French animosity against coca-cola is really a rather astonishing phenomenon,
but beverages are a subject on which every Frenchman holds strong views. France produces a vast quantity of wine, and yin ordinaire at 2s. a bottle or less is good encugh for a large proportion of the population. But outside competition must be frowned on. Sherry, for example;is anything but popular in France, and outside Paris is very difficult to come by. The threatened invasion of coca-cola, with all `the mechanism of American publicity methods to support it, was serious enough for the attention of the National Assembly, where every deputy from a wine-growing district has an interest in achieving the exclusion of the noxious and exotic beverage. So the Government has now been armed with powers to ban various beverages, (Ostensibly on the grounds of their deleterious effect. But the drink aimed at is undisguised coca- cola, and its deleterious effect is in reality not on the persons who drink it but on the persons who grow vines. However, the measure is only permissive, and the Minister of Health has announced that
he has no intention of using them. JANus.
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