Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — Hats and Gendarmes. [ARTICLE]

Hats and Gendarmes.

The attachment of the French to familiar Insignia, costumes sad decorations has been shown lately in many picturesque ways. It has been proposed to abolish the red pantaloons which have been the distinguishing mark of French soldier* far many years. Statistics prove that these conspicuous uniforms cause troops to suffer a larger fatality than troops dad In sober blue. But the attachment of the French people to these gaudy garments Is so groat that the military administration has been no more able to got rid sf thorn than the British War Office has been able to substitute another color for the scarlet In which the British Infantry have fought for more than a century and a half. More recently still an order has been Issued depriving the French gendarmerie—a sort of military police—of the big hat which has been Its joy and pride, and putting In Its place s smaller and more convenient headgear. This, too, has raised a storm of opposition. A witticism has been going the rounds of the French press which represents the state of the public mind on this subject “To abolish the gendarmes' batet” exclaims an indignant dtisen. "How stupid! Better leave the hats and abolish the gendarmes!"