se, then, will be for carriage; but it is easy to
see that there will always be an economy in their use. This is a fact,
moreover, that practice has verified, for it is well known that Paris
does not get her expenses back from her stationary markets, while the
movable ones yield a revenue.

On another hand, as stationary markets are costly, it results that
they cannot be multiplied as much as necessary, and so a portion of
the inhabitants are daily submitted to a loss of time in reaching the
one nearest them.

Finally, from a hygienic standpoint, movable markets present a
very great advantage over stationary ones. The latter, in fact,
notwithstanding their large open spaces, never get rid of the vitiated
air that they contain, and the bad odors that emanate from them are
also a source of annoyance and danger to the neighborhood. In movable
ones, on the contrary, when the structure is taken apart, the air,
sun, and rain disperse all bad odors, and the place is rendered
wholesome in an instant.

We have now demonstrated what great advantages the city of Paris and
her population might derive from the establishing of movable markets.

It is easy to see that well established structures of this kind would
render great services in small towns also. They might entirely
replace stationary iron markets, the high cost of which often causes
municipalities to preserve their old, inconvenient, and unhealthy
structures. As a general thing, market is held but once or twice a
week in small towns. In the interior the structure could be taken
apart, and the place rendered free.

The question, then, is to have a system of construction that shall
satisfy the different parts of the programme that we have just laid
out, that is to say, strength, lightness, rapidity of erection,
and ease of carriage. The shelters that are at present employed
for movable markets at Paris are very primitive, and are wanting in
solidity and convenience. They consist simply of wooden uprights to
which are affixed cross-pieces that support an impermeable canvas.

In order to render it possible to extend the system of movable
markets, it became necessary to first find and study the proper
material.

During the year 1883 the city of Paris resolved to make some
experiments, and the Direction of Municipal Affairs commissioned Mr.
Andre, director of the Neuilly works, to submit to him a plan for a
structure that could be easily taken apart. The plan finally pro