FRANCE. 



245 



the French vessels 8,902, of 5,169,449 tons, were 

 engaged in foreign commerce or in the colonial 

 trade or ocean fisheries and 71,654, of 7,199,827 

 tons, were coasting vessels. 



The French merchant navy on Ja*n. 1, 1900, 

 comprised 14,262 sailing vessels, of 450,636 tons, 

 with 68,031 sailors, and 1,227 steamers, of 507,120 

 tons, with 13,701 men in their crews. Of the sail- 

 ing vessels 150, of 14,507 tons, sailed European 

 waters and 264, of 213,078 tons, navigated the 

 oceans, and of the steamers 237, of 197,067 tons, 

 were engaged in European seas and 173, of 274,- 

 861 tons, in the ocean trade. The other vessels 

 were employed in the coasting-trade, port service, 

 or fishing, 13,579 of the total number being under 

 50 tons. The Government gives bonuses for con- 

 struction, equipment, and navigation amounting 

 annually to 20,000,000 francs. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 French railroads had a total length at the close of 

 1899 of 23,576 miles, and the receipts for that year 

 were 1,406,600,000 francs. There had been 252 

 miles added in twelve months. The cost of con- 

 struction up to Dec. 31, 1898, was 16,099,000,000 

 francs. The number of passengers carried in 1898 

 was 355,873,000; tons of freight, 114,437,000; re- 

 ceipts, 1,377,025,000 francs; working expenses, 

 707,400,000 francs. The street-railroads on Dec. 

 31, 1899, had a total length of 2,319 miles. 



The postal traffic of France and Algeria in 1898 

 was 821,603,000 internal and 161,762,000 foreign 

 letters, 45,856,000 internal and 2,621,000 foreign 

 registered letters, 52,909,000 internal and 6,598,000 

 foreign postal cards, and 1,233,261,000 internal 

 and 137,685,000 foreign newspapers, samples, cir- 

 culars, etc. The receipts of the post-office were 

 245,716,510 francs in France and 4,725,810 francs 

 in Algeria. The expenses of posts and telegraphs 

 were 181,394,532 francs in France and 3,326,933 

 francs in Algeria. 



The length of the telegraph lines on Jan. 1, 

 1899, was 79,396 miles, with 400,341 miles of wire. 

 The number of messages in 1898 was 43,963,811, 

 of which 35,682,829 were internal, 5,759,646 for- 

 eign, 1,047,573 in transit, and 1,473,763 official. 

 There were 767 telephone exchanges, with 9,994 

 miles of line and 117,795 miles of wire. The num- 

 ber of conversations in 1898 was 138,128,082. The 

 long-distance circuits numbered 1,288, with 13,358 

 miles of line and 37,244 miles of wire; number of 

 conversations, 3,098,801. 



Legislation. The multifarious enemies of the 

 parliamentary republic and the political adven- 

 turers with whom they intrigued and conspired 

 the Royalists, Bonapartists, Conservatives, Cler- 

 icals, Nationalists, Anti-Semites, Plebiscitary Re- 

 publicans, and Revolutionary Socialists who used 

 the Dreyfus scandal as an ambush for a combined 

 attack on the established Government, compelled 

 the ministry that rallied the forces of the repub- 

 lic to resist the insidious machinations of its foes 

 to take some signal measure to emphasize the 

 triumph of the republic and discourage its invet- 

 erate opponents. Liberals in France have always 

 looked upon clericalism as the enemy, and under 

 monarchical government as well as in republican 

 times have passed laws to curb clerical influence. 

 The aversion to the republic manifested by offi- 

 cers of the army during its recent time of trial 

 seemed to be the greatest danger, and the dis- 

 loyalty of the army was attributed by the Radi- 

 cals to antirepublican bias of the education 

 given by congregational schools in which French 

 aristocrats receive their early training. The mili- 

 tant orders of the regular clergy, such as the As- 

 sumptionists and the Jesuits, were believed, more- 

 over, to have given large sums of money in aid of 



the recent conspiracies against ilu> r< public. A 

 measure against the religious onl.is \\-n.s de- 

 manded by the Radicals and Socialist and by 

 Republicans in general, lieforc UK 

 sented to the Chamber the 1*01)6 protest* <i a^;m'^t 

 the expulsion of the congregations from i'tau<-<: 

 in a letter to the bishops, in which lie hh.'c.i that 

 France might lose thereby her position a- pro- 

 tector of the Christians in the Orient, for ii Kn-wh 

 missionaries did not go to the near and far Ka->, 

 missionaries of other nations would take their 

 place and their own governments would protect 

 them. M. Waldeck-Rousseau framed his associa- 

 tions bill in the form of a general measure, appli- 

 cable to any association of two or more persons 

 whereby they place in common their knowledge 

 or activity with a purpose other than that of shar- 

 ing profits. Such association would be governed 

 as to validity by the general principles of law 

 applicable to contracts and obligations. Any as- 

 sociation founded for an illicit end or on a cause 

 contrary to the laws, to public order, to good 

 morals, to the national unity, or to the republic- 

 an form of government, was declared to be null 

 and void. The founders of any association are 

 bound to report at the prefecture the covenants of 

 the association, its title and objects, the place of 

 meeting, and the names, professions, and domi- 

 ciles of its members and of those who are in any 

 way connected with its administration. Any 

 member of an association which has not 'been 

 formed for a determined time may withdraw at 

 any time after payment of all dues for the cur- 

 rent year in spite of any clause to the contrary 

 in the covenants of the association. The found- 

 ers, directors, or administrators of an association 

 maintained or reconstituted illegally are guilty 

 of a crime punishable with fine and imprisonment. 

 Associations existing at the time of the promul- 

 gation of the law and not previously authorized 

 or recognized were required to conform to the pro- 

 visions of the law within six months; otherwise 

 they would be considered as dissolved. Societies 

 already authorized must seek fresh authorization. 

 Property contributed by members on entering as- 

 sociations or that had accrued to them and been 

 placed in the common fund since was to be re- 

 turned to them on dissolution, and property con- 

 tributed by others to be refunded to the donors 

 or to their heirs or assigns. All the rest of the 

 property of dissolved associations, at least half of 

 their accumulated wealth, was to be turned over, 

 according to an amendment carried in the Cham- 

 ber, to the projected superannuation fund for 

 working men. When the attention of the legis- 

 lators was called to the injustice of making no 

 restitution to those members of these communi- 

 ties who, by their exertions and earnings, had 

 increased the wealth of the corporations and the 

 impolicy of turning out into the world without 

 any means of livelihood recluses who were un- 

 fitted to compete with ordinary citizens, the bill 

 was changed so as to reimburse members of con- 

 gregations who could prove that they had con- 

 tributed to the common property by their labor 

 or activity and to provide a fund for those who 

 would otherwise be destitute. If unauthorized 

 orders do not wind up their affairs and divide 

 their assets among the donors and their heirs and 

 members entitled thereto within six months, then 

 the state steps in and disposes of the property, 

 holding the proceeds in trust for claimants. 

 Moneys not claimed within twelve months are to 

 be employed in the relief or maintenance of chil- 

 dren, the aged sick, or incurables for whose bene- 

 fit no special institution exists. Persons lending 

 their premises for the use of a dissolved associa- 



