The trash can [1]
Another inventor, Eugène-René Poubelle [2], created our indispensable trash cans.
A law professor in Caen, his hometown and held in suspicion under Napoléon III because of his democratic conviction, Eugène-René Poubelle (1833-1907) did not become a préfet [3] until in 1871 after the fall of the empire. In October 1883, Waldeck-Rousseau [4] entrusted him with the difficult position of the préfet of the Seine, which he would hold for 13 years.
Poubelle at first hoped to complete the work of Haussmann’s renovation of Paris [5] – which had mainly benefitted the wealthy classes – with a determined action in favor of working classes. He multiplied the schools, clinics, day-nurseries, hospices, night shelters in Paris and in suburbs. He raised the salaries and pensions of the community personnels and low-ranking police officers. In 1885, he audaciously authorized women to enter hospital internship in spite of the hostility of the medical profession. Poubelle had constructed the Rue du Louvre, Avenue de La Republique, Rue Réaumur, and Rue de la Convention and erected the Mirabeau and Alexandre III bridges, but his major works remained on the sanitation of these popular neighborhoods where impurity of air and drinking water had promoted the mortality and constituted a permanent threat of cholera seasons. One order of March 7, 1884, required each owner of every building to make a garbage can available to his tenants, which made him famous and popular.
A fine man of letters, an excellent speaker, gifted with humor, convivial, competent, open, differential to the elected representatives of universal suffrage, préfet Poubelle won the confidence of the municipal council. So, this one, who turned down the department [6] budget habitually and adopted it regularly from 1893 onwards. When he quit the Préfet of the Seine for the French ambassador to the Vatican, Poubelle received unanimous homage of the Parisian elected officials.
[1]. Translated by me from: p. 150. La poubelle. Better Reading French. Annie Heminway. McGraw Hill. New York … Toronto. 2003.
[2]. Eugène-René Poubelle. 4/15/1831-7/15/1907. A French lawyer and diplomat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Poubelle
[3]. Préfet. A high-ranking official in France, part of civil servants created by Napoleon in 1800, the general administrator of “department”, the chief executive officer and executive chif of police.
Harrap’s French and English College Dictionary.
[4]. Waldeck-Rousseau. 12/2/1846-8/10/1904. Politician and the interior minister of France in 1881-1882 and 1883-1885.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Waldeck-Rousseau
[5]. Haussmann’s renovation of Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris
[6]. La préfecture. 1. The main administrative office of each department. 2. Individual department, such as for issuing driving licenses. Ibid.
