WOMEN IN REVOLT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12587, 18 October 1911, Page 8

WOMEN IN REVOLT.

FRKXOH WAY OF DEALING WITH HIGH PRICES. PARIS, September 3. The north of France was yesterday and to-day the theatre of fresh disturbances provoked by the agitation against the i;ise m the price of provisions. The burial of the miner Humbert, who was shot during a riot at Billy-Montigny by a, baker named Wils, led to violent scenes m that town to-day. On leaving the cemetery. 20,000 miners were harangued by a delegate of the revolutionary Labor Federation. Gendarmes intervened and attempted to take the red flags from the men, m the procession. A riot ensued, m which 75 gendarmes were surrounded and maltreated with great brutality. They . eventually retreated, leaving the flags m possession of the mob. Meai is so scarce at BillyMontign^ that an inhabitant killed his horse this morning and offered,- it for sale, but no one would buy the meat, and the owner, was roughly, handled by some indignant housewives. At Douai, m the department of the Nord, several hundred turbulent women decided to march to Valenciennes, five miles distant. One of the leaders of the manifestants suggested that they should compel the "bourgeoises" of the village, that is to say the wives of the tradesmen, to march at their Head. The idea was received with enthusiasm, and at 5 o'clock m the mor,ning a band of miners' wives and daughters knocked at the doora of the principal farmers and tradesmen and under threats of personal violetica obliged the ladies of the household to rise and join them. At one house, where several Parisiennes had arrived the night before, the inmates refused to open the door. It was battered m and the ladies from Paris, trembling with fear, were forced to dress m. haste and then dragged out and placed at the head of the mobTwo other women, wives of local farmers, were treated m the same way. march started to the strains of the revolutionary anthem, the "Internationale," powerful and determined women armed with heavy cudgels walking on each side of the, "bourgeoises." Owing to numerous stoppages at beershops by the way it took, three hours to reach Valenciennes. Although tho procession was accompanied by gendarmes and mounted chasseurs they made no attempt to deliver the unfortunate victims from the furies who kept them prisoners. On arriving at Valenciennes the police stopped the . rowdy column and the unhappy "bourgeoises," dropping with fatigue, were set -at liberty, The ladies from Paris took the first tram for the capital. Later m the day a stranger from the Belgian side of the frontier arrived m the market-place of Valenciennes with three crates, each containing 1400 eees which he offered at Id apiece. In less than a quarter of an hour he had sold out one crate, and the housewives were falling over one another m their anxiety to be served. Suddenly it was discovered that the eggs were anything but fresh. The dishonest dealer only saved his skin by taking to his heels, and the police reimbursed tße women who had made a bad bargain. The stringent regulations against the importation of American cattle are being attacked, and there is a demand for tjheir relaxation. Mutton is very scarce, .and pork, which used to be the poor man s food, is now beyond his purse. Winter, it is said, will bring a terrible scarcity of meat, -which only importation of American cattle can avoid. The commission which has been inquiring into the rise m the price of meat has found that the cause is not only the drought, Vrhich has caused a shortage 'of supplies, and the exports of live stock to other countries, but the changing habits of the French people. •The "pot-au-feu" and the ragout have disappeared from the- family dinner table. Every one wants to have roast, or grilled meats. The other parts of the carcase can only be sold at very low prices, semi- wholesale at the markets, where the restaurants buy their provisions on< advantageous terms. Hence it is that fehe retail butchers must get Compensation on the best parts,. and so they have to charge higher prices all Tound.

Tlie following are additional reasons to . which higher prices are ascribed: — The general increase of. prices m all branches of industry, resulting especially from the rise m salaries, and the application of the recently voted social laws, such as a weekly rest-day and compensation for accidents.

The growth m consumption. More meat is eaten even m the smallest hamlets. ■ *

The demand among consumers for the youngest meat. Animals are slaughtered before they have reached their full development ; . bullocks and heifers are killed at .eighteen months or two years, whereas if they were kept another year they would furnish an additional quarter of meat; lambs are killed at eight to ten months. . .