Newspaper Page Text
SUNNY SOUTH
NINTH PAGE
Revival of Whale Trade Opens Up
Picturesque Scenes
Carpenters at work repairing bark 8 unbeam after her $65,000 voyage.
7 ■*>
' andftry
By JULIUS W. MULLER.
T’S "whale” In New Bedford
again. "Sparm” are echool-
Jng and blowing In all the
western ocean—the North
Atlantic from the Ameri
can coast to the Azores.
High-bowod, wfih sturdy
stump masts. spelling pow
er In et’ery rounded line,
whaling ships are sailing In
and out of liuzzard9 bay
once more. Bankers and
street railway directors,
merchants and retired gen
tlemen of leisure, com^ driving down In
•mart rigs behind fast horses to the
wharves to get the smell of whale oil In
their nostrils once more—the smell that
brings back to them the days when they
plied out of New Bedford as young boat
stoerera and harpoonera and ordinary
crew.
They assemble around the quaint craft
with the tryworks amldshlp, with the
great bent wooden davits, black and un
couth. bolted all along the greasy sides,
and they stare out toward the harbor's
tnouth And—wish.
They know that the old days of great
adventuring are ended. They know that
P*trohmm and gns have made It unlikely
that big fortunes will ever bo made again
out of whale, be they plentiful as they
may, blow they ever so near the coast.
But they see the fow remaining whalers
come In again counting their
o’l.tiJv's once more by the thousands of
They see the old wharf at T T n!on
9 They see the Portugee crews
mV along the street again to draw big
monov ns their share of good voyages.
N>w Bedford Is a city of cotton mlTls
now. But, ah! the sea still beckons
with nil Its ancient mystery. The har
bor’s mouth still shines, n gate to the
jnv of the open ocean. And the rich,
stall old gentlemen almost
'"Hiirik thev shat! teke to the sea again
r r.-» singe the beard of the king of Spain,*•
thofr king of Spain being a barnacled old
i‘*spnrm.” a hundred barrel fish. They
fdmnm of hearing the cry of "Thar she
Vows’” once mom: of seeing "white wa
ters” on tho slow, gray heave of the eter-
na 1 deep.
New Bedford Is In a quandary- Of *11
'her noble whaling tleet of a quarter of a
century ago. only a few vessels are In
commission now. and of
1^—v those few the most are
-*rd schooners, not adapted to
In the long cruises of two
• more years that mean
”goorl voyage." Ships
cannot be adapted to
wh*>Mng. Thev must be built for It. The
cm ft that must hold a huge fiO-ton or fio-
f on *ish alongside In a tumbling sea.
hrnfr’ng on to the mighty bulk by main
strength of tackle and timber, must be
buPt far more massively than the or
dinary merchant ship. So now, with
sp*rm whales playing off shore, with
whales being encountered within two or
lhr»'e days* sail from port, the ancient
v haling town Is unable to take full ad
vantage of its new opportunity.
What ships there are bring In gold
again—not so much as before the war.
v. h*-n whale oil was worth dlziy prices,
but enough to make a good voyage mean
n big profit. *KV«n the schooners, able to
n main out only a few months and able to
«nrrv only a limited quantity of oil. have
l e n coming home with from 65.UW to $$.-
000 worth of oil and whalebone. The
schooner Pedro Varolo—a revenue cutter
during the civil war—Is In after five
months with *i.CU0 worth of | !.
The bigger vessels have been doing cor
respondingly better. The whaling bark
Sunbeam, out only two months, has re- |
por;r\i from Faval that she has already j
obtained 660 barrels of sperm oil. She j
promises to equal her recent record when J
the arrived in port with oil and Done that ;
•eld for 665.000. The bark Morning Star
reports from Kay a 1 with 750 barrels taken
In the last six months. Hno has been
THE TIME FOB, PAINTING.
The best time for painting is preemi
nently during the fall months, after the
weather has become settled. Dampness,
either tn the surface to bo painted or in
tue atmosphere surrounding It, Is fatal to
durable work, no matter what kind of
paint be used. To obtain tho best results
from rainting. the hygrometer, which teils
the proportion of moisture In the air,
would be quite as important as the ba
rometer.
However, without getting the matter
down to so scientific a basis as that in
volves It is quite possible to avoid moist,
"clammy” weather and pick out ele#r.
dry days for doing the work. Such days
are at no season more frequent than dur
ing tho fall, after the “equinoctial storm”
has cleared the sky of the surplus mois
ture left over from the reign of “general
humidity.”
This point is Insisted upon here because
the kind of paint recommended in these
articles—zinc white combinations—Is ns
impevious to moisture from one side as
from the other, consequently moisture
can be sealed into the surface behind it
as well ns kept out from in front of It.
Take this as an axiom—a paint that will
not blister or crack in time when applied
to a moist surface will not protect any
surface from atmospheric moisture. Hence
we scp i he great importance of painting
onlv on dry surface#- and in dry weather.
There are paints which can be use?! on
moist surfaces or In moist weather, but
the reason is that they allow th? impris
oned moisture to escape through them,
and paints which permit the escape of
moisture will also permit its entrance.
STANTON DUDLEY.
cruising since October 10, 1901, and has
taken 1,3(1) barrels since leaving port.
A glorious old->1me voyage has been
that of the fine old Canton, the oldest
whaling vessel in the world. She Is lying
at the Union street
Oldest •wharf now, having dis-
Whiltt charged tha last 500 -bar-
*» reis of g net “voyage'"
that produced 2,300 bar-
World rels of sperm oil in six
teen months—an excep
tionally ffaort cruise with a result big
enough to make even tho old whalers of
New Bedford town admire.
Tjjo Canton sailed the whale grounds of
all the seven seas long before the garish
days gf kerosene* * She carried the Ameri
can flag around the world long before
many American steamships were on the
peas. She struck whale In waters almost
unknown t© the rest of the maritime
world. And stout In every timber, able as
the day when sha was launched, with
ribs so well preserved that they chip
fresh and bright under the shipwright’s
adze, she promises to cary her white and
blue housq flag, with the black letter
”W” on the white an4 the red ball on
the blue fleld. the famous old pennant of
the yvlRg* of Nfiw Bedford, around the
jrorld for many years to come.
They treat her lovingly, Scarcely were
the last barrels of oil out of her before
the ship carpenters were in her—ripping
up planks und sheathing to investigate
her hidden timbers, replacing worn stuff
with pew, overhauling her from stem to
stern. Since she vrqs launched, she *$as
been renewed again and again from keel
son to truck. But never an Inch of her
old model has been altered. She swims
today, ae a bo awgtn more than frail a
century ago, a tpyjical whaler of the far-
off days when men built ships like
churches.
Her tlrst whaling voyage was In 1841..
She was known as Canton II then, for
New Bedford men owned a full rigged
ship also named Canton. That ship was
lost in 1852 off the Japan coast ana only
a few of her crew managed to reach
shore, after weeks of suffering In open
boats.
The bark Canton Is only 226 tons bur
den. but she looks as big as a merchant
man, for she towers out of the water
with bulky sides and her fat bowsprit
is almost as big a« a mast. Her immense
black timber davits are ns powerful and
where there always are a number of new
hands and a proportion of old ones who
have become stale with the land and
need to get their sea stomachs again.
The third day brought excitement
enough to cure them all; for, though the
ship was still near the coast off New Jer
sey, ehe sailed smack into a great school
of mighty sperm whales that hammered
the water into whiteness as far as man
could see. “Tuesday, April 21, 1901,” says
the log, “sighted a large school of whale.
Lowered larboard and waist boats. Waist
boat struck a forty barrel whale and got
carted out of town to windward. Turned
whale up at T p. m. and started to tow
vessel, but weather becoming very sqvftl-
ly, let go. 6o ends this day.”
The entry Is silently, but eloquently
embellished with a picture of a whale’s
tail sticking out of the water. That
means that the result of the day’s chase
was a fluke.
But the Canton was to make up for
that first fluke. The promise of the third
cay out was richly fulfilled during the
cruise, for the bark found
whale throughout the
Whales north Atlantic.
Every* It wag a most unevent-
whers ful voyage. So say offi
cers and crew. So say her
handsome young captain
Nicholas R. Viera. These are some of
the uneventful events:
A few days after irtrlking the first
whale and being “carted out of town”
by the swift brute, the bark lowered
fohr boats. At 1 p. m., tho larboard boa|
struck a big whale. At 4:30 p. m., the
waist boat got her Irons Into one. The
two whales during their runs 6wam to
ward each other and the two boats col
lided, and were hauled along helter skel
ter. The fourth mate’s boat, pulled by
strong arms, shot Into the mess and got
her Iron into the second whale. As quick
ly as he struck, the first mate cut his
line and got clear and both whales were
killed and brought alongside by 7:30 p.
m. One of them produced twenty-five
barrels and the other thirty barrels.
In the mix-up the first mate got his
wrist badly cut by a sharp lance that
was sticking out of one ofthe boats. “The
captain,” says the log briefly, “stitched:
the wound.” The captain had more se
vere surgery than that to perform be-
they found the t cmtxteeier sitting In tho
bottom with his arm broken in two place*.
Somehow the llfpfer had oawht him. Tho
boat, though somewhat Injured In tho
was still fast and tho wh&lo rushed-
off at rat'road speed. The first mate’s
boat managed to got a harpoon into him
M ho went by &n{l as It began to tow, tho
damaged boat cult loom and reached tho
elj-p. Then the captain set his boat
ste*rer*e inn while tho first mate fought
the wtafle. For five hours the wicked
creature battled, trying again and again
to crush' the little wasp that was sting
ing him. It was midnight before his brave
heart failed him and the mate could
bring his boat near enough to thrust the
long lance Into the "life,” the place dear
the middle of the huge mass where the
vital organ* are.
Another day there were "white waters’*
all around. White waters are the foamy
patches made by the whalea The star
board and larboard bouts
An Un* lowered. The starboard
evemfal boat struck a male whale.
only seven barrels. The
Cotaeb Oc- larboard boat struck a
caslotoally Wg fellow and while tow-
,n 6 the line was suddenly
parted by being cut by one of the keen
Wiling lances. Mate Sylvia lowered a
’ him and got smashed bv
the maddened whale almoet at once. The
starboard boat then struck a small whale
and got him. That day there were many
small whale (Diackfish) arpund the boat
*na a great many of the fierce swift kiil-
l er whales that attack the huge right
! more ferocity than sharks.
! ^ days afterward there came an
ther "uneventful day.” The bark low-
i ered four boats to chase. The starboard
boat struck a “very small whale and
capsized.” The next boat darted in and
fastened to the whale and got him. The
larboard boat struck another whale, got
^ ^ his flukes and was badly
smashed up. The log gives a line to the
episode and remarks mournfully, with a
picture of a fluke, “lost whale.”
Six days afterward the hark lowered at
,’.vn m * and chaaed a l°ne whale until
’ m - without.getting hear enough to
strike. The boats then started In with
the crews disgusted, when thev round
themselves suddenly in the midst of a big
echool of sperm whale. The starboard
ooat at once struck a large bull. The
larboard boat struck a cow. 'Both whale
were fastened alongside Dy a p. m.
Ihe next day the bark got four big
whale, each boat fastening to one.
A long day's work was when the look
out raised a huge whale at ti a. m. one
day. The boats were lowered at 7 a. m.,
the Jarboard boat struck
The at 8:3U a. m., the whale
******* was In his flurry by 9 a.
fli., he was alongside and
Barrel Chained by his tail and
fast to blocks and falls by
10 a. m., by li a. m. the
cutting stages were rigged and the “cut-
tlng-in” was begun, at 7 p. m. the last
strip of blubber had been rapped off with
the tackle and the “case” had been cut I
out, and at li p. m. the fires were flar
ing under the try works aqildsbip But
no one kicked at the labor* for this wliale
was the wh&ier s pr.ze, a luv-bafrel fish.
. On February 6 the log briefly describes
another uneventful day by saying: "Lost
whale by third mate getting kicked over
board. ’ They got three othera that day.
The third mate apparently survived his
rude treatment by the whale, for a later
entry in the log records that he enjoyed
another serene and placid day by strik
ing a whale in the morning and getting
capsized on the wnale's back. The second
mate’s boat took the line and killed the
fish. The third mate tried to return the
favor afterwards by taking the line from
the second mate when that man’s boat
struck a whale and got badly “stove.”
But the line ported. Seeing the whale
escaping, the captain himself lowered,
but the beast ^got clear before the boat
reached him. ’The literary mate orna
mented this hnfry in the log with an extra
large picture fluke.
The third ■ had • another piece of
hard .luck when^he struck a very large
whale and killed him almost at once,
the big fellow taking tlie harpoons and
the lance thruets almost as quietly as
■a cow. But hardly had he been killed
before the weather became so wicked
that even the daring whalers could not
hold on and the monster was lost after
all their work.
While the United States was waiting In
anxiety as never ^before In twenty years,
watching the bulletins from Buffalo,
where the president lay
dying, the Canton, with
her crew all Ignorant of
the tragedy, was fighting
a tremendous gale be
tween the Azores and the
Cape Verde Islands. Even
the self-restrained log records it as a
“terrible gale from the south with tre
mendous seas. The vessel,” says the
American Manufacturers Deftly Bombard
ing French Trade Bulwarks
By FRANK G. CARPENTER.
HAVE been wandering
about Paris for a week In
the footstep, of the Ameri
can Invasion. They are as
plainly ■ marked as the
footprints which Robinson
Crusoe found on the sand
of his desert island. The
big hotel in tha heart of the
boulevards" where I am
writing. Is filled with
Americans, and t am sur
rounded by American
signs. Our eoneul general
has his offices Just over the way with
the American flag flying from a pole out
of one ot the windows; Spaulding, the
Chicago Jeweler, is Just below, and Tif
fany A Co. are on the opposite elde of
the street. In the same (Jlrectlon I see
the sign of, the Equitable Life Insurance
Company, which has recently bought a
iot under the shadow of the opera house,
where it expects to build an American
building, and around the corner is the
office of the American Express Company,
with reading rooms containing the lead
ing American papers. There are Ameri
can newspaper correspondents scattered
throughout the buildings nearby, and
within a stone’s throw of here are a
score of our manufacturers and others
who are here pushing American goods.
I am dictating this letter to an American
machine, at which sits a pretty French
.typewriter girl who writes English, and
were I fond of American drinks. I might
stlmnlate my tongue with a Jigger of
Kentucky whisky at the American bar
in this very hotel.
Bpeaking.of typewriters, all of the chief
American makes nre being sold throughout
France and the French typewriter girl is
already an institution of Paris. She Is
as bright as her American sister and is
often as pretty and more stylishly
dressed. She appreciates how to charge
for her work, and when she catches a
wandering American she makes him pay
well. The usual rate for transient work
of this kind in Paris is five francs or
$1 per hour. For long Jobs there is a
considerable reduction and for steady
werk tihe prices are about the same as at
home. The Remingtons have a typewrit
ing school which they advertise as Ecole
da Stenagraphlc and^fhelr machines are
•with their beads turned under their
wings. They were laid on their breasts
on the counter and a little printed pries
mark was placed in the center of the
back of each of them. They looked Clean
enough to kiss, and 1 do sot wonder they
Sen. Each out of meat was beautifully
wrapped or tlid. tip and each bore its
price mark.
I And American goods for sale Jn the
department stores of Paris. There are
several such establishments here and
some quite as large as any In the Unltd
States. Indeed.' I doifbt whether there
la a department store In America larger
than either the Bon Marche or the
Louvre. The Boh Marche has five floors
and S basement each of which covers an
acre, so that It has about 6 acres of
floor space. R employs *.(100 clerks and
does a business running high Into the
tens of millions of dollars per year. It
was founded by the eon of a hatter
named Boucleault about fifty years ago,
who began in a small way, but who
gradually built up the business Into ene
of the greatest of Parts.
A peculiar thing about the Bon Marche
Is that it is managed on the cooperative
principle. Boucleault married a common
working girl, and after he died ills wife
lied she
took the business. When she
made a will leaving It to her employees
and assistants, so that the establish
ment now has about BOO stockholders,
and every clerk gets some percentage
over the amount paid him for wages.
In 1880 the shares in the company were
worth about $10,000; the same shares are
now worth over $60,000, and pay annual
dividends of $3,600.
After redng through the lower floors
I was taken to the top and shown the
dining rooms. AH the employees ere fed
free. They have a breakfast at noon
which Is more like a dinner than our
breakfast. It consists of soup, jn eat '
vegetables and dessert. One thoi.’V'-nd
clerks are dined at a time, the eating
beginning at 11 and continuing until 1.
There were one thousand men at the
tables today when I entered the dining
room and several hundred women in
rooms adjoining. The big dining room
must cover at least half an acre. It has
eighty windows and is 600 feet long. I
noticed that each man had a quart bottle
of wine at his place, and was told that
even the wine Is free, and that every
Hiding
With
the
storm
Kin|(
An American typewriter office in Paris.
here called Machines a Ecrire. The
Smith-Premier, the Ycst, the Callgrapli,
the Bar-Lock, the Oliver, the Densmore,
the Jewett and the Williams are Ameri
can machines which I have seen and
most of these have offices on the boule
vards. In the same locality may be
found tihe Columbia phonographs and
graphophones offered for sale or talking
chronicle, "was oh her beam ends. Bored °r singing in French at fixed price*
holes in two of the oil casks and let oil , The ^ ar f flva Afferent brands of Amer-
run out to smooth the se a as much as i itan bicycles for sale in ene shop near
possible. Called watches all down below I t ^.,y. adelclne 1 -, a ff. American
and kept all hands In steerage. Battened ' ~ ““
$1/100 worth of whalebon* with Captain Frank Lewis.
stout ns the bent cranes on a modern tore the voyage was ended. One day
sperm whales were "raised" at 10:30 a. m.
The first, second and third mate's boats
were lowered at once and they chased
the big fellows all day long. It was hard
work, for the whales were shy and hard
to get at
Hours passed and It was { p. m. before
the third mate managed at last to strike.
He got his harpoon Into a mighty one.
The Instant the iron entered, the black
monster turned wirh the wallowing o' a
warship and dashed at the boat. Before
it could back away the whale had thrown
himself over on his side and sent his Im
mense flipper, bigger by for than the
whole whaleboat, crashing down.
Byt the narrowest of chances. Just how
no man aboard could tell, the crew man
aged to get the boat far enough out of
reach so that the huge mass of gristle
pounded the «ea Instead. The shock of
that blow sent the boat spinning dizzily
as if It were In & whirlpool. When the
men could see again for spray and water.
steel war ship. As she lies at the wharf
now. dismantled, to rest until she shall
bow and courtesy to the ocean rollers
again, it needs little imagination to peo
ple her high bulwarks with the dead
and gone whaling men of a forgotten
generation.
The log of her voyage Just ended is a
story book. It was kept by an American
sailorman of parts, her flr8t mate, Ar
thur O. Gibbons, whose
2fw r flst wielded the lance to
St on search the "life” of a
BooKLo* whale In the daytime
Is and at night wielded thv
Interesting more gentle pen with
easeful simplicity.
He recounts how the bark cast off
from New Bedford wharf on Tuesday,
April IS. 1901, and how on the next day
nearly all the crew became seasick. “So
ends this day," he says. On the third
day many of the crew still were in that
unhappy condition, not rare on whalers.
down forecastle scuttle. At 12:30 the fore
top mast stay sail blew out of bolt ropes.
Soon after starboard boat was blown
from davits. The sea took forward davit
an<J bearer with It. Bread cask was torn
from lashings and gangway board and
rail was washed on deck. Bread cask
went through gangway. Decks were con
tinually swept by seas making It danger-
pus to move about decks. At 1 p. m. star
board boat was carried away and after
davits also, Only a little piece of stem and
gunwhale was left hanging by the hook
on forward davit. Cook's slush barrel
washed overboard at 2 a. m. I essoi was
In trough of th* sea all the time. 9o ends
this day.” •
Holidays went unmarked on the
whaler. July 4 was celebrated by repair
ing a boat stove in by a big fish. Last
Christmas was marked by swift work
on the part of the crew of the larboard
boat. Fifteen minutes before sundown
she was lowered and struck and killed a
whole before dark. He was alongside by
8 p. m.. and while folk on shore ail over
the world were making merry around
cosy fires the whalers on the rolling
Canton were passing great chains
around the flukes of a forty-five barrel
“sparm."
All these things and more, how they
bnrlejl two shipmates at sea in the even
ing. with the tryworks flames for fu
neral fires and the roaring waves for
funeral bells, how the great sharks
swam all around th* ship to wrest their
sharp of the killed whales from man,
how a watrrspout-maker. a whirlwind,
arose in the deep right where the Can
ton wag and in a moment had stripped
her clean of mainsail, foresail and main
staysail with all their rnpss—all these
tales of the
“Beauty and mystery of the ships,”
were told, haltingly and briefly, by Nich
olas P.. Vieira, captain of the Canton,
with apologies for not being able to tell
anything Interesting because It was only
a very ordinary voyage.
Death by Neglect.
Dr. D. M Bye. the eminent specialist, of
Indianapolis, says thousands of persons
die from cancer every year from no cause
save neglect. If taken hi time not one
case In a thousand need be fatal. The
fear of the knife, or the dread of the
burning, torturing plaster causes a few
to neglect themselves till they pass tha
fatal point where a cure is Impossible,
but by far the greater portion die because
their friends or relatives, on whom they
are dependent, are Insensible to their
sufferings and Impending danger till It is
too late Book sent free, giving particu
lars and prices of Oils Address Dr. D. M.
B/O Co., Drawer 505. Indianapolis, Infl.
chines are advertised on the kiosks and
other stands throughout the city. The
French have no typewriters of their own
worth mentioning, and at this writing
the American sewing machine is consid
ered by far the best and It gets the
trad a
Our American foods are slowly but
surely pushing their way Into the mar
kets of Paris. Not a few of the largest
grocery establishments
8M« advertise American
Tr- nrh goods, and some of them
Eat make such goods a spe-
Am*rteaa cialty. I visited today
Groceries the grocery of Felix Po-
tin at the Junction of the
Boulevards Haussmcm and Malesherbes.
It is the greatest establishment of the
kind in Paris and perhaps the finest gro
cery of the world. I found the windows
piled high with American goods, and
placards hung up here and there adver
tising American soups. California fruits
and other delicacies. Among the curious
things were Little Neck clams In tins and
codfish balls from Boston. There were
also tins of potted ham. tongue, turkey
and chicken, silver spray succotash and
cans of corn on the cob. Among the soups
were oxtail, mock turtle, hare soup and
clam chowder, each of which sells for 25
cents per can. green turtle and terrapin-
soups at 40 cents per can and mulligataw-
ney and others at lower rates. I tallsed
with the manager. He says that Ameri
can goods are steadily Increasing In popu
larity and that they are making their
way among the French.
1 heard the same from another grocer
close to the Place Vendom* in the heart
of the Hue de la Prix, where the leading
French dressmakers are situated. This
man is handling American cereals, Ameri
can whiskies, crackers and biscuits from
New York, as well as the various goods
I saw at Potln's.
At all the grocery stores our goods are
well displayed. The French are the most
artistic of all window dressers, and they
can give us many points on preparing
merchandise so that It will catch the cus
tomers' eye. I spent some time looking
over the fruits, vegetables and meats at
Potln's. Among the fruits were ripe
strawberries, each strawberry lying half
wrapped In a green leaf and In regular
rows in flat boxes. The boxes appear to
be covered with glass, and the strawber
ries are prettier than any fruit you
have ever seen. They are as big as hen's
eggs and as rosy as the cheek of a fresh
ly washed baby. The covering of the
boxes is a thin film of hard gelatine, as
transparent as glass.
Then there were peaches in boxes laid
in the sa*ia regular order on white pa
per, with a pinch of red tissue paper
tucked in each hole where four peaches
touched. The effect was beautiful. Other
peaches, especially fine, were displayed
on beds of white cotton, and I noticed
that the price of eight of these was 7 1-2
francs, or almost 20 cents each.
The chicken and game were dressed
one has coffee and a glass of brandy,
rum or other liquor at the close of the
meal. Indeed, I saw the brandv served.
From the dining rooms I was taken
ln‘o the kitchens, where at least a score
of cooks, scullions and butchers were at
work. Most at the cooking is done in
enormous gas ranges and steam boilers.
There are nine boilers, each as big as a
hogshead, used to make the soups and
stews. Three of these contain 800 quarts
and two others have each a capacity of
more than 100 gallona When the wholo
store takes mutton chops for dinner the
meat Is cooked in grills which open
and shut Just like a waffle iron. If you
would take two Iron-barred garden gates
and hinge them together so that they
could be laid on the coals you might
have something like one of these grills.
Each will hold a hundred chops, and
the arrangements are such that 800 steaks
or chops can be broiled In twelve min
utes. Seventeen hundred pounus of po
tatoes are fried at the same time and
1.400 eggs can be boiled at once.
Connected with the Bon Marche are
lodging houses for the women employees,
who are given house, linen. Are and food
free of charge. All em
ployees, after five years'
• Every service, have an Inter-
Clsrk is s est in what is called the
Vsslnst Boucleault Provident
Firm, consisting of a
certain amount of the
profits of the house proportionate to the
salary received. Four per cent Interest
is paid on the accumulations of this
kind, and this is added to the capital.
After a -woman has been employed for
fifteen years or a man for twenty, ho
or she can withdraw this capital, or the
seme right Is given upon reaching 50
years of age. If a girl marries, how
ever, she is given the entire amount of
her capital, Irrespective of the term of
service. Since the foundation of the
firm more than $350,000 has been paid
out to employees, and the capital of the
fund at present is about $700,000.
In addition to this there ■ Is another
fund which provides pensions tor such
employees as have worked In the estab
lishment for twenty years or have
reached the Age of 50. The capital of
the fund Is $1,000,000, and It gives life
pensions of from $120 to $300 per year.
The wages paid are, I understand, about
the same as those of other establish
ments, but the employees’ receipts
largely depend on the amount of their
sales, regular commissions on such sales
being given.
Among the curious American goods
for sale In the Bon Marche are Ice cream
freezers and refrigerators, as well as
churns and washing machines. The
English clerk who acted as my Interpre
ter told me that the Ice cream freezers
are very popular. The French do not
knew Ice cream as we make It. Indeed,
I have not had a good dish of ice cream
since I left the United States. Ices are
served at the hotels and restaurants,
but in many cases the amount given Is
not more than a tablespoonful, and it Is
served In a little glass with a bowl like
the hole in the bottom of a wine bottle.
The amount of ice cr^am given with the
usual glass of »oda water In our drug
stores Is about four times as much as
you receive here In a dish, and the
usual restaurant portion at horns would
make twenty portions as served In Paris.
You can get the chief makes of Ameri
can hats !p Paris, but they cost fully as
much as they do in the United States.
I was asked 25 francs, or $5, for a derby
today.
This year many Panama hats are be
ing worn, and I do not see why an
Importation of such goods from the
Philippine islands would not pay. Tho
Filipinos make as good hats os South
America, and they sell them at a much
less cost. I bought a hat in Manila for
$5 which would cost $25 here in Paris,
and the ordinary $2.50 hat sold there
would be worth three times as much
here. Men’s Panama hats trimmed with
eagle feathers are now especially pop
ular with fashionable ladles of Parts. A
good hat of this kind Is worth $16.
The American lamp is beginning to
make its way into Europe, as are also
Our gas stows and ranges. There are
plenty of American shoes, both real and
Imitation, in Paris. Those made by the
French are nothing like so good as the
Imported article, nor will they sell as
well. One man tells me that he handles
about 2.000 pairs of American shoes every
year and that his sales are steadily in
creasing. He 6ays they aro excellent
shoes when the makers are conscien
tious.
I met a curious American on the top
of the Eiffel tower yesterday afternoon.
He came from Portland, Oregon, but of
late years has been representing one
of our companies which manufacture
burlap wnll coverings. He tells me that
this is one of the live articles of the
American invasion, and that it is steadily
pushing its way into the palaces of the
rich on this side of the water. His firm
sold Over 300,000 yards in Europe last
year. The most of oils went to England,
and a part of It is now on the walls of
the prince of Wales’ bed room. Another
roll or so was used in the decoration of
Balmoral castle, Qupen Victoria's favor
ite palace in Scotland, and other rollrf
decorate the mansions of lords and dukes
galore. The young Oregonian has al
ready established agencies in Norway and
Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Italy,
and ho is now making arrangements to
paper the French republic.
It would seem to me that we might sell
more writing paper end pulp paper to
France than we are now doing. The pa
per used here is of two
American kinds—very' good and
Pspsr very poor. For business
Needed letters the French use a
X or Many cheaper grade than that
Purposes used In the United States,
but for social corre
spondence they have the best.
The newspapers are printed on tha
cheapest of wood pulp, with the exception
of the expensive Journals, such as the
j Figaro. Thtre are twenty-six hundred
! Journals and periodicals puDlished in Fa-
| ris alone, and of these a large number
1 are dailies. The newspapers are much
| smaller than ours, but soma of them,
such as the Petit Journal and Le Matin,
have enormous circulations. The Petit
Journal claims the largest circulation in
the world. The papers sell from 1 to 4
oents. or from 5 centimes to 20 centimes
each. They are.cried on the streets, and
also sold in little galvanized Iron news
stands on the outer edges of the street .n
j ail parts of the city. The kiasks belong
to the government, and the newsdealers
j pay rent for them. They make tneir
| money by tbe commissions they receive
on the sales of the papers. The usuai
rate Is two-fifths of a cent per copy (or
j a one-cent paper, and three-fifths of a
cent for papers that sell fpom - to 3 ce.i.s
eaco. Such newsdealers on the -
vards sell the different American maga
zines. They r.6t infrequently have Ameri
can newspapers, and always the Pnr:s
edition of the New Tork Herald, which
Is partly in French, and which has so
much continental social news In it tjiat
It can hardir .be saliei AnufficUf-l
I had a talk last right with Mr. I.n?J
Welller, who recently returned from thj
United States, where he hus been locating
a place for the twenty young students
which France from now on must keep ,n
America to study our industrial and busi
ness methods. Mr. Welller is delighted
with his reception in the United States,
and is urging that e.oser commercial re
lations should be established. He said:
"The French have never felt mqre
friendly toward the Americans than they
do now. We appreciate jour wonderful
kindness and great munificence in send
ing supplies to our suffering people of
Martinique, and we should like to do
what we can to make our trade relations
with you closer, indeed, I may say the
French will do all they can to meet the
people of the United States In this way.
We should be glad to buy anything of
you when it is not to our great financial
advantage Jo buy elsewhere."
"Along what special lines can our trade
with France be most easUy increased?” I
gsked.
"There are several lines,” replied Mr.
Welller, “and especially that of coal. I
should say that you could give us our
surplus coal quite as advantageously as
tha English and Belgians. Our annual
production of coal Is about lB.lWO.OOO tons
short of the demand, and we have to
go to England or Belgium for supply.
The United States could easily furnish
this and I hope that arrangements ogn
■be made to that effect.”
81nce I saw Mr. Weiller I have had fur
ther talks about tho coal Industry of
France with other parties. I am told that
the time Is ripe for the introduction of our
coal here and that there is no doubt byt
that If properly pushed it could make Its
way Into the markets. At present France
Is using about 46,000,000 tons of coal, and
the home production last year was not
quite 33,000,000 tons. Only 5 per cent of
this is anthracite, the remainder being
bituminous and lignite. At present quite
a lot of American coal is coming Into
Marseilles, and I understand that It Is
successfully competing with the Cardiff
coal there. The American coal receipts
at that port during the last year have
been over 200.000 tons. The most of the
Havre coal comes across the channel from
Greet Britain, and that of northeastern
France from Belgium via railroad and
canal.
All sorts of fuel are used In France and
that most economically. There Is no waste
of wood or coal. Many of the railway
companies use cool dus^ for running their
steam engines. The dust Is pressed by
hydzaullc force Into briquettes or bricks.
Coal dust pressed Into balls the size of
eggs is used for cooking and also for
househeatlng and grate fires. It seems
to heat ss well as lump coal.
I have already spoken or the American
toys whleh are sold 1n different parts of
Europe. You may find some In Paris and
they are to my mind prettier than the
French toys, and as a rule mnch cheaper.
There Is an opening also for our babv
carriages, both here and In England.
Those used In Paris and London are the
most uncomfortable things 1 nave ever
seen. The London baby is wheeled about
in a sort of a toot bath on wheels, called
a perambulator. The most common car
riage has two seats, so that it can be
used for twins if needed, and it is not
uncommon to see it so occupied. Even
the perambulators are rough lookTng. and
the beautiful basket work affairs made
In America would certainly sell.
The baby carriages of France are more
like ours, but they are not naif so com
fortable nor pretty. The best are made
of basket work, with four wheels, twa
big ones and two small ones behind. You
see the little ones of Paris everywhere in
the parks and public squares In such car
riages. Each has a nurse guarding it,
and as a rule a policeman or a soldier Is
near by. gratuitously guarding the nurse.
DBTXNCT FRTWt