EVENING SPIDERS
The revolt of the suburbanites

As an Extra-muros, I fully associate myself with the campaign undertaken in the Œuvre, in favor of the suburbanites, by Mr. André Morizet, mayor of Boulogne-sur-Seine.
We suburbanites have had enough of being treated like poor relations! We are rebelling, we are brandishing with a firm hand the flag of suburban demands. To tell the truth, we no longer want to be suburbanites, that is to say second-class Parisians who, every morning, come to bring their work and their money to the metropolis and, in the evening, must return in dirty trains or archaic trams, to take their place in these housing estates whose appearance recalls in such a picturesque way the Negro village in normal times and the lakeside village during flooding.

We too want to know some of the benefits of civilization: the paving of streets, cleaning, lighting, water, gas, electricity, sewerage, the muddy and the policeman. These are our modest wishes.

We will continue the struggle until we have achieved our goal: to eliminate Paris, or, if you prefer, the administrative barrier that divides Parisians into two categories: the lucky ones who have an apartment inside the fortifications and the unfortunate ones who are forced to settle outside the city by the housing crisis.

Bernard GERVAISE