FRANCE. 



349 



artery. The result was humiliating to the 

 soldier, particularly so because M. Floquet had 

 the reputation of not knowing how to handle 

 a sword, and had not practiced for twenty 

 years till the preceding winter, when he fenced 

 for the benefit of his health. On August 19 

 he was a candidate in elections that were held 

 in the department of the Nord, where his ma- 

 jority was only 27,000, in the Charente-Inferi- 

 eure, where he received 57,000 votes to 42,000, 

 and in the Somme, where he had 76,000 votes 

 to 41,000 for his Republican opponent. 



After this electoral triumph, which caused 

 much alarm throughout Europe, Gen. Bou- 

 langer disappeared, and traveled incognito in 

 foreign lands, not returning till October. On 

 the 24th of that month he appeared before the 

 revision committee of the Chamber, having 

 two days before taken his seat as a member 

 for the department of the Somme. He said 

 that he would leave the question of revision 

 to be decided entirely by the Constituent As- 

 sembly, and declined to give his own views 

 further than that he desired an Executive that 

 should not be responsible to the Legislature. 

 There was a renewal of disquieting popular 

 agitation. Collisions took place at political 

 meetings between Boulangists and anti-Bou- 

 langists, and on October 30 the Government 

 ordered the police to seize pictures that were 

 sold in the streets representing Gen. Boulanger 

 driving out the deputies from the Chamber, 

 and portraits, likewise in uniform, of the 

 Comte de Paris and Prince Victor Bonaparte. 



Strikes and the Closure of the Labor Exchange. 

 The Bourse du Travail in Paris is a large hall 

 for the use of workingmen's associations and 

 unions, and was built with municipal subven- 

 tions. The majority of the Syndical Chambers, 

 which have their offices there, belong to the 

 Possiblist party, which aims at gradual social 

 revolution by constitutional and peaceable 

 means, while some are Anarchists, others are 

 Blanquists, and some style themselves Inde- 

 pendent, and show revolutionary tendencies. 

 One of the objects of the central labor hall 

 was to maintain an open register where em- 

 ployers could find workmen at the different 

 trades without the intervention of the employ- 

 ment bureaus, which charge fees that are often 

 exorbitant. This feature was not sufficiently 

 developed, because hirers of labor persisted in 

 patronizing the private agencies. In the sum- 

 mer of 1888 the war of class interests broke 

 out in a series of strikes in Paris, which were 

 instigated mostly by the leaders of the revolu- 

 tionary minority. The specter of labor poli- 

 tics lias influenced the selection of cabinets by 

 the Presidents who preceded M. Carnot, and 

 was one cause of their instability, for they 

 have usually been chosen from among the dis- 

 credited leaders of the Opportunist minority, 

 the Floquet Cabinet being the first that ap- 

 proximates the center of gravity of the Repub- 

 lican party. The labor disturbances of the year 

 began at the annual celebration of the Com- 



munist insurrection at the cemetery of Pore 

 Lachaise on May 27. Some of the extreme So- 

 cialists, under the lead of Henri Ruche-fort and 

 the "Intransigeant" newspaper, had attached 

 themselves to the Boulangist movement. A 

 large section of the Possiblists, led by Citizen 

 Joffrin, had joined a Society of the Rights of 

 Man hostile to Boulanger, which had been 

 founded by MM. C16menceau and Ranc, and 

 had for its ostensible object the defense of the 

 republic against attempts at reaction or dicta- 

 torship. Orators from these groups, as well 

 as Blanquists and Anarchists, made speeches 

 over the graves of Communards. Asa Bou- 

 langist wreath was being deposited at the foot 

 of the wall where the defenders of the Com- 

 mune were shot down by the Versaillais troops, 

 an Anarchist named Lucas, who had recently 

 been tried for an attempt on the life of Louise 

 Michel at a public meeting in Havre, fired 

 with a revolver at the bearer, whose name 

 was Rouillon, wounding two Blanquists in the 

 crowd. A light ensued between Anarchists 

 and Communists, which was stopped by the 

 police. On July 25 a general strike of the la- 

 borers in the building trades began in Paris, 

 throwing out of employment a great number 

 of other workmen of the class most addicted 

 to Anarchist sentiments. The strike originated 

 among the laborers employed at the Exhibition 

 works on the Champs deMars, who demanded 

 60 centimes an hour, the price established by 

 the Municipal Council for the public works of 

 the city, instead of 45 or 50 centimes, that the 

 contractors were paying. Men throughout 

 Paris who continued at work were compelled 

 by the strikers to throw down their tools. 

 Most of the strikers were Belgians. Italians, 

 and Germans. The police, assisted by the 

 military, attempted to prevent disturbance and 

 illegal interference with workmen, and many 

 strikers were arrested, but let go. The Mu- 

 nicipal Council rejected, by 40 to 28 votes, a 

 proposition of M. Yaillant to aid the strikers 

 with money. By July 31, the number of 

 workmen on strike who had inscribed their 

 names at the Syndical Chamber was 9.812. 

 The carters joined the strike in the beginning 

 of August. M. Floquet received a deputation 

 of strikers, and announced that the Govern- 

 ment would permit no interference with com- 

 binations to strike nor intimidation of laborers 

 who wished to work. Strikes were threatened 

 by the carpenters and in other trades where 

 wages were lower than the municipal tariff. 

 The agitation and strikes spread to the prov- 

 inces. Disturbances were made by strikers 

 at Amiens, who sacked and burned a velvet- 

 factory and fought the police behind barri- 

 cades. At Besseges the miners struck for an 

 advance of 50 per cent. At Calais demon- 

 strations of the unemployed were accompanied 

 by violence. The upsetting of carts and tak- 

 ing away of tools went on in Paris, and the 

 public prosecutor could find no law directed 

 against such offenses. The hair-dressers, coffee- 



