American Goods in the Silk Country of France
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LYONS IS A CITY OK FLATS.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE Ai LYONS.
(Copyright, VJC, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
YONS. Franco, Oc t. 22. (Special
I I Correspondence of The lice.)
" I Tl,l. 1ft....... ....11..., 1.. ...... iVin
UMMiJ richest pnrlH of llio French ro-
pulillr. its products amouDi to
hundreds of millions of dollars a year, anil
there Is scarcely a family which has not a
hoard stored uway In a woolen stocking un
der the rafters. It already buys many
American goods, hut the field is not half
worked. Ly tin. where I am writing, has
a population of 500,000. It has excellent
stores, but they nro filled with French,
English, (Jerman and Helginn Roods, and
tho chief American products to bo seen are
California fruits, Chlongo bacon, typewrit
ers and sowing machines. And still the
American shoe would walk rapidly Into tho
hearts of tho better classes, and our loo
cream soda would soon make Its way Into
tho affections of tho Lyonnoso maidens. I
found American soda fountains doing a good
business in England. There are none In
Paris and only 'a few In Ilerlln and Ham
burg. Wo should have a good trade hero In
American drugs. We ship many to Eng
land, but none to speak of to France. Tho
French drugs are poor. They are made by
tho natives of diluted extracts and adul
terated solids. You have to take doses the
size of horse powders to accomplish' tho
desired result, and the medicines as a rule
are put up on tho homeopathic plan. Our
consul at Lyons recently sent out for a
dozen two-grain quinine pills, representing
the word grain by the letters gr. Tho drug
gist Interpreted this to mean gram, and
tho result was that the dose taken was big
enough to kill an ordinary man. The qul
nlno was so weak, however, that It only
made a buzzing In the consul s ears. He
complained to the druggist and tried to
have htm Introduco American specialties,
but so far has only succeeded as to porous
plasters. Tho druggist says that chemical
products will not stand the voyage across
tho Atlantic, and he Intimated that tho
French goods surpass the American.
There Is one epecialty In tho drug line,
however, that tho Frenchmen concede to
be worth Imitation. This Is the American
drink. You see the sign "American bar"
over one or more saloons In every continen
tal city. Tho principal hotels of Europe ad
vertise American drinks, and tho genuine
American bars have plenty of custom. The
AmVrlean cocktail makes tho Frenchman
smile and ho rises responslvely to tho
Kentucky "high ball."
The most of the bars, however, are
frauds. They keep no American liquors and
the drinks are manipulated by French bar
tenders who cannot speak English. Tho
other day an American drummer dripped
Into one for a drink and called cut In loud
tones: "I want a glass of American
whisky."
"Comment?" said tho waiter, with a puz
tled look on his face.
'Tiring me a Manhattan cocktail!" sail
the drummer.
"Comment?"
And thereupon the drummer got angry
and cursed the Frenchman for putting up
an American sign, when he had no Ameri
can drinks and could not even understand
the American language.
There Is a real American bar In Lyons,
nd It Is the most fashionable drinking
place In the city. It was started by a New
Yorker, who thoroughly understood the
science of making the insidious but de
structive American cocktail, and who did
It so well that be has made a fortune out
of the business.
And still I don't see why the French
should care for American liquors, when
they have the best and the cheapest wines
of the world. You can get good claret here
by the barrel for 4 cents a quart, and
champagne which Is not at all bad tor 20
cents a pint or 10 cents a glass. A fair
claret Is served In the restaurants at 16
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FRENCH SCHOOL CHILDREN AND CONSI L COVERT-Photo by Mr. Carpenter.
tents a bottle, and all sorts of wince are
remarkably cheap.
Thia Is not far from some of the chief
wino-raiblng sections. I passed train loads
of Durgundy and claret on my way from
l'urls to Lyons. The wine was carried In
tank curs, Just as we carry coal oil, and
some traius were composed of great hogs
heads on trucks, each hogshead marked
wine. I rodo for miles through' vineyards,
every vine having Its Individual stake, tho
whole country apparently growing poles
about which the green vines were climb
ing. I would advise our elevator factories to
8stematicully work the European trade.
Everyone here lives in a flat. Lyons is a
city of Hats and this is so throughout the
continent, l'arls is a giguutic beehive of
living apartments, Marseilles is all flats
uml f) are Orleans an 1 llur.laux.
The chief cities of Switzerland have flats.
In Berlin and the other p'.acts In Germany
tho government prescribes the strictest of
building regulati ns. There is a limit to
tho height of the houses and small bouses
cannot be built. The result Is the people
live in apartments and not one family in
a thousand has a house to Itself. The most
of the flats are of five stories and only the
newest of them have elevators. This is
a'so true of the hotels. A vat amount of
building is going on in all of the cities and
hundreds of new apartment houses with
out elevators are being constructed. Such
elevators as are made in Europe are
twenty years behind the times. They are
slow and Bluffy. The doors open tho wrong
way and they look more like seaside bath
houses than modern elevators. An enor
mous business could be built up for our
modern elevators and many of our flat Im
provements could be Introduced at a profit.
There are many curious features in
French tenement houses. The renters put
in their own gas fixtures and the landlords
insist that the pipes be put outside the
walls, saying that if they are inside they
may leak. At the close of his lease the
tenant takes the fixtures away with him
or sells them to the incoming tenant.
The heating arrangements are very bad.
As a rule every man heats his own apart
ment and stoves are used. Steam-heating
planU are not known by the majority of
French householders and only the newest of
the apartments have elctrlo lights.
It Is wonderful how the people crowd
themselves Into small flats. To save room
cupboards are often built In the malls ot
the larger apartments. Each cupboard
when closed looks as though it might be
a door leading Into another room,' but when
opened you can see it has a bed inside it
and you learn that it is there the children
sleep. The rooms of such apartments are
all connected. The floors are very good
and they are kept shiny by means ot Iron
shavings, which look much like excelsior.
These are eold at so much a pound and
they scour the floor until It 6hlnes.
One of the queer features of every front
door is what the people here call a "Judas."
This Is a little plate of brass about as big
as a visiting.card with slits a sixteenth -ot
an inch wide cut In it. This card Is tacked
over a little hole in the door and is so ar
ranged that the person within can peep
through and without being seen tell who is
knocking before deciding whether she is at
home or not. If she does not want to re
ceive her caller the servant gives word
that she is not in and therefore the name
Judas. I don't know but that this Is quite
as honest as the Judas klsues which our
ladies often give their callers when they
wish that they are elsewhere.
I have gone through several flats here In
Lyons. The best of them have no com
forts for the servants. The usual place for
hired girl Is a little loft, made by cutting
off half the height of the kitchen, JUBt wide
enough to bold a bed, where the girl crawls
off to sleep. She has no light but from the
kitchen and the ventilation Is poor.
And still Lyons has some very good
things. How would you like a bath for
S cents? I had one today, and two women
waited on me as I went In and out of the
bath room. The bathing place was In one
of the public parks. A little house about
fifteen feet square had been there erected,
and In this were six baths, or stalls, divided
into compartments by a waterproof curtain.
On one side there was an excellent shower.
I turned one spigot and the water came
down on my head, and another gave me a
shower on all sides of my body at once.
I was told that I could UBe ten gallons of
hot water and all the cold water I wanted.
I was furnished soap and towels, and at the
close found a comb and brush ready for use.
These baths are common In many French
cities. They belong to a company, which
has a concession to operate them for thirty
years, when they go to the municipality.
Without each bath house averages at least
200 a day the city has the right to consider
the experiment a failure and to cancel the
contract. At present the patronage is
greatly In excess of this number, and the
company is making money.
I have spent much time here about the
United States consulate. It is the Ameri
can center of the Rhone valley and does
more business than any consulate in Franco
except Paris.
It deserves to be made a consulate gen
eral, inasmuch as Lyons is the commercial
center of manufacturing France and in
the most thickly populated part of the
country.
I am glad to And a consul here who
speaks French. Our American representa
tive Is Mr. John C. Covert, who Is well
known to tho newspaper world of the
United States from hts long connection
with tho Cleveland Leader. Mr. Covert be
gan life ns a printer's devil In tho Loader
office, but at the age of 21 came to Talis,
with hardly enough money to pay a week's
board bill. He lived In France for eight
years, supporting himself by teaching the
Frenchmen English. Like liayard Taylor,
he put on a blouse and tramped over tho
country from one end of It to the other,
studying the people and learning the lan
guage. After a time he returned to the
United States and remained there until the
election of President McKlnley, when he
was sent to Lyons. He speaks French like
a native, and this. In connection with his
newspaper training and practical ability,
makes him one of the valuable men of our
consular service.
Consul Covert tells me that our Ameri
can exporters are not doing their duty In
the Rhone valley. There is a big oppor
tunity here for the sale of all kinds of
good. This is a leather country, having
some of the largest tanneries of France,
nevertheless quantities of American glazed
kid are shipped from the United States.
American dried fruits are in demand, and
there is an opening for American Jams and
preserves. There are macaroni factories,
and the Texas hard wheat can be shippel
here at a profit. Smoked salmon is much
used.
There 1 an opening ror our carpenters'
tools and hardware and also for American
sewing machines. The chief machine sold
her6 is tho Singer. This company has thor
oughly organized Its foreign trade. It has
agencies in every country and in every
town, and It practically monopolizes its
field. There is no reason why other ma
chines would not sell equally well if they
were properly pushed, for the French an I
Germans cannot make such machines in
comparison with us.
I find Deering harvesters and McC.rmic'i
reapers largely used In the Rhone valley,
and think there should be a bin opening
here for American plows and other farm
implements. Mr. Antiist, one of the Deer-
I n renppspn t n f t vea of Porta tolta mo (hot
the farm laborers nr.- gradually going t
the cities. They are working in tho fac
tories, and the result is that machinerv k
must t&ke their place. This is bo not only
in France, but In all parts of the conti
nent, and as a result there Is an increased
demand for agricultural tools. Every
manufacturer of such tools should study
the export trade. There is money in it.
The recent troubles between labor aod
capuai in me great coal strike leads me to
write of the workingmen's organizations in
the Rhone valley. This city of Lyons has
numerous trades unions. Every now and
then there is a strike, but the men still
work long hours and for small pay. They
have, however, some very good institutions
and among them are the workmen's aid
societies. These are a sort of mutual bene
fit or pension associations, Intended to
give their members money in their old age.
The members enter when young,, and at 55
expect to have enough money saved to be
able to retire and live on their pensions.
Tho amount of pension is in proportion to
the length and amount of saving, and the
members range all the way from three years
to sixty.
Hundreds of school children belong to
such associations, and the government itself
aids in their support. There are now more
than 2,500,000 members. The societies pay
out 60,000 pensions every year, and have
assets amounting to about $00,000,000. The
societies are unaer the control of the In
terior depaitment, and the officials believe
that they prevent strikes and divert tho
members from communistic and socialistic
tendencies.
The associations were begun Just after
the French revolution, and they are In a
thriving condition today. They can be or
ganized by any class of workmen or em
ployes. Some of them are composed of
cVrks, some of salesgirls and many of fac
tory hands. The members are required to
pay monthly dues, and the money Is In
vested in government bonds at 3 per cent.
This is added to by the government, so
that the funds bring in at least ik per cent,
which interest goes on at a compound rate
and accumulates the vast amounts which
are given out for old-age pensions.
Parents often lay aside money In these
banks for their children, so that they can
have a capital with which to begin life when
they reach manhood or womanhood.
Mothers lay aside money for their daugh
ters' dowerles, and girls thus save for their
wedding trousseaus.
The most of such savings Is Invested by
the government in bonds and mortgages.
The government pays an Interest of 2 per
rent on the deposits, but no account Is al
lowed to run over $400, after which the de
positor can, If ho wishes, draw out the
money and start again. The government
officials give depositors advice as to invest
ments, and especially so when the govern
ment or the municipalities are about to
issue loans. Such loans are made in bonds
of low denomination and the result Is that
almost every family In France Is a bond
holder. Every man, woman and child who
Is Interested In such bonds or in the gov
ernment savings banks feia that he Is a
part of the government, p.nd is consequently
a patriot. FRANK Q. CARPENTER.