European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 13, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes wednesday september 13, 1978 bread Cost feeds another French revolution bread Price has been freed for first time since 1791 and French Aren t Happy about it. Is photo by Jim Cole Many Bakers Are opposed to the hike because they Are afraid of a Price War. By Marcus Eliason associated press read is a word that can make the French heart miss a beat. Marie Antoinette supposedly told the hungry poor to eat cake and helped Trig Ger a revolution. Now the Price of bread is going up and the nation is again in a Flap. No one is storming the Bastille this time but the Tor rent of editorial comment talk show time and official statements being devoted to the Issue underlines How much bread is a Symbol to France. And few frenchmen thought finance minister Rene Monory was overstating the Case when he called it a revolution. The most important act of decentralization this  the Price Rise which amounts to Only two or three cents so far came about because the newly elected French government deregulated the Price As part of a bold program to strengthen private Enterprise and Cut state spending. The Price of bread had been fixed by the state since 1791, when the French revolutionary Assembly before having Marie Antoinette beheaded resolved that the staff of life would never again be out of reach of the poor. Socialist and communist newspapers condemned Monory s move. The unorthodox left leaning liberation was vitriolic. The paper sarcastically raised the Specter of a Black Market in White bread the Rich banking their loaves in Switzerland and beggars stooping for bread crumbs in Stead of cigarette Butts. The daily la Montagne thought differently. It said bread took up Only three percent of the average family food budget and advised frenchmen accustomed to state Price controls since world War ii to learn to control prices  the move Blunt talking Monory said France s problem was that it is neither a Market Economy nor a collect sized one. It has been a hybrid with the chiefs of business calling for Public help at the slightest pretext he said adding you can t build a Good Economy on  under controls the famed Baguette the Long Sau Sage shaped French loaf Cost 1.25 francs. In the three weeks since prices were freed it has crept up to 1.30, and even 1.40 in fashionable neighbourhoods. A franc is Worth about 22 cents. With inflation at 11 percent a year the Price will Proba Bly go on rising. Many Bakers oppose the move. Some fear a Price  worry that the big bakeries buying ingredients at lower Cost will put the Small Boula Geries out of Busi Ness. The berated mustachioed Baker peddling his loaves from a Pushcart is a dying species and sentimentalist fear he will soon vanish altogether. Bread has always figured in the major events of French history. When noblemen revolted against Louis Xiv s fiscal policies in 1648, the Bakers who supported them started producing a special kind of bread in their Honor called la Fronde. The style lasted for centuries. Another loaf that lasted until recently was the sculpted Joyeuse conjured up for a Niece of that name in King Henry ill s family. Bakers traditionally were Able to have the lepers in their family treated free of charge at the St. Lazare Hospital provided they donated one loaf a Day to the clinic. French Bakers even have a Patron Saint Saint Honore who is said to have heard the Call of god while watching his Mother bake a loaf of bread. Just last february Bakers stopped making Quality croissants in protest against a government imposed Price ceiling touching off a heated election Issue known As the croissant War. Whatever Saint Honore might think of Monory s Tiews move one thing is sure there s no Point in again telling frenchmen to eat cake it was deregulated along with bread. At wits end by Erm Bombeck by graduation the average High school student will have viewed 18,000 hours of to and attended Only 11, 000 hours of formal classroom instruction. They will have witnessed 13,000 to killings and have seen 350,000 com  from the new Book the plug in drug by Marie Winn commencement address for television graduates Good morning graduates. Thanks for allowing me to preempt the test patterns for my message this morning. You know a funny thing happened to me on the Way to the studio. Come to think of it if you be watched 22,836 sitcoms you be probably heard it before. Today my friends you re standing on the Brink of prime time. A new life where you la leave the House and get jobs and actually they won t be As Good paying jobs As $20,000 Pyramid or Hollywood squares or joker s wild but. What i m trying to say is that All you professional viewers Aren t going to be renewed next season. You re going to have a taste of real life for a change like Riding the subway sitting at a table for meals. Or to put it an other Way. A documentary without commercials. You re ready to see the world. Of i know you be seen All the olympic games live seen every inauguration every country and its Leader in the world mass on Christmas eve in Rome climbed the Himalayas but your travels this time will take you sever Al feet away from your to screen and that s a Little  Veall known about sex since the age of two and regard it As about As exciting As flossing your Teeth but Trust me there s More to getting married than the rat Ings. Your education up to now has been one of the most unique in the history of civilization. You know How to j unclog drains shake up your Mouth Aid indigestion i clean your oven while you sleep Deal with irregular i cities and fight cavities. But have you no curiosity As to what happened to or. Olson How Long Charlie tuna can handle rejection and j what Sandy Duncan replied when her husband said this is ridiculous but i thought i saw you today stand Jing in a wheat Field with a Box of  j about violence. What can i Tell you you be seen it j All. War riots assassinations terrorists rapists murderers and cities burning. What you Don t know. And what the real world Cani provide is a Means to do something about it and the \ love and compassion to feel. Stop observing the world i and Start living in it. Good Luck i c 1976 Field enterprises inc