FRANCE: Paris Uber Alles

Europeans have always marveled that the diplomatic and consular representatives of the U. S. are so often of the same strain as the people to whom they are accredited. For example, the U. S. Minister to Norway is Laurits Selmer Swenson, born in New Sweden, Minn., and husband of onetime Miss Ingeborg Odegaard of Norseland, Minn. Last week another instance of this sort of thing strikingly appeared in a report of the U. S. Consul-General at Paris, Mr. Alphonse Gaulin, a one-time Mayor of Woonsocket, R. I., where live many French-Canadians.

Wrote the Consul-General, expatiating upon French exports to the U. S.:

“It is to be observed that French specialities have a strong attraction for Americans. These so-called luxuries have apparently become necessities following the advance in the artistic taste of our people. The demand for the products of French skill and ingenuity has always been, and doubtless will always be, in direct ratio to the extent of American prosperity.

“Paris, indeed, rules the better half of our humanity.”