Echos

(“Frenchmen are quarreling with their government about their daily bread,” reported The New York Times in October 1910. “Dissatisfaction regarding their wages translates into dissatisfaction with the Republic.” French railway men went on strike, and “before it has lasted a single day, it is discussed whether or not it is revolutionary in character.” Prime Minister Briand managed to quash the strikes, earning him the enmity of former allies among the socialists.)
“Cholera generally arrives by trains, the fewer trains are running, the less chance the scourge will get in. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the hygienists who are organizing the strike.”
(Le Journal amusant, Paris, 1910)