES HISTORY Years Record Is Stolen From
 The Secretary NOW W0MEN'S WRONGS New Campaign for Women Is sug- gested by M. Debresso, French
 Writer on Educational
 Matters-Blind Meet.
NOW W0MEN'S WRONGS
BY GEORGE puEREsNo.

Paris, December 4.-(Speeial. )-There is a commune in France which has lost year of it's history. It is the commune of Divonne los Rains. A thief robbed it of a year of it's life. The theft occurred in this wise.
 NJ. Saunior, the mayors secretary, left his office on April F last with three books under his arm. They were the birth. death and marriage registers. and the secretary was taking them to Gex to be inspected by magistrate, as the law re- quires. I
 When he reached the station M Saul nior deposited his burden on a bench and proceeded to roll a cigarette. When he turned to his books they had disappeared They could not be found, and M. Saulnior was forced to the conclusion that they had been stolen, not because anything could be made out of them. but because some spiteful politician wanted to serve him bad turn.
 As matters stand this year 1908 Is a blank forsthe commune. The inhabitants are making an attempt to reconstitute the registers. Some 25o witnesses have been summoned before the court of GeX. They appear in patches and take their OdlI, uecldIl1lS a certain Ii1dT1ldSe, birth or death, occurred on such and such a date. It has not been a difficult mat ter to recall the births and deaths, but the witnesses are not quite clear about marriages. It seems that weddings are great events in that part of the country, and that those who. assist at the fetes enjoy themselves so much that they ex- perience difficulty in recalling dates.
 
 male suffrage, but womens wrongs of an acute kind which would require imme- diate relief. if means of redress could be found, are described by M. Debresse, a writer, who is well informed on educa- tional questions.
 His subject is ''The intellectual feminine proletariat'' who are, in his opinion far worse off than the women of the labor ing classes. Music mistresses. who have carried off first prizes in the Conserva- toire, an achievement which requires years of hard work from early childhood, besides innate talent and a hard struggle against competition, are often glad to give pianoforte lessons at pupils homes for 90 cents an hour. He mentions high ly competent women music teachers who commonly accept 10 cents an hour for lessons. Pianoforte classes at q a month are numerous.
 F1nally, many FiCllnlB OI the sweating system in the intellectual feminine proletariat are, he says, reduced to getting up tonis sofa classes at cents an hour per pupil, payable in ad- vance" At the rate of five wretched children for one hour they can make 15 cents per day, the initial charge for taximotor cab. They had much better turn cocheros, in the writer's conclu- sion.
 Few more pathetic sights can be in- agined than the strike meeting of blind men. It was held in a wine shop parlor. Some men who could half see acted as stewards and led their more afflicted mates in. The chairman, totally blind, was guided to his place. Nearly all the speakers were as sightless as he, and had to be led up to the platform and told where to stand to face the meeting They made fiery speeches, with excited faces turned toward the audience which they could not see and nine-tenths of which could not see them The instinct of the public meeting manner came out strongly, for almost every orator accompanied his words with dramatic gestures, which he knew must remain as invisible to nearly all his hearers as they were to himself.
 The rights or wrongs of the strike are not clear. The men are employed in a cnarlIdDl6 liStllutlOu Wuctc they iidhO brushes, having first been taught the handiwork in the establishment. They allege that the institution makes undue profits out of them, and flinders them from working by the piece for their own benefit at home.
 The managers deny the charge indig- nantly and describe the institution as purely charitable one. which employs men who otherwise would have to beg in the streets. A settlement of the dis pute Is expected and the pathetic strike 1t Is hoped, will be over by the end of this week.
 NJ MiIlerand, minister of public works, has created a tourist department as part of his ministry. The department, he says, cautiously, is not intended to furnish pretext for the multiplying of officials; in fact, it will simply consist of a director, two clerks and stenographer The ob- 1ect to be attained Is to facilitate visits and to invite foreign tourists to France. and especially to such parts of the coun- try as are exceptionally beautiful. but which are not frequented by strangers. l The real reason for this new departure, | however. seems to be rivalry with Switz- | erland The companions of William Tell I are credited with particular genius for | attracting hundreds of, thousands of for | eigners to their mountains and lakes, 1 and the Germans have done all they | could to g1orify. the beauties of the Rhine. l M. Millerand says that the scenery along | the Rhine-for instance. between Lyons | and Avignon--is as beautiful as any along