342 



FRANCE. 



Commission. Its halting inefficiency has annoyed 

 and exasperated the transportation companies, and 

 utterly failed to accomplish the reform lor which it 

 was created. 



That we are uncompromisingly in favor of free 

 speech and the unrestricted right of all citizens to 

 lawfully meet and consult together upon the political 

 questions of the day. 



That we recognize in the State militia our necessary 

 and sole protection in times of possible riot and dis- 

 order, and that we favor liberal appropriations for its 

 support and maintenance, and a hearty spirit of aid 

 and sympathy on the part of the State government. 



That in the counties of Madison, Jefferson, Gads- 

 den, and Jackson we recognize a condition of anarchy 

 and defiance of the laws of our State for the protection 

 of the citizen in his constitutional rights, in that the 

 citizens of those counties are prevented by intimida- 

 tion and force from holding lawful assemblies, cast- 

 ing a ballot representing their honest convictions, and 

 having the same fairly counted ; and that we call the 

 attention of our State authorities to this fact, and de- 

 mand of them the faithful execution of their trust as 

 a government of the whole people of the State. 



The Prohibitionists held a State convention 

 at Orlando in September, and nominated presi- 

 dential electors, but voted not to present a 

 State ticket. The canvass, which promised to 

 be of exceptional interest, lot in a large degree 

 its importance when the yellow-fever epidemic 

 appeared in the State. Yet the total vote 

 polled at the election in November was larger 

 than in any previous election. Mr. Cleveland 

 received 39,561 votes ; Harrison, 26,657 ; and 

 Fisk, 423 votes. For Governor, Fleming re- 

 ceived 40,255 votes, and Shipman 26,485. All 

 the Democratic candidates on the State ticket 

 were elected, and also two Democratic Con- 

 gressmen. But few Republicans were elected 

 to the Legislature. 



FRANCE, a republic in western Europe. The 

 present form of government was proclaimed 

 Sept. 4, 1871. The executive authority is 

 vested in the President -of the republic, and 

 the legislative power in an assembly of two 

 houses the Senate and the Chamber of Depu- 

 ties. The Senate is composed of 300 member.-?, 

 elected for nine years. They are divided into 

 three classes, one class retiring by rotation ev- 

 ery three years. The Chamber of Deputies is 

 composed of 584 members, one to every 70,- 

 000 inhabitants, elected by universal suffrage 

 under the scrutin de liste, which was adopted 

 on June 16, 1885. The term of service is four 

 years. In 1885 there were 10,181,095 electors, 

 of whom 7,896,100 voted in the election of 

 that year. The senators receive a salary of 

 15,000 francs, and the deputies 9,000 francs 

 per annum. The President is elected for a 

 term of seven years by a majority of votes of 

 the Senate and Chamber of Deputies united 

 in a National Assembly. He receives a salary 

 of 600,000 francs, with 600,000 francs addi- 

 tional for expenses. The Senate and Chamber 

 of Deputies meet every year on the second 

 Tuesday in January, and must remain in ses- 

 sion at least five months. 



The President of the republic is Marie-Fran- 

 cois Sadi Carnot, elected Dec. 3, 1887. (For 

 biography and portrait, see "Annual Cyclo- 



pedia" for 1887.) The President, in the exer- 

 cise of his executive functions, makes his de- 

 cisions in accordance with the advice of his 

 ministers, who are responsible to the Legisla- 

 ture. The first Cabinet after the accession of 

 President Carnot was formed on Dec. 12, 1887, 

 and consisted of the following members : Presi- 

 dent of the Council, Minister of Finance, and 

 Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Pierre Em- 

 manuel Tirard ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Leopold Emile Flourens ; Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, Jean Marie Ferdinand Sarrien ; Minister 

 of Public Instruction, Worship, and Fine Arts, 

 Etienne Leopold Faye; Minister of Justice, C. 

 A. Fallieres; Minister of War, Gen. Logerot; 

 Minister of Marine and the Colonies, Francois 

 C. de Mahy, who retired, and was succeeded 

 on Jan. 5, 1888, by Vice- Admiral Krantz ; 

 Minister of Commerce and Industry, Auguste 

 Lucien Dautresme ; Minister of Public Works, 

 Emile Loubet ; Minister of Agriculture, Fran- 

 cois Viette. 



Area and Population. The area of France is 

 528.572 square kilometres, or 204,177 square 

 miles. The population on May 30, 1886, was 

 38,218,903, or 187 to the square mile. France 

 is divided into 87 departments, subdivided into 

 362 arrondissements, containing 2,871 cantons 

 and 36,121 communes. The number of the 

 communes is constantly increasing. 



The number of marriages in 1886 was 283,- 

 193 ; of births, 912,782 ; of deaths, 860,222. 

 The excess of births over deaths was 52,560, 

 as compared with 85,464 in 1885, 78,974 in 

 1884, 96,803 in 1883, 97,027 in 1882, 108,229 

 in 1881, 61,840 in 1880, 96,667 in 1879, 98,175 

 in 1878, and 142,620 in 1877. In Bouches-du- 

 Rhone there were 3,114 more deaths than 

 births in 1886 ; in Manche, 2,302 ; in Calvados, 

 1,946; in Eure, 1,897; in Orne, 1,863; in 

 Seine-et-Oise, 1,823; in Rh6ne, 1,779. In 37 

 departments altogether there was a surplus of 

 36,139 deaths, while in the remainder the 

 births exceeded the deaths by 88,699. 



The census of 1886 included 1,126.531 for- 

 eigners who were resident in France. The 

 foreigners in 1881 numbered 1,001,090, as 

 compared with 801,754 in 1876. The number 

 of Belgians was 432,265; of Italians, 240,733, 

 against 165,313 in 1876; of Germans, 81,986, 

 against 59,028; of Spaniards, 73,781 ; of Swiss, 

 66,281 ; of British and Irish, 37,006 ; of Dutch, 

 21,232; of Austro-Hungarians, 12,090; of Rus- 

 sians and Poles, 10,489 ; of Americans, includ- 

 ing South Americans, 9,816. On Oct. 2, 1888, 

 in response to a demand from the working- 

 people, who considered themselves injured by 

 the free ingress of foreign competitors, and as 

 a rejoinder to recent regulations of the Ger- 

 man authorities respecting the presence of for- 

 eigners in Alsace-Lorraine, the Government 

 issued a decree imposing onerous conditions on 

 the residence of citizens of foreign states in 

 France. The statistics published by the Min- 

 istry of Commerce in connection with this 

 decree show that, whereas the foreigners domi- 



