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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1910)
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOMAX, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 25. 1910. j? - ' ' - i BARRIER BETWEEN NOBILITY AND TRADESMEN NARROWING IN FRANCE Trade and Industry No Longer Considered Out of Way by Members of French Aristocracy Champagne, Automo bile and Banking Business Source of Immense Income to Noblemen. J;.. " w o L : PARIS. Pec. 14. (Special.) In one of Scribe's vaudevilles there la a ruined nobleman who aaks forgiveness of Ma MMIen prior to tornlni Ironmaster. How distant already do tha daye seem and yet It la- only 50 or years ago when to engage In trad or Induatry kii conaldered In France unbecoming to a gentleman. Without colr o far back aa the French Rerolutlon. countleaa Inatancea mlcht be tttren of the pride of birth which forblda a ruined nobla to turn up hla aleevea and work. True, many an am litre became a dancing-master, but moat preferred to atarre. Of lata years, howerer. and especially alnce tha Terthrow of the Empire, which de barred the French aristocracy, -aa a ciaaa from entering; the army, tha nary, the Chamber and tha Senate, and the service of the stategenerally aa priv ileged Individuals, tha suit fixed be tween them and trade baa slowly but gradually narrowed. Thrown on their own resource!, tha more enterprising members of the aris tocracy have tired of brooding over their destiny on their country estates. Exploration, travel and sport, arte and letters appealed to many, but eren then there remained more who chafed at en forced Inactivity. Such men were bound, aooner or later, to follow tha example aet them by the younger sons of the British nobility and turn bank ers, merchants, manufacture or col onists as their tastes and opportunities decided. The raagnlncent example of successful enterprise set by America and the ro mance of wealth that haa attended It has completed the conquest, and now a long roll of noble French names can readily be quoted In finance. Induatry, agriculture and trade. Champagne-Making Popular. It la quite remarkable that many of the great champagne houses owe their fame to the enterprise of noblemen. There are the Due de Montebello. Comta , Werle.-the Marquis and Count de Mun. j Cotntea Chandon de Brlailles and M. de I Muram. who." by the way. Is a French man by adoption. A truly grand seigneur, the Marquis Guy de I'ollr nac. whose name was so prominently before the public as president of the organising committee of the great avl. atlon meeting of Reims, who was re warded for his public spirit by the Knight's cross of the Legion of Honor. and who did not deem It derogatory to his dignity to receive It at the hands of republican government, must not be forgotten. The Pollgnacs are of the "fine fleur of French aristocracy. Armand. the first of the house, lived about the year SCO. In his feudal msnor at Le Puy. whose ruins proudly look down on the Cathedral of Notre Dame, whose bishop was for centuries the hereditary enemy of the house. The Pollgnaca have been among the most Illustrious of the serv ants of the atate. They have been grand justiciaries, statesmen, ambas sadors, archbishops and men of litera ture and science, and of course, sol diers. Armand the ISd. who wss Prince of Fenestrange and Duke of Pollgnac. and lived through the Revolution, waa the great-great-grandfather of Marquis Guy de Pollgnac, whose vlneyarda In Champagne- are among the most val uable of that coveted territory. The Marqula draws annually a third of the profits of Pommery. his Income from this source alone being $200,000. At the great ofTlclal banquet, which terminated the Reims week. It may be noted, the marquis did not set Pommery before his guests, but a special brand railed the Aero Club, driest of the dry. Whether thla was Pommery In disguise may be left to the speculation of the reader. Talking of wines, must be mentioned the Dowager Duchess de Fltx-James, who for yeara devoted the closest at tention to the growth of her brands; Comte de Lur-Saluces, a Bordeaux winegrower, and Count Arthur de Vogue, the grower of muslgny. Motoring Source of Revenue. The advent of the motoring age has come aa a boon to thla type of French aristocrat, and It must be admitted that the astonishing development or the new science Is due In no small measure to the spirit of enterprise latent In a few men of blue blood. Chief among them Is the Marquis de Dion, part owner of the famoua Dlon-Bouton ma chines. The Marqula la one of the hard eat workers In France, and deservedly popular with hla workmen. Close be hind him comes the Duke dTxes, who devotes a goodly portion of his days to the Arm of Slialre A Naudln. Baron de Dietrich la at the head of a flourish ing Arm. and Count Uerard de Uanay la a prominent figure In the motor 'bus Industry. Among the directors or managing di rectors of other companlea could be named at least SO noble French names, such as Cerates d'Aublgny. d'Harnon court, Oautler, de Bertler, de Sauvigny, de Pourtolea, etc It la hardly necessary to mention In ballooning and avlatron the Comtes de La Vaul and de Lambert. A goodly number of French noble men are at the head of Inaurance and other, big companies, but especially the former. The Natlonale'a president Is Comte Plllet-WIll: Comte de Levls- Mireooix Is nresldent of Le Patrlmolne Comte de Bagneux "of La Providence; Baron de Neufllxe of the Assurancea Generates: de Ralnvllle of Le Phenlx. Others are managers and asaiatant man agers of other well-known Insurance companies. Baron de courcei is i-resi dent of the Orleans Railway Company; Prlnoe d'Arenberg of the Sues Canal Company, on the board - of which VI eomte de Vogue also haa a seat- VI comte de Segur-Lemolgnon Is vice-pres ident of the Wagons-Llts. and ao on. . Of the big banking Arms Baron urin card is one of the vice-presidents of the Credit Lyonnals; Lieutenant Colonel Walewskl Is staff manager. Prince Ponlatowskl. who married an American wife, threw up his commission In the army In order to devote himself to finance and developed such rare quail ties that he Is now president of the Banque Prlvee. Among the govemora of the Bank 'Of France are Baron Hot tlnguer and Baron de Neufllxe. Comte de Germlny Is managing director of the Banque de Paris et des Fays-lias, Baron de Busslera of the Credit Algerlen, and so on. In fact. It may be said that these men of ancient lineage show a marked talent In finance. Commerce Is Productive. The head of one of the blgegst grain houses Is M. de Vilmorln. who comes of an ancient family. In the mining In' dustry I may mention Karons Xavler and Amedee Retlle and the Marquis de Solages; in the working of metals the .Wendel family. Comte . de Franque vllle la a big cotton spinner In Alsace. At Bordeaux may be mentioned the great wine merchants de Luxe, who are related to the de Bethmann banking firm, and through them to the Chan cellor of the German Empire. Ladles of tlUs in buainess are far rarer In France than on the other side of the Channel, but nevertheless there is one. and she Is the Comtesse de fla vlgney de Moncorpa, who is at the head of a big perfumery works In the South of France. These examples suffice to prove that the old barrier la crumbling. No broken-down Breton gentleman would think nowadays of hanging up his sword In his barn before going out to make hla fortune In the wide world, only to take It down again when he returned, yeara later, with the coveted gold. Nor does he, like Scribe's noble man, ask forgiveness of his ancestors, for he knows that they, on the con trary, will look down approvingly on him. for honest work no longer dis honors the parchment of nobility. DULL CARE ROUTED BY GAY GOTHAM; SOMETHING NEW GOING ON ALL TIME Big Hotels Ear Christmas Trees, Night Court Enjoyi Concerts Fat Policemen Under Ban City Grows; Unem ployed Army Also Mayor Is Peevish. PT LLOTD r. LONKBOAN. NEW YORK. Dec. It. (Special.) Of the many beautiful Christmas trees displayed all over the city tonight, undoubtedly the finest and most ex pensive are' those that are on exhi bition In the big fashionable hotels. Five years ago. the custom was ab solutely unknown. Then tbe Waldorf 'made tbe experiment, but . Proprietor Boldt afterwards confessed that the Innovation waa due more to the ad vertisement than to any Idea that there was a field for Santa Claus In the big caravansaries. . Tbe experiment, however, was a great succeos. Children cried for It. and other hotels found that If they expected to keep their Juvenile trade It was necessary to fall Into line Naturally they did. for hotelkeepers are nothing If not progressive. The Christmas festivities are much alike in the various hotels. The big tree, of course. Is the center of In terest. Then there Is a Santa Claua. sometimes an employe of tbe house, at other places a specialist who Is brought In from the outside. Santa brlnga a present for every good little boy and gtrl land all whose parents pay their bills are naturally classed as good), sometimes there are vaude ville performers as additional attrac tions, and all In all the tiny guests have a most pleasant evening. At the Manhattan Hotel, for example, the tree la 1 feet high: It Is lighted b. electricity, and Is ablate with in candescent fruits, snow balls and air ships. Tha presents aggregate fully fl apiece In value. The Night Court Is In session each evening from o'clock until S In the morning, but there Is always a re cess from 11:30 until 1 A.i M. The other evening at the time for recess. Magistrate House gravely In vited 'the court officers and newspaper men to attend a. musicals In a vacant court In the same building. Much surprised, they went with him. Lmll Kunxll. one of tbe clerks, was the -programme." For nearly an hour he played on hla xither the master pieces of the great composers. Then everyone trooped back to court, and. after business had been wound up for the night, there waa another concert. Kunxll Is famous as a player on the sit her. He came to this country from Switzerland many years ago. and -was engaged by Theodore Thomas for hia celebrated orchestra In the early "sOs. For years he has not appeared In pub lic, and probably would still be un known to the present generation had not Magistrate House spotted him. Of course. It Is a great honor to Kunxll. but there Is another side to tbe picture. He Is a clerk employed at regular wages. The other men In similar city positions do the same amount of work that he does. But when they have completed that, they are through. Kunxll. however. Is com pelled to play during the time that hla fellow clerks ore sitting at their ease and commenting, more or less en thusiastically, upon his work. "I certainly am glad I cannot do any tricks." one of these hirelings was heard to remark the other evening while Kunxll. In a fine perspiration, was coming down the home stretch. Fat Policemen 'Worried. How much do you weigh r' and "How tall are your' are the two Important queatlona In police circles at present For now is the time that every pa trolman la Interested in them. For the traffic and mounted squads are being reorganised, and these two details art regarded as being far su perior to "pounding the pavement," at least the men think so. - Under the revised rules no man un der six fret In height can be placed on the traffic aquad, unless the sup ply of big men falls to equal the de mand. And horsemen who 'Weigh in excess of 1SS pounds, unless they ore remarkably expert riders, are not wanted In that branch of the police service. The advantage of Hbelng on the mounted aquad is that a bluecoat does not have to worry very much about the lynx-eyed sergeant or lieu tenant. On the traffic detail, the pa trolmen have all day work and are not held on reserve except In excep tional times. Besides there Is some pleasure in blocking the path of autct raoblles. and acarlng the life out of normally profane truck drivers. Some Interesting statistics, not fur nished In detail by the Government figures, have been supplied concerning the growth of New York. These show that while the Ave bor oughs In the city Itself have gained 31.7 per cent, the surrounding terrl-i tory. populated largely by men whose business Interests are in ine ciu. shows a gain of 42.1 per cent. Real estate men say that this big suburban increase is largely in an ticipation of Improvements that are only Just beginning to come into use. and they doubt If the ratio will hold up during ' the next decade.- Within the past year or so. many land com panies operating in the suburbs have found it Impossible to dispose of va cant realty, because the community has lost lta taste for speculation, even though purchases can be maden the Installment plan. London Mall Becomes "Yellow." New Tork newspaper men are much Interested In the recent "yellow" en terprise of the London Mall. This waa demonstrated during the recent "hurry trip" of the Mauretanla. The big liner was scheduled to re main here for S hours, and the stunt that the Mall man had cut out for him was to visit Washington and call upon President Taft while the ship was In port. The National capital la ' 225 miles from Manhattan, and anyone who could not make a round trip in 38 hours ought to be discharged. But the Lon don Mall took no chances. Its repre sentative was met at quarantineby a special tug. hurried aboard a special train, saw Taft, and had lots of time to burn. A real down-to-date "stunt" would have been to see how far the man could have traveled during Mils time on land. For example, with the proper railroad accommodations, the Englishman could have gone practically to Chlcag and back, and a round trip between Eng land and Chicago In 12 days would have been a world's record. But the London Mall test was valueless except to give a hard-working newspaper man an en joyable outing. The Cafe de l'Opera. under its new management Is open again, and Its ad vertisements arouse much comment among out-of-town visitors. They state among other things. "No restric tions as to dress." and many people do not know what to think of this. It does not permit guests to wear bath ing suits, but simply does not draw the "full-dress line," which was the rock upon which the old restaurant was wrecked. The one experiment has con vinced restaurant men that the New York, public does not care to be told what kind of clothea It shall wear. In this, of course, we are still far behind dear old London. Unemployed Army Increased. The army of unemployed domestics was never so large aa it Is at the pres ent time. This does not apply to but lers, ladles' maids or high-class help generally, but to what la classified as "general houseworkers." There have been many efforts to explain the rea son, and the generally accepted theory has been that hard times have caused it. Another and more novel theory, however, has been advanced by the pro prietress of one, of' the largest em ployment agencies. " "Too many middle class people are buying automobiles,' Is her view of the case. "Men in moderate circumstances purchase a machine and then find that the only way to keep it running is to trim down on other expenses. The wife, who enjoys the dignity of having her own auto. Is always willing to help under the circumstances. The result is that Pa doea the. work of a chauf feur. Ma doea the housework, oind the maid is forced to- look for another job. The family dignity Is ' kept up, seem to-be worth the cost." This explanation may be correct or not but the fact remains that a study of the list of auto owners, which can be seen by any person- who cares to look at It. proves that many of these persons live In mighty cheap parte of town, and do not pay over $30 a month rent . And a couple of speed law fines would put them out of busi ness for good, or, at least have a skimpy effect on their table. "Monster" Parade Planned. Petitions, arguments In the newspa pers and speeches having failed to in duce the Board of Estimate to step lively In the matter of more subways, the cltlxens Intend to try to soften the heart of Mayor Gaynor by Indulging In a "monster parade. The word "monster" does not apply to the character of the marchers but to the slxe of the crowd. It Is hoped to have 132.000 In line. The arrangements are In charge of the Central Federated Union, which Includes all the labor organizations in Manhattan. A committee has been named to ask the Mayor to get busy, and if he spurns them, then the parade will follow, probably early next month. If the parade Is really held the men In line will be lucky If the Mayor does not snowball them when they line up outside the City Hall. For our chief executive Is growing more peevish every day. Only a short time ago he received a letter from resident of Brooklyn, complaining that the streetcars in that borough were not heated. To which Gaynor replied with the advice that the man walk to and from work, as he (Gaynor) did. For Gaynor falls to realise there are weak men and frail women who are unable to walk miles in any old kind of weather. Besides, many of them live much far ther from the City Hall than he does. DEVIL IS SEEN IN QUAKE Peasants Burn Forest to Stop Shiv ering of Satan. BUDAPEST, Dec. 14. (Special.) An earth-tremor for which there was no precedent In Hungary, recently startled the Inhabitants by ringing the church belts In a small country township. The terrified peasants did not know what to make of It, so tbey consulted the "wise woman" of the community, who attrib uted the agitation of the earth to a chilly felling In the anatomy of the deviir who waa, she said, so hungry that be couldn't keep warm. . The superstitious people thought the beet thing to remedy the unpleasant sen sation from which they suffered was to provide food and Are for his Satanic Maj esty, so taking several calves and goats they threw them down a fissure in the rocks, snd burned afforest belonging to their bishop. The result of these panic-stricken meas ures has been different from what was expected, for the woman and her con sultants are now waiting in the local jail until the law determlnea what Is to be done to them. HEIRS WIN JLARGE ESTATE French Count Allows Disinherited Relatives Million Francs. PARIS. Nov. 26. (Special.) A curi ous case has just been decided by the Civil Court of the Seine, which has pro nounced against the State, and In fa vor of two natural heirs. Two years ago the Vlcomtesse de Ralnneville, wljo was of Russian origin, died, leaving the Archbishop of Paris sole legatee of her fortune, amounting to a million francs. The Archbishop having refused to occeDt the fortune, and the lady's natural heirs having been disinherited bv her will, it fell In the ordinary course o things to the state, and pend ing the final arrangements, a curator was appointed. Such was the situation wnen tne sister The Firm of Henry Jenning & Sons Wish Their Thousands of Customers in Portland and All Parts of the Northwest a Merry Christ mas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year This firmjias enjoyed the largest and most prosperous Holiday trade in the his tory of the firm, and trusts that its customers and friends have shared equally as well in the prosperity that abounds on all sides. V COMMENCING TUESDAY MORNING WE WILL START OUR GREAT PRE INVENT0RY SALE, in which the largest portion of our entire lines of Furniture, Carpets, Rugs, Steel and' Gas Ranges, Office Furniture and odd pieces Will Be Reduced From 20 to 50 If you wish- to furnish a hotel, lodging-house, residence, flat or replace any piece of furniture or carpet, THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY. Don't Overlook Our Window Display Henry Jenning & Sons One Year Ahead of Competitors Cor. Morrison and Second The Homa of Good Furniture and nephew of the deceased came for ward to claim the property. Their coun l a,.r,,A that Madame de Ralnneville. having remained Russian at heart, and strongly disapproving of the policy of the Republic. It was preposterous that her money, should go to the state. On the other hand, a learned barrister, on behalf of the curator, maintained that, as the deceased lady had deliberately disinherited her relatives, they had no right whatever to claim any advantage from the fact that the mlUion francs had been declined by Monslgnor Amette. to whom that sum had been bequeathed. The court, however, haa pronounced In favor of the two natural heirs. WE WISH YOU AND YOURS A M G eirry n - AND 'A HJPPY NEW YEAR WeinHard's Beer In the House Order from the nearest dealer or phone direct to the brewery It is a gentle tonic, improves di gestion and makes a most enjoyable table beverage. IS PRODUCED UNDER PERFECT CONDITIONS QUALITY, PURITY AND" CLEANLINESS are the cardinal features that insure the supremacy of our different brews. COLUMBIA, EXPORT, KAISERBLUME, in Quarts and Pints. RHEINGOLD, a draught beer of the Pil sener type; unexcelled anywhere. HENRY WEINHARD BREWERY THIRTEENTH AND BURNSIDE STREETS