The United States is a heavy buyer of the woollen cloths and the finer qualities of dress goods. Inasmuch as these goods have not been successfully imitated elsewhere, the French trade does not suffer from competition. The best goods are made from the fleeces of French merino sheep, and are manufactured mainly in the northern towns. The Gobelin tapestries of Paris are famous the world over.
The cotton manufactures depend mainly on American cotton. About two-thirds of the cotton is purchased in the United States, a part of which returns in the form of fine goods that may be classed as muslins, tulles, and art textiles. The market for such goods is also general. In the manufacture of fine laces, such as the Point d'Alençon fabrics, the French have few equals and no superiors. The flax is imported mainly from Belgium.
Silk culture is aided by the government, and is carried on mainly in the south. The amount grown, however, is insufficient to keep the factories busy, and more than four-fifths of the raw silk and cocoons are imported from Italy and other southern countries.
The chief imports to France are coal, raw textile fibres, wine, wheat, and lumber. The last two products excepted, they are again exported in the form of manufactured products. The great bulk of the imports comes from Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and Argentina. In 1900 the import trade from these countries aggregated about five hundred million dollars. The total export trade during the same year was about eight hundred million dollars; it consisted mainly of high-priced articles of luxury.
The foreign trade is supported by a navy, which ranks second among the world's navies, and a merchant marine of more than fifteen thousand vessels. Aside from the subsidies given to mail steamships, government encouragement is given for the construction and equipment of home-built vessels. It is a settled policy that French vessels shall carry French traffic.
Of the 24,000 miles of railway, about 2,000 miles are owned by the state. The rivers are connected by canals, and these furnish about 7,000 miles of navigable waters. As in Germany, the water-routes supplement the railway lines. Practically all lines of transportation converge at Paris.
Paris, the capital, is a great centre of finance, art, science, and literature, whose influence in these features has been felt all over the world. The character of fine textiles, and also the fashions in the United States and Europe, are regulated largely in this city. Marseille is the chief seaport, and practically all the trade between France and the Mediterranean countries is landed at this port; it is also the focal point of the trade between France and her African colonies, and a landing-place for the cotton brought from Egypt and Brazil.
Havre, the port receiving most of the trade from the United States, is the port of Paris. Rouen is the chief seat of cotton manufacture. Paris and Rheims are noted for shawls. Lille and Roubaix are centres of woollen manufacture. Lyons is the great seat of silk manufacture.
Italy.—Italy is a spur of the Alps extending into the Mediterranean Sea. From its earliest history it has been an agricultural state, and, excepting the periods when it has been rent by wars, it has been one of the most productive countries in the world.
Wheat is extensively grown, but the crop is insufficient for home consumption, and the deficit is imported from Russia and Hungary. A large part of the wheat-crop is grown in the valley of the Po River. Flax and hemp are grown for export in this region; and corn for home consumption is a general product. Cotton is a good crop in Sicily and the south, but the amount is insufficient for use and must be made up by imports from the United States and Egypt.