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(Copyright. UHC, tiy
Frank O. Carpenter.)
12. (Special Corro-
ARIS, Oct.
Rpniidcnco of Tho Uee.) I ex
pected to tell you how America
feeds Paris, but I And that Paris
In feeding herBolf. Shn has thn
greatest and boBt markets of the world and
tho meet of tho goods sold ii them are.
raised In Prance. The countr.. about Paris
Is one vast garden, which prod... as as much
to the acre perhaps as any other land In
the world. Some of the farms rent as
high as $150 per acre and It Is estimated
that there are 2,000 acres of this kind
about the city, which not only supply Paris
with enough vegetables, but furnish a large
amount for export to London. The same
productiveness exists In the farms. It Is
only In bad years that Prance has to Import
wheat, and Its scientists claim that within
another decade It will not only be raising
all Its own food, but will export more than
1,000,000 tons of wheat per annum.
Dut let me give you some Idea of what
the French eat! We shall find out by taking
a walk through the Halles Centrales. These
are the chief markets of Paris and they
are by far the biggest markets of the world.
Covent Harden, London, does not cover half
so much ground and the markets of
Berlin, Vienna and New York are small
In comparison. And still these are not the
only markets of Paris. There are smaller
ones scattered here and there over the city
each of which has Its own trade.
The Halles Centrales are right In the
heart of Parts. They are ten minutes' walk
from the opera house, not far from the
Seine and within a stone's throw of' the
Louvre. They consist of ten great pavilions
made of Iron and glass, each large enough
for an exposition building. They cover all
told more than twenty-two acres and have
about S.000 different stalls. About them
during the day 15,000 market wagons are
to be seen and at the wholesale auctions
more than $100,000 worth of goods are dally
sold. The dally sales or bread, wine and
meat at retail and wholesale are more than
$1)00,000 and the sales per annum are con
siderably over $200,000,000. The vegetables
and fruits probably cost as much more, sj
that at least $1,000,000 a day Is taken In on
this spot.
The National Library at Washington,
which Is one of the finest buildings of the
world, cost $6,000,000; our national capltol
cost $12,000,000, and the state, war and navy
department about the same sura. TheBe
uarkets are mere shells, but they are so
large that they have cost $10,000,000 or
almost as much as any one of our great
est national buildings. The Halles belong
to the Paris municipality and ths market
people pay rent for their places in them.
I have before me the amount of food
which Paris dally consumes. It la enorm
ous, the annual average per head being 325
pounds of bread, 183 quarts of wine, 187
pounds of meat and twenty-eight pounds of
nnh. or for the whole city 824,000,000 pounds
of bread. 456,000,000 quarts of wine. 638,-
nno 000 nounda of meat and 67.000.000
,.iin,i. nt fluh
........... -.
with all' this is there no opening for
nierlcan products? Not at present,
And
our A me
and not
, .m M 1 a-a havA httttnt rflK I niw 1 1 w
treat, with Fr.nce; The truth 1. this re-
public puta a tarirr on everything tnat - r7OBVeri knock . . . u t , h v " out ,nJur'- 1 understand that some snails
come, into It. and It protect. Itself quite 'or the arlun8. '. r.nJlv if take, a hMf ' fou ,k 'r,c olt , They have beau- come from Swltlerland to Pari, and that
a. well a. the United State.. France goes down the good, rapidly. It take, a hair tlfu, B,imon. which sell for almost their Switzerland Is one of the great snail mar
on the principle, "you tickle me and 111 en.cUkenod k. "Y? t V ? "r"' ket' cf the h" -tickle
you. and if you don't. I won't." 1 ! for selling chickens or ducks. and doKfl8h ,hlch go for 1Utu or notnlng. farmerg who fcnow
So far Uncle Sam has not tickled the fair Butter and eggs are sold In the same But WDat u that which that old woman when to gather the snails, how to handlo
French maiden, and as a result she buys market. The eggs are sold by the thous- (8 gelling? I mean the one who has boxes their eggs and how to feed them so that
only what she cannot raise from other coun- and. They are packed In great boxes which and baskets piled high on her counters, they will have the luscious fatness so
tries, taking from us only when .he la In are stacked on the floor. Each box had she seems to be ladling out pints of gray greatly desired by the French. So far 1
atralts and cannot be supplied elsewhere. 1,000 or more and all told, they contain marbles, and she has wooden skewers of have not eaten snails myself, and am
In 1900 she Imported about $150,000,000 of million, upon million, of eggs. I stop at tit. of meat lying beside ber. Those skew, therefore, unable to describe the taste '
food .tuff., and of thl. only $10,000,000 on. of the .tand. and ask what the egg. ert r- filled with frog leg., which .ell parl. ha. been described as a gigantic
worth cam. from the United Statea. are worth, and am told they sell whele- fcr Iew cent. per doien. and which I mouse trap with three door, labeled re
There I. an Impression In our country that sale for $20 per thousand or for 1 cent. can assure you taste as sweet as spring spectlvely. hotel, cafe, restaurant. ' The
vast amount of American wine Is shipped apiece, and that the seller gets a commie- chicken If properly cooked. Those marbles city has about 10,000 hotels; there are res
to France and then sent back again under Hon of S per cent for his trouble. The are snails, which the French esteem espe- tnurants In every block; and you can find
French labels. This Mr. Edward Green. French know how to use eggs perhaps bet- cany delicious. They sell for 8 cents a cafes at almost every step. At almost any
the secretary or the American cuamucr u
Enormous Food
SNAP SHOT OUTSIDE MARKET, HALLES CENTRALES.
ii - '-I ; i!' "iH Jrton ifTTmfo
.'."1
PARIS
French raise euough vtlue to give every
man, woman and child in the country a halt
bottle of wine twice a day and leave some
for export. If American wine came here It
would have to pay a fair duty, and the
Importation would be reported in the cus-
toms reports. This Is not so, and my con-
elusions Is that no American wine Is lm-
ported.
nut let us begin our walk through the
markets. It Is early morning and the
wholesale auctions are now taking place.
There are ten acres of buildings whero
thousands are buying and selling. The
auctions begin at daybreak and last until 8
o'clock, meat, vegetables and fish of all from over the way! It Is of a cheesy na
klnds being sold In lots to the highest bid- ture, although not of the rank Llmberger
ders. We see porters carrying all sorts kn(I. Let us cross over. We do so and en
of things In and out of the door. Seme ter another great pavilion In which bun
have hats; as big around as a parasol, on dreds of men and women are buying and
their beads and above these crates or
fowls, rabbits and suckling pigs. Others
are carrying dressed hoge or the sides of
beef on their shoulders. Some wear pan-
nlers with baskets of vegetables. All are
Plng this way and that and we are
J0,t,e,, we make .ur waT ruh- ""e
r ,n ,ne I0WI ur,,on "ur'c
chickens, ducks and rabbits are sold by
the crate.
tk. or. ihnn.Bndu of Dart-
rl,Kp. Peasants and game of all sorts.
About each "'one'r tand" a ,crowd of,
" " - -
IIICU UICOBtru lino " " "
. , " 2
itr mu . . , - -
Supply of Markets of Paris
FISH MARKET WHERE SNAILS ARE
make delicious dishes which are hardly
known In America. As a result the egg
consumption of Paris is enormous and they
come here from all parts of France. They
are usually fresh. I have yet to get a
bad one at any of the hotels and their
reputation is what that of every egg should
be, like that of CaeBar's wife above sus
picion.
It is the same with butter. It is made
without salt and must therefore be very
good to keep any length of time. It is sold
in tho markets In balls weighing about
twenty-two pounds each.
But what is that smell that comes to us
telling. The auctioneers are handling
cheeses of every description, from the little
roiu of "fromsges de Suisse" to the great
wagon wheel sections of Gruvere, and the
round balls of Edam cheeses from Holland.
uvln the cheee markets we take a
walk among the fishwives. There Is one
pavilion that Is devoted to them. Each flsh-
woman nag iarbie counters about her on
- ......-
nunu Rio uisuiairu biiuimi etc iiu uk ilia,
iwlm, ,he Bea and not a few reptiie8 tDal
crawl the land. Some of the women have
-
VHIS Ul fUUU UK Wlier 1U WDICO eeisl BTB
fL "f "b0" -. " ZLt0. b"f ?n!
v,ui. in i.k wuu .u.u, u iu. win
9
17
PARIS MARKET PORTERS AND THEIR
SOLD.
kind and are worth more than terrapin or
porterhouse steak.
See, there Is a Frecbtuan buying some
now! He picks up a couple and looks them
carefully over and then orders a hundred.
The woman scoops the crawling, slimy
things out in her band and counts them.
She wraps them in paper and her customer
takes them and goes away smiling.
Paris eats almost two million pounds of
these snails every year, paying $3 or $4 a
thousand for them. They are found In the
80uthe" vine-growing district, and es-
peclally about Marseilles. In some places
there are small farms or parks where the
little things are bred and fed for the mar
ket. They are propagated in the months
of August, September and October, at
which time they are fed with cabbage
and clover. It la said that a wagon load
of cabbages given after the rains Is enough
l " meal for 100,000 snaila The
cultivated snails are kept in the houses
during the winter. They are then fattened
and shipped off to Paris for sale In the
summer. There is one snail farmer In the
department of the Jura who raises one
million to two million snails every year.
I am told that more than 200,000 pounds
Ul Bua"3 re Bn'PPea every year rrotu
rani I yj I u
t i . . i . . i.
br
They are Usui
e United States. Such snail
per thousand at wholesale.
usually shipped alive In Novem
I a . . ...
handled in order to stand the voyage with-
restaurant you are sure of good cooking
T f
ft
HUGE HATS.
price. There are scores of places where
the meals cost as high as in the better res
taurants of New York, and hundreds where
you can get a very fair dinner for 50 cents,
or If you would have wine for 10 cents ad
ditional. 1 have had good dinners with
wines for 10 cents, and there is a restau
rant where I lunch occasionally at this
price which gives me what would cost three
times as much in the United States.
There Is one stock company which does
an enormous business in supplying cheap
and good focd for Parisians. It was founded
by a butcher who has his butcher shops
still In different parts cf the city. This
company has, I venture, 100 or more restau
rants where you cun always be sure of
good service and good food. You pay for
what you eat and pay for everything, but
the prices are low.
How would you like to lunch at a res
taurant where you can put a penny In the
slot and pull out anything you want? I have
found such a restaurant here in the heart
of Paris. It Is on the Boulevard dee It al
iens, Just above the Credit Lyonnalse and
tthln a stone's throw of the opera house.
The room Is walled with mirrors, floored
with tiles and fitted up like a parlor.
Around the walls are slot machines made
f different colored marbles, decorated with
Mlver and porcelain figures and finished
somewhat like the finest of soda water
fountain..
Every slot will furnlsn you something to
tompt your palate, and the different things
you can buy Is surprising. I had Just had
dinner before I entered the place last night
and began my experiment with a cup of
black coffee. There was a sign, "Cafe nolr
for 10 centime.," over a silver-plated slot,
and an after-dinner coffee cup standing
under a .liver spigot below. I put a 2 -sou
piece In the slot and within five seconds
a stream of rich, steaming black c.ffee
poured forth into the cup. It continued
to pour until it Just filled the cup and then
stopped short. I added some sugar from
a pile of white lumps lying on a shelf be
low, and as I drank I stood in front of one
of the mirrors beside a pretty French girl
who was finishing a cup of cacao she had
taken from the neighboring slot. The next
machine supplied hot chocolate at 4 cents a
cup, and further on were others which
gave out different kinds of liquors, char
treuse, benedlctine and cognac, for 3 or 4
cents a pony. I noticed a slot over one
spigot which bore the words "American
grog," and tested it. The result was a
red liquor with a sweetish taste that
would, I think, kill at forty rods.
While waiting I watched customers com
ing in for their various drinks. One young
man took a glass from the milk slot, two
Germans patronized the beer slot, each
getting a glass of beer twice a. large a.
that commonly sold in the United States,
and a young dandy and his sweetheart, for
two 10 cent pieces dropped into the sic
of a bottle-like machine in the middle of
the wall, drew out two glasses of sparkling
champagne. There were also soda-water
Flot machines and one which furnished
consomme or hot beef tea at 4 cents per
drink.
There was an ice-cream slot, the cream
being kept in little round dishes under
glass. Each dish was on a metal leaf
hinged to a wheel. As the money drops
into the slot the wheel begins to turn, and
a moment later one of the leaves reaches
the place where it drops, and slides the
dish of ice cream down to you. The Ice
cream is in plain sight and you can see
what you are going to get before you put
your money in.
Then there are sandwich-slot machines
and cake-slot machines. I counted a dozen
of these, which will furnish you sand
wiches of caviare, ham, tongue, salmon or
ef pate de fole gras, as well as cakes of
different kinds. These are like the Ice
cream machines, the sandwiches being on
tin shelves, which drop after the money is
put in.
'1
i
4
J
FRANK O. CARPENTER.