Many difficulties attended the levying of this impost; "as soon as night
fell," says M. Maxime Du Camp, "the city was literally taken by assault;
the tavern-keepers of all the villages of the suburbs set up their
ladders against the city wall, and the casks of wine, the bottles of
brandy, butcher's meat, pork and vinegar, were lowered by means of ropes
to the confederates who were waiting for them inside, in the _chemin de
ronde_. Should some ill-advised customs clerk undertake to interfere
with these fraudulent practices, he was set upon, beaten, gagged, and
the introduction of the prohibited commodities continued undisturbed.
They did even better; they excavated tunnels, which, passing under the
exterior boulevards, under the wall of fortification, under the chemin
de ronde, opened communication between the inns of the banlieue and
those of the city; it was a veritable pillage,--the octroi was sacked."
These violent measures have been replaced in the present day by more
suitable ones, and the _musée des fraudeurs_, in the administration
centrale of the octroi, contains a very curious assemblage of objects
used in this contraband service. Alcohol was the favorite object of
smuggling, and it was carried into the city in rubber corsets, worn
under the blouse, rubber petticoats which would contain as much as
thirty litres of the liquid, and were known as _mignonnettes_, false
backs, false calves, false stomachs, and false upper arms, mostly in
zinc. The women would not hesitate to appear as _plantureuses_
wet-nurses, or as in an interesting condition; the vehicles were mined
and hollowed with concealed receptacles, and even the collars of the
harness; the blocks of granite, the rolls of carpet,--all the arts of
the smuggler were employed. That very general popular disposition to
consider the evasion of a customs duty as a trivial offence is as common
in France as elsewhere.
At all the gates of the city, in the railway stations, and at the river
entrances of the capital, the posts of the octroi are established, and
the formula of address of the green-uniformed officials is generally the
same: "You have nothing to declare?" Foreign visitors are especially
advised against the carrying in their baggage of tobacco and matches,
the manufacture of these being a government monopoly; French
_allumettes_ are _very_ bad, but it is better to throw away your
cherished boxes of neat wax-matches before entering the barriers. With
these exceptions, the officials are tolerant of the introduction of
contraband articles in small quantities,--a half-bottle of ordinary
wine, two pounds of fish caught by hook and line, a pound of salt, a
bundle of hay or straw, etc. The agents act under the authority of the
Préfet of the Seine; the objects submitted to this duty, intended for
local consumption, are designated by the Conseil Municipal and approved
by the government. The officials have the right of search; dutiable
objects to be carried through the city are entitled to "escort" by the
agents of the octroi, or they may pay the tax at the entrance with the
privilege of having it refunded when leaving. All the communes of the
Department of the Seine, considered as the banlieue of Paris, have the
right of levying an entrance duty upon brandies, spirits, and liquors.
The penalties provided for smuggling are the confiscation of the article
and of the means used in its transportation; a fine of from a hundred to
two hundred francs, and even imprisonment, if the attempt has been made
by means of escalade or subterranean proceedings, or with prepared
methods of concealment. All dutiable articles must be declared, no
matter how small the quantity carried.
As both the city and the State are interested in the collection of this
tax, the agents have a double mandate to execute their duties, and the
contraventions of the law are pursued at one time in the name of the
public Treasury and the octroi, and at another in the name of the Préfet
of the Seine. Each gate of the city has its peculiar class of produce to
tax, according to the locality to which it gives entrance; and the daily
receipts vary to an astonishing degree. At the Orléans dépôt, the duties
on merchandise have reached a hundred thousand francs a day and fallen
to five hundred; the Porte de Saint-Denis ranges from fifty thousand
francs to four!
To the establishment of the _octroi municipal et de bienfaisance_ by the
Directory is due that of the great dépôts or _entrepôts_ of wine and
alcohol on the quais of the Seine,--the importers finding it very
inconvenient to pay the duties upon all their casks on their first
arrival. They are, therefore, allowed to store them, under the
supervision of the octroi, and pay as they are sold. When the ancient
corporation of the _crieurs jurés_ announced throughout the city the
arrival of a shipment of wine, the purchasers would throng to the banks
of the Seine; when Louis XIV granted the first authorization to
establish a _halle aux vins_, on condition that the profits should be
divided with the Hôpital Général, the site selected was the Quai
Saint-Bernard, the entrepôt of Bercy being then a market outside the
city walls. The latter, on the site of the ancient Halle des Hôpitaux of
the seventeenth century, developed greatly after its incorporation
within the city limits; it is at present divided into two sections, _Le
Grand Bercy_ and _Le Petit Château_. The city is the proprietor, and
rents spaces to applicants, generally for a year at a time. The octroi
is stationed at every gate of exit, and at numerous posts within the
enclosure. Not only is the wine stored here, but it is blended and
assorted in great tuns, and there is also storage for alcohol, liquors
of all kinds, and oil. The huge enclosure is very carefully policed, not
only for the detection of thieves, but also of fraudulent practices; at
night there are four rounds, of which the second and third are made by
guardians armed with revolvers (a recent innovation), and accompanied by
eight shaggy watch-dogs.
* * * * *
Among the scientific establishments of the city may be mentioned the
observatory established on the top of the Tour Saint-Jacques, the
beautiful fragment remaining of the old church of Saint-Jacques de la
Boucherie, demolished in 1789. In the vaulted open chamber of the base
of the tower stands a statue of Pascal, who, from the top of it,
repeated his experiments on the weight of the air; and on this top--only
fifty three mètres from the pavement--there has been in operation for
the last seven or eight years a meteorological observatory. The varying
conditions of the atmosphere, the winds, and the smoke which pollutes
it, are closely investigated, weather predictions are hazarded, and the
observers even descend into the sewer at their feet, under the Rue de
Rivoli, to investigate and analyze the subterranean air. About 1885, M.
Joubert, the director, established here a gigantic pendulum, to repeat
the experiments made by Foucault at the Panthéon in 1851, and afterward
a water-barometer, the only one in existence. The incongruity of this
modern scientific apparatus on top of this mediæval tower, among the
four monsters of the Evangelists at the corners, is rather
amusing,--even the statue of Saint James himself carries placidly an
anemometer on his back.
Another of these minor municipal details--and possibly a more affecting
one--is the official Dépôt des Marbres, established adjoining the
official museum of the Garde-Meuble at the end of the Rue de
l'Université, by the side of the Champ de Mars. Here are deposited
irreverently and in various stages of dilapidation all the official
statues, royal, imperial, and republican, that have out-lived their day.
"The marble of the statues of the State," said a cynical sculptor, "has
the peculiarity of cracking after only a very short period of use." Some
of these official marbles have had a longer period than others; but they
all end here. Our illustration shows a corner of this depository,--at
the angle, Napoleon III, sculptured by Iselin; behind him, a relief
representing the return of the ashes of his great uncle; in the
foreground, the Imperial eagle, with his fiery glance forever dimmed,
and, at the left, a seated figure of Louis XVIII. Kings, potentates, and
powers, official allegories, emblems, and symbols, are all set down here
together, at the mercy of the weather. In the adjoining grand central
pavilion are accumulated the official portraits of these departed
rulers, including very many of the late Emperor and Empress,--"all the
old rattles of France, all the playthings that she has broken."
[Illustration: _Louis XVIII._ _Group: Transferring the_ _Napoleon III.
ashes of Napoleon I._
KINGS IN EXILE: DEPOSED STATUES IN THE GARDEN OF THE GARDE-MEUBLE DE
L'ÉTAT, ON THE QUAI D'ORSAY.]
If the city is regardless of the effigies of her deposed rulers, she at
least has some consideration for the living citizen who falls into
trouble. The official Mont-de-Piété, or pawnbrokers' establishment,
stands always ready to rescue him from the grasp of the usurer--provided
he has some security of any kind to offer, and although its services are
not altogether gratuitous, they are of very great benefit to the public.
No private individual is allowed to make a business of lending money on
personal objects. It was by letters-patent of the king, dated 9th
December, 1777, that the original establishment was authorized, to be
placed under the inspection of the Lieutenant Général of Police and of
four Administrateurs of the Hôpital Général; the amount to be loaned to
applicants was fixed at four-fifths of their value on objects of gold or
silver, and at two-thirds on all others. The administrators were
permitted to establish branch offices in different quarters of the city,
and the central bureau was located in the Rue des Blancs-Manteaux,
where, very much enlarged, it still is. This institution proved to be of
the greatest service to the people, well-to-do as well as poor, but the
undiscriminating Revolution promptly abolished it as a monopoly, and was
forced to restore it under the Directory, May 22, 1797. By the law of
February 4, 1799, no similar establishment could be opened without the
consent of the government.
At its reconstitution under the Directory, it made its loans at the rate
of thirty per cent., this was gradually reduced to twelve, and it was
not until after the Revolution of 1830 that the figure was fixed at
nine. At present, the interest and the charges amount to seven per cent.
In the first century of its existence, from 1777 to 1877, the total
amount of the loans advanced was two trillion three hundred and eight
million six hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and ninety-six
francs. The number of objects pledged was over a hundred and twelve
million five hundred thousand, of which there were redeemed, or sold as
forfeited, a hundred and ten million seven hundred and ninety thousand.
The first of the succursales, or branch establishments, was for a long
time in the Rue Bonaparte, the ancient Rue des Petits-Augustins, in the
neighborhood of the École des Beaux-Arts; in 1814, a royal ordinance
authorized this succursale to enlarge itself, and granted to it an old
building and a slice of the garden of the Musée des Monuments français,
on several conditions, one of which was that it should transport to
Père-Lachaise and reconstruct there the tomb of Héloise and Abélard,
which was in the ceded portion of the garden. This was faithfully
carried out, but in 1833 the State changed its mind, the cession was
revoked, and the Mont-de-Piété was obliged to restore the ground and
demolish its building, but was not reimbursed for its outlay on the tomb
of the lovers. At present, the succursales are three in number, in the
Rues de Rennes, Servan, and Capron, and there are bureaux auxiliaires
for very nearly all the letters of the alphabet, by which they are
designated. These latter have no storage-room, and consequently are
unable to deliver an object redeemed until the following day; the
transportation of these pledges through the streets is effected in the
company's own wagons, and with every precaution against loss. In the
auxiliary bureaux, or bureaux of the quarter, no loan is made for a
greater sum than five hundred francs, while in the central establishment
the limit is ten thousand francs, but all the regulations are otherwise
the same; only one style of ticket is used, and this varies in color
according to the year, being white, pink, yellow, green, etc., in
sequence.
By the terms of the present regulations of the establishment, the object
offered as a pledge is appraised by eight official _commissaires-priseurs_
who are responsible for the deficiency in case the object, being
neither renewed nor redeemed, is sold at public auction at less than
their valuation. As may be supposed, they take care to guard against
this eventuality,--the amount to be loaned on each pledge being the same
proportion of its value as that fixed by the ordinance of 1777. The
disappointment of the borrower at the inadequate sum offered him is not
considered; but it has been proposed to establish by law a percentage
nearer the actual market value of the security. The borrower is also
subject to a tax,--of one per cent. on the sum he receives, without
regard to the duration of the loan, and of six per cent.
additional,--three for interest and three for running expenses. This
last is calculated proportionally on the sum received and on the length
of time the pledge remains unredeemed, counted by fortnights; loans of
three, four, and five francs, not remaining unredeemed longer than two
months, are not subject to this six per cent. tax.
Careful precautions are taken against the Mont-de-Piété being made a
receptacle for stolen goods. The applicant for a loan must be known and
have a permanent residence, or be vouched for by some one fulfilling
these requirements; a married woman must bring the authorization of her
husband, and no loans are made to minors. If the employés have any
reason to suspect the integrity of the applicant, his loan is refused
until he furnishes more satisfactory guarantees. In one year the number
of watches recognized as stolen was two hundred and fifty, out of a
total of three hundred and fifty thousand received. Loans are made for a
year, at the longest, but in practice two months of grace are added; if
at the end of this period the object is not redeemed, it is sold at
public auction. Some of these pledges have been in the establishment for
forty, forty-five, and fifty years, and very many for twenty,--constantly
renewed and never redeemed. When sold, the surplus or _boni_ remaining
after deducting all charges is held at the disposal of the owner of the
pledge for three years, and then turned over to the administration of
the Assistance Publique.
By the law of July 25, 1891, this establishment is permitted to advance
money, at its usual rates, on French Rentes and other bonds and
securities authorized by an ordinance of the Préfet of the Seine. These
loans are not to exceed five hundred francs each, nor to be less than
three francs, and the duration of the loan is for six months, unless
renewed. The capital on which the Mont-de-Piété does business is
borrowed from stockholders or subscribers, to whom it pays interest; one
of the principal of these is the Comédie-Française, which, by the famous
decree of Moscow, is required to place two millions of its surplus in
this official benevolent institution.
* * * * *
Much the most important public service of Paris is the Bureau of _Postes
et Télégraphes_, the administration of which is confided to a
Sous-Secrétaire d'État, and which employs, altogether, nearly thirteen
thousand _fonctionnaires_, male and female. Of the efficiency of the
postal service, the Parisians are justly proud; the telephone service,
on the contrary, since it has passed under the management of the
government, is a source of more earnest and heated complaint on the part
of the unfortunate subscribers than even is usual in other lands before
this aggravating mouthpiece and tube. The earliest postal service in
France, according to the historians, was maintained by the Université
for the benefit of its students, who were enabled to correspond with
their relatives by means of messengers; this exclusive privilege, long
preserved, was finally combined with the service which Louis XI
established to serve the ends of his crooked policy. The modern postal
service may be said to date from the reign of Louis XIII; and, in its
gradual development, has passed through much the same phases as in other
countries. During the seventeenth century, the central office was
located in some contracted quarters established in front of the
colonnade of the Louvre, and was eventually transferred to the old hôtel
in the Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, constructed on the site of the ancient
Hôtel de Flandres. Although enlarged by successive additions, this
building never afforded sufficient facilities, and proposals to abandon
it and construct another and more ample central office elsewhere were
seriously debated from 1793 to 1811, but the Corps Législatif was
unwilling to incur so great an expense. On the night of the 7th-8th of
August, 1880, the central office for Paris and the department of the
Seine was established in temporary quarters in the Place Carrousel, and
the demolition of the ancient building, preparatory to the construction
on its site of a much larger and more efficient one, was commenced. The
new Hôtel des Postes et Télégraphes was completed four years later.
[Illustration: THE MONT-DE-PIÉTÉ: SCENE IN A BRANCH OFFICE OF THE GREAT
MUNICIPAL PAWN-SHOP.