France and the Republic | Page 4

William Henry Hurlbert
saw in Tonkin--The diamond belt of King Norodom--Castelin the friend of Boulanger--A revolutionary shoemaker on government by committees--Evils of the Exposition--Foreigners steal the ideas of France--The railways, the new feudal system--They are the real 'enemy' of the people--Extravagance of the ministers--Freemasonry at Laon--How it controls the press--The rise of Deputy Doumer--How he lost his seat in 1889--The author of 'Chez Paddy' at Chateau Thierry--Over-zeal of the curés--The question of working men's unions--M. Doumer's report on the Law of Associations--He proves that the Republic has done absolutely nothing with this law--'Five years' spent in drawing up a report--'The Republic never existed until 1879'--And nothing done for working men until 1888--M. de Freycinet and M. Carnot only 'studied measures which might be taken;' but were not!--The first practical step taken by M. Doumer by making an enormous report in 1888, recommending things to be done hereafter--The true Republic eluding for ten years questions which the Emperor grappled with in 1867--The voters of Laon in September defeat M. Doumer--A curious little chapter of French politics--M. Doumer's coquetry with General Boulanger--After his defeat M. Doumer becomes secretary of the President of the Chamber and lets the working men's question alone--Politics as a profession in France and the United States--Intense centralisation of power in France makes it easier and more profitable than in America 226-258
CHAPTER XI
IN THE NORD
Valenciennes--The shabbiest historic town in North-eastern France--Perfect cultivation of French Flanders--Cock-fighting and flowers--Prosperity of the cabarets--One to every forty-four inhabitants around Valenciennes--Growth of the mining and manufacturing towns--Interesting buildings in Valenciennes--Carelessness of the citizens about their city--A graceful edifice of the 15th century falling into ruins--Valenciennes in the days of the Hanse of London--Medi?val burghers and their sovereigns--A citizen of Valenciennes, in 1357, the richest man in Europe--Festivals in the olden times--Religious wars--Vauban at Valenciennes--How the clothworkers fled from the Spanish persecution--Dumouriez at Valenciennes--The H?tel de Ville--Interesting local artists from Simon Marmion down to Watteau and Pater--The triptych of Rubens--Some historic portraits--The Musée Carpeaux--The coal mines of Anzin--14,035 workmen there employed and 200,210,702 tons of coal extracted--Competition with Belgium, the Pas-de-Calais, England, and Germany--The coal mines of Anzin organised a century and a half ago--The discovery of coal in North-eastern France--Energy shown by the local noblesse--Pierre Mathieu, an engineer, strikes the vein in 1734--The lords of the soil claim their rights over the coal--A long lawsuit ending in a compromise--A business arrangement under the ancien régime--The hereditary principle recognised in the organisation and undisturbed by the Revolution--An orderly, quiet, and prosperous town--A region of factories intermingled with farms--Charming home of the director--The company encourages workmen's homes, with gardens and allotments--An improvement on the Cité Ouvrière--2,628 model homes now occupied by workmen--For three francs a month a workman secures a well-built cottage, with drainage and cellarage, six good rooms and closets, and a plot of ground--2,500 families hold garden sites for cultivation--Fuel allowed, and a general 'participation in profits' of a practical sort--The right of the workmen to be consulted recognised at Anzin a century and a half ago--Beneficial and educational institutions--An industrial republic--How the National Assembly meddled with the mines--Mining laws in France, ancient and modern--Influence of politics on the output of the mines--Every Republican development at Paris diminishes, and every check to Republicanism at Paris develops, the great coal industry--The great strike of 1884--During that year the company expended for the benefit of the workmen a sum equivalent to the profits divided amongst the shareholders--What caused the collision therefore between capital and labour?--A syndicate of miners under a former Anzin workman, Basly, puts a pressure from Paris upon the workmen at Anzin to develop the strike--The pretext found in contracts granted to good workmen--The object of the strike to establish the equality of bad with good workmen--Boycotting and intimidation--Dynamite and Radical deputies from Paris--A Republican minister asks the company to accept Basly and his syndicate as an umpire--Bitter opposition of the Basly syndicate to the saving fund system--They demand a State pension fund--And pending this a fund controlled by the syndicate--A despotism of agitators--Upshot of the strike--The mines in the Pas-de-Calais--Visits to workmen's houses--Fine appearance and carriage of the miners--Their politics--Women and children--Good ventilation and sanitation of the mines--'No man can be a miner not bred to it as a boy'--Excellent housekeeping of the women--Miners of Southern and Northern France--Influence of high altitudes on character--The elective principle in the mines--Morals and conduct of the mining people--Churches and schools--A children's school at St. Waast--A digression into the Artois--What the Tiers-Etat of Northern France wanted in 1789--The cahiers of the Tiers-Etat--Respect for vested interests--A visit to St.-Amand--The conspiracy of Dumouriez--Ruin of a magnificent abbey--A beautiful belfry--Interesting pictures by Watteau--Co-operation at Anzin--What its advantages are to the workmen--Eight per cent. dividends to the members in 1866, and an average during 23 years to 1889 of 11-80/100 per cent.--How the workmen
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 254
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.