The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-01-07
NOW PEDDLERs IN FRANCE.
With Little Motor Trucks Girls Make
Rounds Of Ruined Villages.

All through the war American women
have proved that they could express their
sympathy and identity Of interest with
| the allies in deeds better than in words.
Their latest achievement in France is the
revival of the ancient industry of peddling,
according to a report sent to the depart
| ment of labor. Instead of a two-wheeled
| cart, a Ford car makes the rounds and
girls have superseded the men who long
ago haggled over sou.
When all the railroad tracks were
wrecked and the roads were impossible
for ordinary trucks, the women of the
American Committee for Devastated
France thought Of the old-fashioned meth
cd OF carrying supplies about the country
So they devised the modernized peddhng
system.
| Wherever the highways or countryside
admits of the passage of vehicle, there
the little travelling shops may be seen max
ing regular trips to the almost inaccessl-
BILE habitations. The cars are driven by
volunteer American chauffeuses and the
the supplies are disposed of by volunteer
| American saleswomen From dawn to
long after dark each saleswoman is kept
busy with her scales for weighing flour.
her. cash-box and her price-list Fifty
villages week are covered by these trav-
cling shops.
In the ruins of what were once houses
and now are only cellars the people OF
snorthern France, who have a little money
to spend for the necessaries of life, are no
better off than the poorest inhabitants,
for there is nothing to buy.
The travelling shops gradually learned
exactly what sort of stocks to provide
Beginning with an assortment of groceries
other things were added, 50 that now, in
addition to rice, coffee, lard, cocoa, canned
| meats, condensed milk and other edibles
blankets, sheets, pots and tin plates
knives. lamps and brooms are carried In
asmuch as in certain sections there is not
store for miles around, paper of pin;
and a cake of soap are Injuries as vel
, as necessaries.
Entering ruined town tue chauffeust
blows three blasts on her whistle. Tb,
saleswoman gets her goods out for dis
play and then from shell holes, from be
! hind broken walls and from beneath i'm
, provised shelters persons of all ages hurrl
forth to get what they can
Those who can pay are asked one thir,
Of the original cost of each article Thos
: who cannot pay are given what the.
need Many take their supplies and pa.
|, IA little at a time They prefer to be, a
far az possible. selfsustaining. and tn
committee encourages this attitude in OF
!. der to sustain self-respect and to avoi
y making paupers of the unfortunate vic
!, y Tins of the war.
= Regardless OF what the weather may bt
: the peddlers start out on their rounds. o.
ten heavy roads or accidents detain then
: and it is late when they finally return I
Il their starting point. the base of supplies
n When darkness settles down on winter
afternoon. the chauffeuse has a Difficult
c. task to drive over the uncertain roads Til
I. one light inside each little travelling true
= is beacon of hope to hundreds. No ma
II ter what happens. the American peddlel
lei must not disappoint the waiting familie
), To fail to bring rice OF condensed mil
Al might mean the loss of a child's life, fc
= all depend on the meager amounts di
\ tributed by the American committee.
II With all the occupied territory eyae,
I'd ated there must be more workers. MOI
i. trucks and more food Household artcl,
and clothing viii be needed. Until &c
many pays indemnity these people return
ing o their home sites must be helpe
They must be fed and given employment
This is the work that has been going q
4 since May, 1917 and it will eontinl
until the French government announc
that no more help is needed