The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-08
WRITER EXPLAINS
 HIGH FOOD RIOTS Want High Wages, But Not
 High Food COOPERATIVE SHOPS Germany Has Panacea for High Cost of Living-Comtesse De Brazza Has Good Reason for
 Her Protests
COOPERATIVE SHOPS
Nv GEORGE DUFREsNE

didly written article in a Paris paper, M
 Jules Clarete gives his idea of the causes underlying the dear food agitation which has brought police and gendarmes into the Paris markets as a protection to saleswomen. The workman thinks 1t quite natural, says the litterateur, that
 his wages should be increased and his hours shortened; but he resents it when the peasant raises the prices of his dairy produce and charges more for his eggs and butter because the sun has burnt up his pastures and rendered COW keeping difficult. The workman resolves the eco- homie question by making an omelette of the eggs with his feet
 The real secret is the desire to raise the standard of life, which has permeated the masses in France. The automobile has given an appetite for luxury to all the world. Everyone must have his an- nual vacation by the sea or in the moun- tains, and these things have to be paid for. Excursions were formerly the eX- ception; now they are the rule. An in1- portant Paris butcher remarks that no one will now accept portions of meat of the second or third quality. though formerly the poor were content with them. Everyone demands the best; he must have filIet. q wonder how persons of limited means manage to make ends meet" declares the tradesmen.
 This is the difficulty; they do not make them meet; hence, the riots and the dis content. Ut is astonishing how little a man requires to live" remarked Ma poleon. in eating a crust of bread after the battle But that battle was Waterloo he had reason to limit his requirements and, again, he could reflect on his past experiences. He had had his good time. But the French peasant no longer re- signs himself to the crust of bread and bunch of grapes; the placing of meat on the table is no longer a gastronomic sol- emnity, but a daily occurrence.
 A little incident which happened in Paris side street the other day shows how utterly mistaken are the German and English papers, that have spread the
 idea that party strife and socialism have killed patriotism in France. A mob of disorderly persons had tried to invade provision and fruit market and strong body of cuirasSiers were busy applying cold steel to hot heads. Suddenly camelot selling newspapers cried some thing liks Germans insult the tricolor. Sensational story. Immediately the mob raised the cry: Down with Germany, To- the frontierl" and cheered the sol- diers they had just been fighting with stones and bottles.
 Unconsciously Herr von Kiderlen- Waechter has performed an immense service to France. If in the midst of
 an angry demonstration the people can | think of the national honor you may | be sure that in their calmer moments they are intently resolved on upholding French rights against German pretentions.
 Never of recent years has France given such an example of union as at the present moment From north, south, east and west comes the same note of sturdy patriotism. The refusal to bow the knee to German baal The common danger and the provocative attitude of the hypotheti- cal enemy have awakened the national sentiment as nothing else could do Nor is there breath of militarism even in the most advanced quarters. Perhaps the danger is Chauvinism. France may be tempted to commit some indiscretion which would give the eastern neighbor the chance he apparently seeks.