IN PARIS AT STRIKE TIME.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 6

IN PARIS AT STRIKE TIME.

AN ENGLISH VISITOR'S EXPERIENCES. ; HOW THE RAILWAY TROUBLE ; WAS SUPPRESSED. An English visitor to Paris at the 1 time •of the railway employees strike ( has written to a Wellington resident , an interesting account of his osperii encesj and description"- of itho general state of affairs prevailing in the French 1 capital during the trouble with the Tailway employees a few weeks ago. . "My stay in Paris," he states, "was . rather a disturbing • experience. . Arriving ' there in a glorious spell of Indian [ summer, all looked bright and cheerful, i and I was fortunate in negotiating for ! tho use of a finely equipped private motor, .in which I took my .wife, unj der pleasant auspices, trips to Versailles, t St. Claud, -Fontambleau, and other r points of interest, and I had then in- , tended -to go a little south to 'spend . a few days at a small township of cont siderable interest about 80 miles out, . j but from this course I was restrained s by rumours of labour troubleSj which , almost immediately developed into an, . acute -crisis .on .the railways. So far 3 as these may interest you, your Engr lish papers will give you amjilo details. . The- situation for a few days was not - a little manacing, but the Premier acted 3 with a vigour and firmness that was - altogether admirable. He is a French 3 John Burns, converted by the responsi- ; bility of office from x a noisy demagogue i into a Minister stern'in the repression 3 of the-disorders which he and his-kind 3 have sown the seed of. ' b "The situation was not without hu--1 monr.. First this ardent Sociah'st calls j to his council the Minister ,of War and - the Chief of' Police; brings - back tliei . President to Paris, reinforces the military by large drafts from tho country, t and,- having taken theso precautionary l steps,'ho issued a proclamation calling -. 50 per . cent., of tho railway men to the t colours for 28 days' service. These men , were served out with bands which ,thev 5 had to wear on their arms, and strong a military guards, wero posted at afl main , stations and at: points along tho lines, ,' and the ; 50 per cent, of railway men ,called-.'up_had, t to. .work under military, i' clisciplinij' r .earning a few sous a. week, 5' instead of, say, iivo francs a'day. The' B stations were closed, , and the remaining j 50 per cent, earned nothing, with the, r' off chance of being called-up for service' o when tho other 50 per cent, had done - their 28 days. , Tho men' obeyed the k order, and virtually that ended the r strike. I only heard of attempt .- to seduce the men 'from their service y and in that case the man was instantly e arrested, and was within two hours ,in ". gaol .under a sis months' sentence. '■ d "Meanwhile Lepine, the Chief of' :- Police —a little man respected as much if as dreaded 1 by, the roughs —procured a warrants to-arrest certain Socialist agis tators, who had their. headquarters at ir the office of a paper called 'L'humanito,' which was advocating disobedience o to the order of mobilisation. Annonnc-' P ing- his business, ho -was met with."a a windy speech from one of tho leaders, n which ho curtly cut short by remark's ing, !Como with mo; you can finish U your speech in "La .Surete" (the - r prison).' Lepino also procured a wara rant for tho arrest of Petaud—a man 'j who has posqd as the Socialist leader ■d -of the, electrical workmen, whom . he a was urging to cease work and , plunge. Paris in darkness, but, having word of ' s the situation, he thought' it prudent 10 to cross the Belgian frontier. - Somo k attempt was made to give cffect to his -> suggestion, but it was only partial and !r so-a fiasco. Had it been, otherwise, it « is probable that the mob would have •risen, and there would hare been ugly >- scones. . | i- "For two nights there was . gravo -d anxiety, and men with women folk to care for were anxious to get. away, ■i' yet the risk of going was. equal to tho :s risk of. remaining, for tho railway people S would givo no assurance that the train »• -might not bo stopped or derailed, g perhaps side-tracked, at some remote " point. But. for this consideration, the situation was. not without its comical aspects for men who were travelling light. ' A party of four who left our hotel tho day but one beforo we did, ! r travelling by tho Dieppo Toute, got well to the coast, when they _ were ignominously run- back to Paris, and again ? appeared, at the hotel. "Wo dccided to make a start on Frin day, being assured that tho 9.50 Calais express would surely start. Arriving . at the Nord Station, which, as you are P. awaro, is somewhat distant from the , hotel area, wo were informed ' there ■ ■ would bo no train beforo noon, so we ? had to patiently wait from 9.20, when J wo arrived, until the latter hour; lr thenceforward the journey was uncventj® ful—-military posts all along the line, a partially-demolished bridge, an ovcr- ' turned engine, and telegraph w'ires in 'p coiirso of repair being the only incidents' culminating'in a rough passage and ar- ' riving in London exactly twelve hours .J. after leaving our hotel. Tlio journey was mado pleasant by the company of a two very interesting companions—ono i„ somo loading man of the Great Western Railway, with whom I had much useful talk over-tariffs and railway methods, )s the other an Army officer, returning l v from Lisbon. . ■ _ r g "As regards Paris itself; it is. a. good many years'since I was last there, L and tlio threo things that most atg tracted my attention were:—The 'great _1 increaso of noiso, tlio utter disregard of everybody by electric traction, and j tho marked -decay of good manners. This latter feature /Was very marked, ] 0 so much so that I was prompted to 0 inquire from Englishmen, as woll as !( j Americans, what they thought, thinkrs ing it might bo that I was growing old 1( | and 'touchy,' but, without exception, 1( j they agreed, with mo emphatically."