New Britain herald., 1929-11-01
FRENCH DISTURBED
 BY AMERICAN BARS
Many Households Adopt Fad "SlOW Suicide" Is Predicted

Paris, Nov, 1. (UP)-French lead CTS and educators are deeply dis turbed over the incursions made in French homes by the newest fad -. the household bar.
 In recent years France has sub mitted to many Americanisms. Frenchmen are smoking American cigarettes, despite the high duty on foreign tobacco: American au- tomobiles are rolling about in in creasing number; advertising, sales manship, high speed real estate de- velopment; American plumbing, outdoor sign boards, housetop cleo tric signs, wearing apparel. sporting activities, and even language have an American touch. And Frenchmen arc beginning to get. bit appre- hensive, even resentful at this American invasion.
 The most insidious propaganda, they claim, is through the inaugura- tion in Paris of the American bar and the American drinks. The old fashioned aperitif hour. when every one sat leisure on cafe terraces and dallied over French vermouth or even absinthe, is now giving away to the cocktail hour. Frenchmen are drinking these tough American drinks and liking them, and that's why the opinions of doctors and philosophers and influential people are being aired in the French press on the subject of probable decline of French tradition.
 Charge of "Snobbism'
 They claim that a certain "snob- bism" has gripped the youth of France and that no selside resort is now complete without It's Amer lean bar, it's white boated barman shaking freezing drinks. and it's roses, and side cars and gin fizzes and Martinis. And no country road, likewise is complete with out it's automobile parties, which are really cocktail parties, and no weekend gathering is possible NitiOut thc iloluiouS SlukeT, anu the more insidious gin concoc- tions, which corrode the veins and dull the brains of the youth.
 pr. Georges Guillain, a noted nerve specialist, insists that cock tails are definitely undermining the health of those who drink them. The Household bar is a new kind of bolshevism which has deserted the working classes and now sits on the hearths of the wealthy. The new rich and com fort loving generations Is commit ting slow suicide" says Dr. Gull lain. Tt marks the end Of our five o'clock teas, of the salons, of lectures and bright conservations, in word, 1t is the end of beau tiful manners, and of our culture"
 De Fouquieres' Opinion
 Andre de Fouquieres, often termed the best dressed Parisian and dictator of French manners be- lieves that the cocktail craze will pass like other fads. Fouquieres says, the American bar mlcrobe after all has attacked only a minority. It appears in the young people first, but usually leaves them at the age of reason. IL is just another of those habits taken from the Yankees which we adapt badly and are inclined to eXagger- ate.
 The American bar in the home ts, of course, one of the results of prohibition. On the other side of the ocean it has it's reason for be- ing, but here it seems unnecessary. The Americans do not drink wine with their meals, and can there fore support two or three Of these pleasant aperitifs, but several cocktails day, as we often see here in our friends homes. appear somewhat of an exaggeration. We must simply wait until this mode passes, but meanwhile, I think that reason will prevail and that the good manners and department of our fathers will not be seriously menaced."