THE FRENCH A THRIFTY, FRUGAL PEOPLE
When France is compared with other countries in respect of commercial development and progress, the results will in almost every particular turn out unfavourable to France. For example, since the close of the Napoleonic wars eighty-three years ago the national trade of Great Britain has quadrupled, while that of France has only trebled. At the close of the Franco-German war France was eighteen per cent. ahead of Germany in the carrying power of her shipping. Now Germany is seventy per cent. ahead of France in that respect. But it must be remembered that the Franco-German war cost France in army expenses and in indemnity no less a sum than $3,250,000,000. The effect of that tremendous expenditure upon the prosperity of the nation can be estimated by one comparison. Since that war the annual average savings per inhabitant in France have been $17. For the same period the annual average savings per inhabitant in Great Britain have been $19.50. Had that war not occurred the average annual savings per inhabitant in France would have been $21.50. In short, no people in Europe are comparable with the working classes of the French people in frugality and thrift, and because of this characteristic, if France were well governed, its prosperity would be equal to that of any country in the world, and this would be so in spite of the fact that France's interest bill imposes a tax of $6.50 a year on every inhabitant of the country.
THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE
France has one element of stability, one characteristic inducive of thriftiness, that most other countries of Europe lack. In most other European countries the land is held by few proprietors. In France it is held by many. In Great Britain and Ireland, for example, the land that is devoted to agriculture is held by only 19,000 proprietors. In France it is held by 3,500,000 proprietors. There are also 3,500,000 district farms in France, though only sixty per cent. of the farm land of the country is cultivated by the owners. It follows from this that agriculture has in France a hold upon the affections and self-interest of the people that it has in no other country in the world. About forty-two per cent. of the total population of the country able to work are employed in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture, therefore, is one of the most important industries of France. One fifth of the total earnings of her people are made in agriculture. It cannot be said, however, that agriculture in France is pursued as successfully as it is in some other countries—in Great Britain, for example. France, with sometimes the exception of Russia, is the largest wheat-grower of all the nations of Europe, but its production of grain per acre is not more than four sevenths that of Great Britain, while its production of grain per farming hand is only two thirds that of Great Britain. But so much of the agricultural effort of France is devoted to such industries as can be carried on in small farms or holdings—potato-raising, for example, and fruit-raising and poultry-raising—that the total money product per acre in France is not far short of what it is in Great Britain. That is to say, while agriculture is more profitably carried on in Great Britain than in France, it proportionately supports a larger number of people in France than in Great Britain.
FRANCE'S WATERWAYS AND RAILWAYS
France, like Germany, is well supplied with navigable rivers, and these, with its canals, constitute a complete network of navigable waterways that cover all the country and greatly promote the internal commerce of the nation. These navigable rivers aggregate 5500 miles, and the navigable canals over 3100 miles. The tonnage of goods carried on these waterways compares quite favourably with that carried by the railways. The railways aggregate 25,000 miles.
THE DISTINCTIVE AND IMPORTANT MANUFACTURES OF FRANCE
The most distinctive manufacture of France, the one in which she surpasses all other countries of the world, is the silk manufacture. France's total production of silk is not far short of one third of the total production of the world. Lyons (466,000), on the Rhone, is the chief seat of the industry, having had this pre-eminence ever since the Jacquard loom was invented there at the beginning of this century. Its production is not far short of three fourths of the total production of the country. The most important manufacture of France, however, is her manufacture of woollens. In this manufacture she comes next after Great Britain, her total production being a little ahead of that of both Germany and the United States. Her woollen mills number over 2000. Her consumption of wool for this industry is about three fourths that of Great Britain, but the value of her production is only two thirds that of Britain. Lille (216,000) and Rheims (108,000) are the chief seats of the woollen industry. Of about equal value with the woollen manufacture of France is its hardware manufacture, but the importance of France's hardware manufacture is national rather than international. Of next importance is the manufacture of cottons and linens. The chief seats of these industries are, for cottons, Rouen (113,000), the "Manchester of France," and for linens, Lille. Near Lille is Cambrai, the chief place of manufacture for that finer class of linens known as cambrics. A second distinctive manufacture of France is that of glass and porcelain. In this manufacture France quite equals Great Britain in respect of value, and surpasses her in respect of the artistic character of the wares. Limoges (77,000) and St. Cloud (near Paris) are the chief seats of the French porcelain manufacture. It is at St. Cloud that the celebrated "Sèvres" porcelain is made.