The Arcades Project - Operi

that of the word . ... They opened the way to a journalism of the graver." Egon
Frieclell, Kltlturgeschichte der Neuzeit, vol. 3 (Munich, 1931), p. 95. [U9a,3J
Overview of the revolutionary press in Paris in 1848. Curiosites l'evolutionnaires:
Les ]ournaux rouges-Histoire critique de taus les jou.rnaux u.ltra-republicains,
by a Girondist (Paris, 1848). [U9a,4J
·''There is only one way of preventing cholera, and that is to work to elevate the
morality of the masses. No person whose moral constitution is satisfactory has
anything to fear from the plague . ... There is clearly a place, today, for awakening
moral salubrity among the masses . ... What is needed are . .. extraordinary
measures . ... What is needed is a coup d\tat, an industrial coup (Petat . ... This
action would consist in changing, by decree, the law of expropriation, so that . ..
the interminable delays occasioned by the current legislation would be reduced to
a few days . ... One could thus begin operations, for instance, on some thirty sites
in Paris, from the Rue de Louvre to the Bastille, which would clean up and reform
the worst neighborhood of the city . ... One could . .. start up railways at the
barrieres . ... The first stage of construction . .. would be accompanied by ceremonies
and public festivals. All the official hodies of the state would he there with
their insignia, to exhort the people. The king and his family, the ministers, the
council of state, the court of cassation, the royal court, what is left of the two
Chambers-all would drop by on a regular basis, wielding the shovel and pickaxe
. ... Military regiments would arrive on the scene to do service in full dress,
with their military music to inspire them . ... Theatrical performances would be
put on there from time to time, and the best actors would consider it an honor to
appear. The most. radiant women would mix with the workers to provide encouragement.
Exalted thus, and made to feel proud, the population would most certainly
hecome invulnerahle to cholera. Industry would he given an impetus; the
government . .. would be . .. established on a firm foundation." Michel Chevalier,
""Religion Saint-Simonienne: Fin du cholera par un coup d'etat"
(Paris, 1832). The Saint-Simonians wanted to distrihute medicine free of charge.
[U9a,5J
"'What makes working on the omnihus train into truly painful drudgery: it departs
Paris at 7 :00 in the morning and arrives in Strasbourg at midnight. This makes for
seventeen hours of continuous service, during which the conductor must get off at
every station, without exception, to open the doors of the cars! . .. Surely, the
employee who is required to climh down at eaeh station, and to wade around in the
snow for five or six minutes every half-hour, so as to open and close the car
doors-and all this at twelve degrees helow freezing, or worse-must suffer cruelly."
A. Granveau, L'Ou.vrier devant la societe (Paris, 1868), pp. 27-28 CI . Les
Employes et Ie mouvement des chemins de fer"). [UIO,I]
A remarkable apotheosis of the traveler-to some extent a counterpart, in the
realm of sheer banality, to Baudelaire's "Le Voyage" -can be found in Benjamin
Gastineau, La Vie en chemin defer (Paris, 1861). The second chapter of the book