Are the merchants going to be chased out of the Temple?
A protest from the Syndicat du Carreau

The merchants of the Temple are getting agitated. They are getting agitated not because a prophet dressed in white, with a word of gold, has come to chase them out, but because a subtle question, fraught with consequences, has just been posed to the Prefect of the Seine.
This question aims at nothing less than to throw out of the Carreau du Temple, the last lively vestige of the old Temple of yesteryear, the merchants who sell cheap clothing, shoes, furs and even funeral wreaths.
They would like to put a permanent exhibition of French Crafts at the Carreau du Temple.
This morning, in the midst of the amusing and cheerful agitation of the Carreau, I saw Mr. Starck and Mr. Campana, delegates of the Syndicat des marchands du Carreau du Temple.

These gentlemen have explained to me their point of view and the defense of their interests. I say, immediately, that their interests are singularly similar to the general interest of the Parisian population.
We are here, Mr. Starck told me, 1,500 merchants, a third of whom are war widows and wounded. I can say, without being accused of hyperbolism or of mad and guilty exaggeration, that our prices cannot bear any comparison. Here, sir, are some well-cut overcoats in pure wool at 90 francs. Here are some solid, well-made shoes at 40 francs; furs at unparalleled prices. This proves to you that if we have been able to establish these "labels" at a very good price, it is because we have very reduced overheads. Who benefits from this? Our buyers, the small employees, the workers, the petty bourgeois who know the Carreau well and who return there because they were satisfied. "Shall I tell you that more than a million customers pass through the Carreau each year? Shall I also tell you that 5 or 6,000 workers work for us? If the proposal submitted to the Municipal Council were taken into consideration, we would harm not only our members, all worthy of interest, but also a very large part of the population. The general interest is allied to our interest, that is obvious.

What are you going to do in your defense?
-Send a motivated protest to each municipal councilor. Another to the Prefect of the Seine. And to make it have more weight, we ask that the "place tax" be increased to two francs per merchant coming to the Carreau. This would bring in 800,000 francs per year to the City of Paris instead of the current 400,000. I doubt that the Permanent Exhibition of French Craftsmanship could be of such considerable income. The Crafts industry is worthy of interest, but the City of Paris has other locations that it can make available to the Crafts industry without harming us and the population of Paris." This is the thesis supported by the Syndicate of Merchants of the Carreau du Temple. It is clear and precise