PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1619, 13 August 1872, Page 3

PARIS.

(from ottb own correspondent.) Mat 29. There is no evidence that the Labor question in this country can find any other solution but that which rests on the principle of co-operation. Louis Blanc would conduct trade on the basis of love in place of competition, and Blanj gui would give all to the artizan and nothing to the master. There are employers who give their employes fixed wages, and at the end of the year permit them to participate in a fair dividend of the net profits as well ; then there are the co-operative trades — not many — that work with joint-stock regulations. But neither of these ideas has been extensively practised, if, almost, fairly tried, and where successful, the hand-in-hand union has started from the slenderest contributions of the members themselves. To aid the effort with capital is invariably the most efficacious way to kill it. Two evils lie at the root of this healthy fraternity in France — the want of patience and the introduction of politics. It is abstract, not practical politics, that form the fault in every strata of French society ; as for patience to await results it is a contradictory element. There is not a j people in the world more industrious i than the French ; if not hard, they are I constant workers. From early morn till dewy eve they keep pegging away ; with light hearts they accomplish their daily toil, and however little may be the recompense, some fraction is always laid by | for the rainy day. England divides her penny into fourths, France into tenths ; the Briton perhaps takes no note of the farthings ; the Gaul treasures the centimes, knowing that one hundred of them make a franc. There is no trade in Paris offers so many advantages for the success of the co-operative principle as that of the bakers ; it has anything but small profits and certainly its returns are quick ; it would not have to encounter any guild opposition; one centime or five less in the pound weight of bread, would draw all Paris. But the bakers will not club together ; they are in full war at present over night-work — of course divided. The 6000 members of the corporation fight as Guelfs and Ghibelines. Like the butchers, the bakers are a very orderly set of men, and eschew politics. One party desires to finish work before midnight instead of then commencing. The Commune by a decree abolished night-work in the bakehouse, and out of gratitude, the bakers persisted in following the old plan. Employers are neutral in the dispute ; they have only to keep their shops open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. as required by law. The men are paid according to the number of loaves baked, and since Parisians must have their fancy hot rolls every I morning with their cafe au lait, their | wishes must be complied with. If as it is asserted, the rolls— large aa well as ! I small — can be so preserved as to admit of ] being baked equally well in the afternoon, the matter can be easily tested. French bread is very light, almost " savory" when fresh, but after twelve hours changes into something very unpalatable. Dutch barm is used for leavening, and wood ever for cooking. The bakers work in a state of nudity nearly, with the ghost of a kilt ; in this state they will pass into the street — to the wine-shop — to slake their thirst, irrespective of weather. Consumption is a malady unknown to them, and they are never afflicted with colds. Having exhausted all pretexts for keeping back the discussion on the new recruiting project for the army, explains perhaps why Ministers have at last entered it among the orders of the day. The nation enjoys a sigh of relief, as social relations were suspended like Mahomet's coffin, pending the framing of the new measure. Not that people ever expected compulsory military service would not become the law of the land ; but the anxiety was to have settled the term of active service, and the age and conditions for entering upon it, so that the youth of the country could be taught a trade or profession accordingly. One, it must be confessed, is a little fatigued while being glad to learn, that M. Thiers is not now oppposed to the scheme, so that the debates will not be long. Discussion will turn upon three points ; first, to withdraw tbe right of vote from soldiers while on active service and for three months after joining the reserve. This will largely correct the want of discipline in the French army, but above all will put an end to the career of the political general, whose place is with his I mcD, not in the Assembly, where partizan politics reduce his influence to a nonentity. Macmahon is a more respected than an able soldier, and he is respected because he keeps aloof from politics. The project of law proposes — and these are the second and third points — that every Frenchman physically qualified should become a soldier at 20, remain five years under the flag, then be embodied in the reserve or j landwehr till 32 years old, and finally to disappear in the landsturm ; in this latter class only to be called out in case of the country being invaded. It is to modify these details that some motions are to be brought forward. The great danger is to prevent the reserve from degenerating into the exploded National Guard, and to maintain its serious efficiency. The government retaining the appointment of the officers, and maintaining effective cadres, ought to secure the desired efficiency. In the course of twelve years, France will have a highly organised military force of two millions of men — devoted, it is to be hoped, to the interests, not of pretenders nor of demagogues, but of France. 'j General Chanzy was rather snubbed by the Assembly for asking it to vote the i new law without discussing it ; M. Brunet made a most practical speech, but destroyed its effect by mixing it up with theological subtilities and notions of a special Providence. General Trochu is irrepressible ; he has the facility, but not the felicity of words. He will not believe the public has enough of him ; he pro-

mises when this law is passed to retire like Cincinnatus to small-farming ; but he already vowed he would never capitulate, and Parisians took the joke seriously ; that he would never become a deputy, but has, all the same. It is these rash resolutions, the attitudinizing, the manufacturing of " sublime phrases" to be all subsequently denied by acts, that make public men in this country become laughing-stocks instead of guides. M. Thiers was not pleased to hear that the Napoleon legend was as dead in France, as the culte of Louis X V. ; he put the little Corporal in prose as Beranger did in song. Another legend is j also dead, that of sans culotte being able to march where erlory waits them, to the air of the Marseillaise and without Krupp cannon. The French are perhaps going too far in the way of washing their family linen in public. The publication of the report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the capitulation of Strasbourg has been a political mistake. It was more than Roman in its severity, it is popularly believed to be unjust, if not towards General Uhrich certainly for the National Guard. These soldiers of four and twenty hours' manufacture showed they bad pluck, if not military knowledge. To slight their bravery is a sorrow more for mourning Alsace — the deeper because caused by friends. The Commissioners are not blamed for their verdict on the Sedan surrender ; Napoleon accepts the responsibility of that disaster, which has been officially credited to him all the same. His letters of absolution to the high officers in command at Sedan are viewed as so much waste paper. The prospects of imperialism never were at a lower ebb than now. It was M. Conti provoked the Tote of Napoleon's dethronement by the present Assembly ; it was M. Eouher forced the Bame body a few days ago to pronounce the obsequies of Bonaparfcism. The population have at last bad hammered into their heads that Napoleon 111., alone responsible, looked helplessly on at his agents misappropriating the national resources, and deliberately threw France naked at an enemy be well knew to be fully prepared. M. Eouher could have done good service, by insisting on the Ministry prosecuting unfaithful contractors, but he decided otherwise, and led to a second legislative condemnation of the ex-empire. Indirectly, by attacking Gambetta, ho compelled the ex-dictator to show what an inexbaustive stock of vituperation he possesses, and how totally deficient he is in the commonest elements of statesmanship. France has gained much by the Eouher debate— she counts two Saviours of Society less. The army has had ever its pet name for the chief of the State ; it calls M. Thiers — Papa. Like a good father the President has been devoting much attention to the personal comfort of his family ; he finds that his boys would be improved by an addition to their food and an improvement in its manner of cooking. The death-rate among civilians between 20 and 30 years is 10 per cent., among soldiers in piping times of peace, and of the same age, 22 per cent. The French soldier's daily rations comprise 2£ pounds of bread, of which one-half is white and destined for his soup ; £lb. coarse beef including bone, Hlb. vegetables, which make three pints of soup. During campaign, coffee and brandy are served out but rarely in time of peace. This is the soldier's diet while on active service ; he has to trust to his friends to give him the means to vary it. It has been found that the scale is wholly insufficient to meet the wear and tear of the tissues, and that tbe famous pot au feu is anything but nourishing, the meat should be roasted, not boiled. So far as strengthening the frame is concerned, the beef soup is " not more efficacious than water" reports Professor See, and the sameness of the diet—twice daily for seven years on soup and bread — produces a disgust which explains the number of suicides among those Soldiers who have no friends to remember them. Eoast, not boiled, and the conceding of an Oliver Twist demand for "more," are reforms certain to be carried. The "domestic servants' strike" baa been read and studied in Paris, where we kave char-men as well as charwomen. The former waxes the floor, dusts the carpets, &c, and often takes the place of that man-house-maid — the concierge — in a pinch. The charwomen are generally girls who have failed in life and never trouble themselves as to becoming old maids. It is these two classes that are going in for a strike for wages — an increase of no great magnitude, and that sigh " —for a single hour of that Dundee Which tho word of onset gare." Tbe other " aids" are contented ; in the matter of dress they are perfectly free to do as they please, and like their mistresses are never showy, and equally as tasteful. In the way of notices to quit, eight days' warning on either side is all that is required, and liberty can be enjoyed in the twinkling of an eye, if parties arrange about the eight days' wages k There is a subscription on foot among the Legitimists in France, to send aid to the Carliat prisoners — refugees collected at Le Mans. The French of all political shades have no goodwill for King Amadeus, and thus show how prejudice blinds. The clerical organ V Union openly calls upon France to intervene in Spain, to aid Don Carlos, and to give a hand to the down-trodden people of Italy and Bavaria, as well as to the Infallibists at Constantinople. It will be a happy day when Trance will occupy herself with only her own business. It looks as if Bazaine was fading into forgetfulness. Evidently a numerous public has been disappointed that he was not shot immediately on being arrested. The trial may prove as tedious as that of Warren Hastings. Every day the difficulties for judging the accused increase rather than diminish. One of the most curious sights at present in Paris is to receive permission

to view the Japanese girls learning the dressmaking business. If training skirts are to be introduced into Yokohama, if Worth is to rule, and not the Mikado, the country of the almond-eyed archangels is doomed. The execution of tho Communists even, like the Court-martials, creates no attention — the journals only devote about halfdozen lines to the former event. Besides, this week is devoted to anniversaries of the massacres of the innocents during the last hours of tbe Commune, and anger is consequently stirred up. An officer of the regular army, who lost his two bands last year during the street-fighting, was married ere yesterday in memory of his wounds. He gave an iron hand to the bride. The Commissionaires who already carry a numbered medal, will henceforth be provided with tickets corresponding to the number — like the cabmen — to deliver one on being employed. A fat lady was jammed on Monday in the tourniquet admission to the Exhibition of paintings. The machine had to be partly taken assunder to liberate her. She has brought an action against the Company, which replies by sending in the bill for repairs of the tourniquet.