The Abolition of Poverty

At any given time, roughly a quarter of the population of paris was living below the poverty line. During this period, alcoholism became a rampant scourge that often devoured what little discretionary income a family might have. Napoleon the third did make some efforts to mitigate the misery. But despite the emperor's political liberalization and his social programmes, his attitude towards paris was still that of a man who believed he was camping out in the middle of enemy territory.