The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-16
All Signs Point To a Change
 of Government
NAPOLEON IS ACTIVE
He Is Highly, Respected and has Many Intimate Friends in Repub-
 lican Circles-GOssip of the French Capital
By GEORGE DUFRENsE

| the more Hrmly cOnVlnce1 one DecOlneS that France is on the eve of a new era. The change that prophecy is that before long France will have ceased to be a re- public. The people all over France are thoroughly disgusted with the muddle the various republican governments, follow
 ing one another in rapid succession, have made of the country's affairs.
 | We are cursed with greater amount of official red tape than any other country
 in the world, Russia not even excepted. The authorities are unable to command the respect of the people and one com munity after the other practically revots against the government. The laws of the republic are no longer respected. Young men by the thousand refuse to serve In | the army and are not punished for their disobedience. and during the last few months a fashion has grown up among discontented communities to organize strikes with a view to paralyzing the ma chinery of administrative government. The wine growers in the Aube refused to cary on local government and dared
 the tax collector to appear in their midst. The inhabitants of Cictat, near Marseilles, have taken leaf out of the book of the Aubois. The men employed by the Mes sagereS Maratime came out on strike. The shopkeepers closed their establish
 ments in sympathy with them and joined them in a procession through the streets. Three thousand people marched through the little town. At a given signal all the demand papers distributed by the tax col l lectors during the last few days were | collected, placed in a heap and burned. | This was the strikers way of showing | their defiance of all constituted authority. | Not content with burning the tax papers they conceived the idea of stopping all | railroad traffic. The strikes with their Ewives and children, bivoIacked on tho railroad, their idea being to prevent | train from starting. The police commis-s sary, a tactful man, finally prevailed
 upon the strikers to allow the train to move. While making this concession the | strikers do not intend to give up the struggle They mean to fight to the last ditch.
 l If things of this kind are allowed to go on unpunished nothing in the world can save France from the horrors of absolute anarchy and as the republican authorities | have lost their nerve and grip the way l seems open for Prince Victor Napoleon, who though he may have hope of the | is man who is generally respected, man whose patriotism Is undoubted and 1 who possesses enough money to push his plans forward with considerable energy. | It Is known that Princess Clementine, or Princess Napoleon, as she Is now, Is engaged in active propagation of her nus bands interests and that she Is receiv- | ing great encouragement ftom number of very influential republicans. It Is h AT Ilrto hiC friends are favoring a government that
 will place un homme de valeur at the head of government. A coup d'etat of I a peaceful kind, have reason to believe. | Is in contemplation, but what form 1t will
 take is at present impossible to guess.
 The continuous rise In the price of meat
 has opened the eyes of Parisians to the inevitable consequences of the protection ist regime Since the coming into force
 of the tariff law of 1902 the price of beef I In Paris has increased 4535 per cent thar of veal 40 per cent. and that of mutton p
 per cent. These figures were given at a great meeting held the other day by the Paris retail butchers.
 The president of the butchers syndicate, | M. Iefevre declared that the principal
 cause of the rise in prices is protectionist Legislation. Tn the first place exorbitant
 tariffs have been set up on imported cat tie and meat, and as though this was not enough, a number of restrictions have
 been placed on the importation of cattle, ostensibly for sanitary reasons. but really
 with a view to ensuring to the home breeders the monopoly of tho French meat market.
 /"These measures,' said M Lefevre, were voted in 1902 and their aim was the protection of the French breeder against foreign competition. The result, however, had been that our focks and herds, in
 stead of increasing have during the last few years decreased. It Is therefore nec-
 essary to abrogate the protectionist tar ifs which do not enrich the state. The meat trade is being ruined, and the work ling classes in the towns have to go with out an essential article of food"
 It was pointed out that the duties i'm
 posed by the tariff of 1902 amount to about ione-third of the value in the case of live
 stock. The duty on meat amounts to Q
 cents per pound. When the carriage and
 octroi duty are added to ths-I am citing M I,efevre's figures-beef or mutton i'm
 ported from abroad pays approximately
 Is cents per pound-a prohihitive sum. It
 Is not surprising that the meeting passed
 A resolution in favor of the abrogation or the ultra -protectionist tariff established in 1902. and of the total exemption from duty of live stock imported from French Icolonies.
 Il So many monuments have been erecte1
 in Paris during the last few years that the authorities now consider the time has
 arrived to impose restrictions. Instead of
 raising so many statues 1t is contended that space would be saved If commem- orative has-reliefs were placed beside tho names of boulevards and streets. It has also been suggested that in the interest
 of true art the municipal council should not give Its consent for a. monument to
 be erected until the model has been
 passed on by a technical committee.
 By way of avoiding premature glorifica- ton municipal councillor proposes tha, no monument should be raised until the person whose memory 1t is designed to perpetuate has been dead ten years.
 The famous Parisian apaches are astlr again. Three young men, who spent the
 night in carousing and picking quarrels lin a dozen different establishments, wound up their revel by murderng man Tn the street for the pleasure of the thing. | The young men, each of whom is about 20 years of age, proceeded from one bar room to another. In each case they made it point to pick quarrel with the other
 persons on the premises. For some time their fun was limited to taking up glasse.
 and hurling them over the counter I or fiinging bottles at tho heads fof the
 customers. Once or twice they had hand lto-hand fights with persons whom they disturbed, and as they were strong fel-
 lows they usually got the better of their l-.-