Leather goods

Jewelry, silverware

TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES.-For details relating to shipments of domestic merchandise to France see article, EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES, p. 340. Our exports have grown from $60,693,190 in 1891 to $78,923,914 in 1901. Our exports the last year showed a falling-off of $4,431,183, compared with those of the previous year.

The imports of French goods into the United States during the year ending June 30, 1901, amounted to $75,454,098, against $73,012,085 for the previous year. The total of European imports the last fiscal year $429,436,180, against $440,567,314 the previous year. Only Great Britain and Germany have a larger trade with us.

was

The values of the principal items of French imports during the years ending June 30, 1900, and 1901, are shown in the following table (compiled from statistics in the Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, June. 1901):

Art works (dutiable)... 1,445,289 Books, music, etc. (free)

1900. 112,103

1901.

$ 315,168

1,668,812

194,690

406,601

Coffee

Cotton cloths

Cotton clothing, laces,

Earthernware,

china,

SHIPPING. According to Lloyd's Register (19001901) of the shipping owned in each country of the world, of 100 tons and upward, France is, in tonnage, fifth in rank. The four nations having more tonnage of steamers and sailing vessels are Great Britain (13,241,446), the United States (2,750,271), Germany (2,650,033) and Norway (1,640,812).

Of steamers, France has a total number of 662; tonnage, 1,052,193. They are distributed as follows:

STEAMERS.

Wood and composite.

Iron

Steel

000), sugar (£8,000,000), etc., the total of indirect taxes and revenue being £83,823,873.

3. Income from monopolies and State manufactories, £29,160,052, comprising the receipts from tobacco (£16,530,440), matches (£1,221,120), gunpowder (£506,880), postal services (£7,954,640), telegraphs (£1,679,720), telephones (£576,760), the mint (£17,000), and the profit on State railways (£604,440).

4. Revenue from national domains, £2,219,412, chiefly rents and sales of wood.

5.

6.

Of sailing vessels there are 552, having a total tonnage of 298,369, distributed as follows: Tons. .387 67,015 .56 47,328 .109 184,026

SAILING VESSELS. Wood and composite..

Iron Steel

The French mercantile navy includes 13,579 steamers and sailing vessels of not over 50 tons, according to the Statesman's Year-Book, 1901, there were (Dec. 31, 1899), "14,262 sailing vessels, of 450,636 tons, with crews, 68,031, and 1,227 steamers of 507,120 tons, and crews numbering 13,701. Of the sailing vessels, 150, of 14,507 tons were engaged in the European seas, and 264 of 213,078 tons in ocean navigation; of the steamers, 237 of 197,067 tons were engaged in European seas, and 173 of 274,861 tons in ocean navigation. The rest were employed in the coasting trade, in port service, or in the fisheries."

The following figures show the movement of navigation in 1900: Entries, 26,647 ships and 18,358,801 tons, of which 7,625 ships and 4,680,464 tons were under the French flag, and 10,022 ships and 13,678,337 tons foreign. Contrasted with 1899 there was a loss of 117,480 tons in the French tonnage, and a gain of 1,388,816 in the foreign. Clearances: 20,848 ships and 12,886,302 tons; 7,279 ships and 4,330,923 tons under the. French flag, and 13,581 ships and 8,556,449 tons foreign. French tonnage declined 94,957 tons, and the foreign increased 804,469 tons.

FINANCE. In the French Budget for 1901, passed by the Chamber of Deputies Feb. 25 last, the receipts were estimated at $710,920,000, and the expenditures at $710.870,000 (in round numbers), leaving a surplus of about $50,000. In the grand total of receipts, a small part (about ($450,000) is revenue collectible in Algeria. The various items of revenue for France, amounting to $710,480,580, are classified as follows, by Mr. M. H. Herbert, in his Report on the Finances of France for the Year 1901 (No. 2649 Annual Series, British Diplomatic and Consular Reports):

1. Direct taxes, £20,903,863, consisting of trade licenses (about £5,365,300), the land tax (£4,029,000), taxes on horses and carriages (£532,560), etc.

2. Indirect taxes, such as taxes of registration, including legacy and succession duties and transfers (about £22,000,000), stamp taxes (nearly £7,000,000), customs produce (£17,500,000), spirits (£16,240,000), wines and beers (£2,960,000), liquor and other licenses (£1,449,680), railway tickets and goods transports (£2,360

Miscellaneous receipts, £2,475,752.
Exceptional revenues, £400,000.

7. Recettes d'Ordre, £3,113,164, from fines, stoppages of salary, etc.

The largest item of expenditures is interest on the public debt. The total interest at 3 per cent. and 31⁄2 per cent. on the consolidated debt is £27,026,308. The various sums devoted to amortizations and annuities of the debt redeemable amount to £12,977,488, making the total expenditure for the public debt in 1901 (including pensions) £49,825,768. There are other items connected with the Ministry of Finance, such as customs administration, collection of taxes, the civil list, etc., making the grand total £60,809,920.

Mr. Herbert gives the following comparative statement of expenditure during 1900 and 1901. The expenditure for Algeria is not included in the supplies noted:

MINISTRIES AND SERVICES. 1900.

Worship War Navy

1901. £60,809,920 1,410,124

655,308

Total

.£139,072,344 £142,174,124

Reckoned in American money at $5 a pound, the total expenditure for 1900, £139,072,344, would be $695,361,720; and that for 1901, $710,870,620.

The expenses of the Chinese expedition do not figure in the Budget for 1901. It was expected that the indemnity would cover the account for the most part.

In the Algerian Budget for 1901 the expenditures amount to £2,209,504, and the receipts to £2,212,604.

The public debt of France is the largest in the world. Mr. Herbert shows the growth of expenditure from 1870 to 1900. The total debt in 1870 was £511,840,000 ($2,559,200,000): in 1876, £937,440,000 ($4,687,200,000); in 1885, £1,114,240,000 ($5,571,200,000); and in 1900, £1,200,000,000 ($6,000,000,000). The debt per capita is said to be $150.60, and the interest charge $6.28 per capita.

As to the causes of the vast increase of expenditure which has created this debt, Mr. Herbert remarks: "One must also take into consideration the four distinct expensive poli

cies which at present find favor in the French Legislature, namely, the policy of colonial expansion, those of military and naval expansion for purposes of national defense, and lastly what may be termed the sentimental policy involving large expenditure by the State for philanthropic measures."

Estimates of the value of the private property of the French people differ. According to the estimate of M. de Foville (in "La France actuelle," 1889), the aggregate private fortunes amount to $40,400,000,000, distributed as follows: Land, $15,000,000,000; buildings, $10,000,000,000; specie, $1,000,000,000; convertible securities, $14,000,000,000; agricultural implements and live stock, $2,000,000; other personal property, $3,400,000,000. The total yearly income of the nation is estimated at about $5,000,000,000, three-fifths of it being the product of personal labor.

MONEY AND BANKING.-The total money circulation, metallic and paper, is said to be $1,990,961,912. The specie in banks and the national treasury amounts to $902,939,754, leaving in active circulation $1,588,022,158, or about $41 per capita.

The money coined in France during the five years, 1896-1900, amounted to 672,922,351 francs, distributed as follows: Gold, 595,278,180 francs; silver, 72,740,480 francs; bronze, 4,903,721 francs.

The capital of the Bank of France is estimated at 182,500,000 francs. The condition of the Bank Sept. 5, 1901, was:

to Great Britain's, and the recent development of submarines gives it some points of superiority to the British navy. The Statesman's Year-Book gives the following summary of French ships launched (Feb. 1, 1901), building, and projected, as follows: Five battleships of the first class, 3 building, and 3 projected; 7 battleships of the second class; 13 battleships of the third class; 1 battleship of the fourth class; 13 armored cruisers, 6 building, and 5 projected; 18 coast defense ships; 40 projected eruisers; 15 torpedo gun-boats; 11 destroyers, 4 building and 8 projected: 44 torpedo boats of the first class and 8 projected; 122 torpedo boats of the second and third class, and 10 building; 10 submarines, 4 building and 10 projected.

The naval program of 1900 provided for a large number of first-class battleships, protected cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines not mentioned in this list. It is stated that 26 submarines of the "Gustave Zede" type are building, and more than forty other vessels have been begun. The total

Current

banks

Advances

The number of French savings-banks on Dec. 31, 1900, was 546 (with 2,136 branch offices). The following statistics are from the Journal de Statistique Suisse, 1900, No. 4: Number of depositors, 9,665; number of depositors per 100 of population, 25.10; amount of deposits, $824,322,300; average savings deposit per capita of population, $21,403; average amount due each depositor, $85,286. Owing to reduced interest there was a falling-off in the number of depositors in the Paris Savings Bank (in the year 1900) from 651,000 to 647,000; the deposits fell from 134,000,000 francs to 132,000,000 francs.

ARMY.-The peace strength of the army in France (1901) is 466,881 men and 20,492 officers. Including the Gendarmerie and Garde Républicaine, the grand total is 522,013, besides 126,246 horses. The army in Algeria numbers 57,292 men and officers; in Tunis, 19,460 men and officers. The total of the forces in the three countries is 598,765, of which the total effective army (including sick, absent, etc.) is 534,149. The number of reserves and others available for military service is about 2,500,000.

NAVY.-The navy of France is second only

NEW FRENCH ARMORED CRUISER "JEANNE D'ARC."

cost of the projected fleet and fortifications in various French ports will exceed 800,000,000 francs. For the completion of this extensive program seven years were allotted, and it may be changed in some particulars before 1907. The expenditure for 1902 will be $62,420,000, of which $18,070,000 is for new ships.

The army costs the Republic $132,000,000 annually. The expenditures of the French government on its army and navy in 1880 amounted to $150,000,000; in 1890, $156,250,000; in 1900, $191,500,000. The expenditure of Germany in 1900 was about the same, $189,000,000; and that of Russia nearly as great ($180,000,000).

Including the twenty submarines authorized April 1, 1901, the French navy has 484 ships, of a total tonnage of 781,065, divided as follows: Ships built, 543,294 tons; ships building. 237,771 tons. According to the Army and Navy Journal, Sept. 7, 1901, France has 279 torpedo boats and 31 torpedo boat destroyers; 4 submarines built and 38 building, also 14 armored coast defence vessels. The percentage of tonnage of vessels of the principal types to total tonnage is as follows (as given in "Notes on Naval Progress," 1901): Battleships, 43 per cent.; armored cruisers, 24 per cent.; protected cruisers, 20 per cent. The percentage of battleships is larger in the navies of four other

1,808

15,728

270,500

4,429

68,555

409,481

7,429

482,907

400,000 24,528 700,000 340,926 30,368 850,000 378,196 104,711

every hundred of newly-married men was 26; of women, 39. In 1895 the numbers were reduced to 6 and 9, respectively. Other evidences of the advancing culture of the French people are not wanting.

Secondary schools for boys-lycées, commercial colleges, etc.-are well attended, the enrollment in 1898 being 185,267. The proportion of students taking the classical course in the lycées was 45 per cent.; in commercial colleges, 28 per cent.

The law of 1880 created advanced schools for women, in which such branches as modern languages and literature, history, art, and domestic science are taught. The total enrollment in the various departments of lycées and colleges for young women in 1882 was 1,517; in 1890, 7,043; in 1899, 11.994.

The reconstruction of the French universities took place in the seventies and eighties. Faculties were increased, buildings erected, libraries enlarged and laboratories constructed. Since 1897 foreign students have been admitted and allowed to take degrees. The following table affords a comparative view of the status of the universities in the earlier period 1878-88 and in later years:

949

969

28,782 2,772,001

28,254