OPINIONS

A valuable army to fight against the high cost of living

Four hundred thousand street vendors

The new minister has promised to fight energetically against the high cost of living, particularly in terms of increases. Let us accept this omen.

One of his most effective means of action seems to be to protect and develop, by giving it all the desirable facilities, street trade, which has become so intense for some time, and this by its own means,
because it has received little help from the public authorities.

A kind of, let us not say disfavor, and even less of distrust but of "reserve" is still manifested among quite a few people with regard to these open-air traders, who set up on the markets on fixed dates, to sell essential items, especially food necessities.

The capital has seen, in particular, the development, in a significant way, of these long series of small stalls where are arranged in good order and in a generally meticulous state of cleanliness, the many commodities essential to daily life. The sedentary traders of the district are somewhat bitter about it, the housewives abandoning them on market days. They can only try to retain them by setting their prices at the same level. The goods, continually renewed, in the open air, are of a more attractive appearance and of an equally good quality. These fairground workers, who were for a long time exceptions, isolated, bohemians, stocking up with difficulty and "sounding" to get what they sold across, are today perfectly organized, established, controlled traders, paying respectable licenses and stocking up by the fastest means from the best-stocked wholesalers, but keeping, for the most part, the habit of doing without intermediaries, of going to get the goods directly, paying more in person, not fearing their trouble. Only in this way can they lower their prices reasonably and still find an honest profit, without excess.

Generally, these good people work. in family and this continual existence in the open air, so difficult in the winter months, allows them to keep, with meticulous cleanliness, a very simplified display.

The coquetry, now natural, which has replaced the carelessness of the past, in the working classes - even those where the work is dirty - exists in the markets as much as in the shops, even more so. The young women who serve are, for the most part, courteous, pleasant, with well-groomed hands and clean work linens. Why not?

In more direct contact with producers, these fairground merchants do not hesitate to lower prices immediately, if the drop is felt, instead of waiting for the backlash of the Halles prices and the "combinations" which, too often, stifle this drop,

There is therefore, in order to fight against the high cost of living, an extremely important element. These open-air merchants, like the fairground workers themselves who spread out in the cities on regular occasions, officially number four hundred thousand. A traditional solidarity among them always brings them together on markets and fairs, to avoid unjustified increases and also to resist the excessively high prices that the wholesalers" might want to impose on them.

In the field of haberdashery, popular clothing and household hardware, they are, one can say, the masters of trade and they have the loyalty to keep pre-war prices instead of the coefficient 4, 5 or more, which is the basis of so many increases. We find among these open-air merchants watches at 15 francs that the producer sold them for 12 or 13, cloth caps at 4 francs that they paid 3, just as in the cherry or greengage season, these delectable fruits, in view of the good harvest, were sold at their place really cheaply, barely a few cents, instead of prices sixfold or tenfold that were paid for them by so many shopkeepers,

These good people, however, are not happy. They often complain of being put under a bit of pressure by municipalities, dissatisfied with their arrival on certain dates, or seeking to impose excessively the right of installation. They complain above all of being considered, by the public authorities, as a negligible quantity.

When the 42 members composing the Higher Council of Commerce were officially designated, they completely forgot to call one of their representatives, whoever he might be, despite their impressive number of 400,000. On the other hand, they installed Mr. Citroën, Mr. Loucheur, Mr. Schneider, director of Le Creusot, high-ranking figures who are obviously respectable, but certainly disdainful of the modest interests of the fairground merchants.

The retail merchants of France, innumerable, have, it is true, in this Supreme Court of Commerce of the Nation, only one representative. The fairground merchants do not have a single one. And this double negligence is regrettable.

What is to be hoped is that, without in any way harming the legitimate interests of small sedentary shopkeepers, the government understands, in its laudable intentions to fight against the high cost of living, the immense force that there is in this active and circulating army of 400,000 shopkeepers, both men and women, of experience and good will. They are hardly helped in any way, they only see their task facilitated by their own means and the authorizations that are given to them always seem to be tolerances,