FRANCE. 



inent, voted in the Chamber for this bill, which 

 received 375 votes. 



Gen. Andre, who retired or disciplined all offi- 

 cers who gave vent to reactionary sentiments and 

 was the first Minister of War to take the stand 

 that the army must be republican, not monarch- 

 istic and republican nor neutral, was willing to 

 adopt a measure for the reduction of the term of 

 active service to two years coupled with a scheme 

 for the reenlistment of 50.000 trained soldiers 

 by means of bounties and high pay, an equal 

 number of conscripts having families to support 

 being released on furlough, and for a better sup- 

 ply of commissioned aiid non-commissioned offi- 

 cers. His agreement with the popular demand 

 for short service was the basis for incessant at- 

 tacks of the Reactionaries, who represented that 

 he endangered the Russian alliance thereby. The 

 Army Committee of the Chamber discussed the 

 more* radical plan of M. de Montebello for the 

 gradual reduction of the term of service in bar- 

 racks to one year, the cavalry and strong cadres 

 in the other arms being recruited entirely by en- 

 listment for five years. M. Waldeck-Rousseau 

 would not consent to a reduction of the term of 

 service to two years, necessitating the conscrip- 

 tion of 5,000 young men destined for liberal pro- 

 fessions and 61,000 who provide for families, until 

 the question is canvassed in an electoral cam- 

 paign. Gen. Andre proposed to assign seminarist 

 conscripts to hospital duty, but the army com- 

 mittee pronounced against the proposal. The de- 

 partmental elections in July showed a further de- 

 cline in the strength of the reactionary parties. 



For the purpose of delaying the passage of the 

 associations bill by the Senate, Count de Lur- 

 Saluce, who had fled from France and been con- 

 demned in his absence, returned to stand trial. 

 The Senate disposed of the bill before the trial 

 began, the trial was quickly ended without creat- 

 ing popular excitement, and the Royalist leader 

 sentenced to five years of exile. Laurent Tailhade, 

 an anarchist who printed an article inciting to the 

 murder of the Czar while he was in France, was 

 tried in October and condemned to imprisonment 

 despite the protests of some of the foremost au- 

 thors of France, who extolled the poetry and the 

 profundity of the article and deemed that litera- 

 ture was being persecuted in the person of its 

 author. 



Algeria. The Governor-General administers 

 the civil government of Algeria under instructions 

 from the ministers of the French Cabinet, except 

 in the departments of finance and customs, wor- 

 ship, justice, and public instruction, in which he 

 is advised by ministers of his own. The depart- 

 ments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine each send 

 a Senator and two Deputies to the National As- 

 sembly, and the laws for Algeria are made by the 

 French Chamber, administrative and political 

 questions not covered by legislation being settled 

 by the President and Council of Ministers. The 

 submitted to a superior council com- 

 posed of delegates of the general councils of the 

 three departments. The Governor-General in the 

 beginning of 1901 was M. Jonnart. Owing to ill- 

 health he resigned, and on May 22 Paul Revoil 

 was appointed to the governorship. 



The area of Algeria is 184,474 square miles, not 

 including the Algerian Sahara, which is about 

 185,000 square miles in extent. The population 



? a S2" in < 189G was 1 ' 526 ' GG "; of Constantine, 

 l,8/4.o06; of Oran, 1.028.248; total, 4,429,421, in- 

 cluding 556,143 in the military territory. 'The 

 population of the Algerian Sahara was estimated 

 at 50,000. The population of the city of Algiers 

 was 92,120; of Oran, 80,941; of Constantine, 47,- 



771. In March, 1901, .the population of Algeria 

 was 4,774,000. 



The revenue for 1901 was estimated at 55,314,144 

 francs, of which 12,088,014 francs were derived from 

 direct taxes, 8,747,800 francs from registration 

 fees, stamps, etc., 14,583,900 francs from customs, 

 4,903,200 francs from monopolies, 4,004,200 francs 

 from domains and forests, 8,286,610 from other 

 sources, and 2,600,420 francs were recettes d'ordre. 

 The expenditure for 1901 was estimated at 55,- 

 237,675 francs, of which 7,099,234 francs were fdr 

 administration, 7,569,305 francs for finance, 2.731,- 

 300 francs for justice, 8,362,629 francs for educa- 

 tion and worship, 11,196,326 francs for public 

 works, 4,326,434 francs for agriculture and for- 

 ests, 6,418,519 francs for commerce and the post- 

 office, and 7,533,928 francs for colonization, char- 

 itable institutiens, etc. The military expenses and 

 service of the debt are not included in the budg- 

 et. The Nineteenth French Army Corps consti- 

 tutes the military force of Algeria, consisting of 

 3 regiments of zouaves, 3 of tirailleurs, 2 foreign 

 legions, 3 battalions of light infantry, 3 disciplined 

 companies, 5 regiments of chasseurs d'Afrique, 3 

 of spahis, 3 remount companies, 12 batteries, 3 

 companies of engineers, and 9 companies of train. 

 The troops organized for the defense of the south- 

 ern frontiers and the extension of French au- 

 thority in the direction of Lake Chad and the 

 Niger are called Saharan tirailleurs and spahis, 

 and are not a part of the Nineteenth Corps. The 

 Algerian force according to the estimates for 1901 

 consists of 2,255 officers and 55,037 men, with 13,- 

 434 horses. There are 207,310 European colonists 

 who have acquired possession of most of the Gov- 

 ernment lands, but the main part of the arable 

 soil, of which there are about 20,000,000 hectares, 

 belongs to Arab tribes, and is held in common. 

 The native agriculturists number 3,437,304. The 

 crop of soft wheat in 1899 was 1,042,908 quintals; 

 of hard wheat, 5,021,165 quintals; of barley, 

 7,203,965 quintals; of oats, 658,067 quintals; of 

 corn, 88,756 quintals; of millet, 144,769 quintals; 

 of beans, 141,816 quintals; of potatoes, 300,276 

 quintals; of wine, 4,502,028 hectoliters; of tobacco, 

 49,207 quintals. The production of cocoons was 

 11,650,000 kilograms; of cork from the Govern- 

 ment forests, 42,000 quintals. Alfa, olives, dates, 

 flax, ramie fiber, and colza and other oil-seeds are 

 grown. The Government owns 1,759,495 hectares 

 of forest, and communes own 76,919 hectares, 

 while 468,395 hectares belong to private owners. 

 The live stock in 1899 consisted of 204,761 horses,. 

 145,666 mules, 263,208 asses, 200,886 camels, 

 1,045,102 cattle, 7,523;763 sheep, 3,751,534 goats, 

 and 88,085 hogs. Only 7 per cent, of the animals 

 belong to Europeans. The production of iron ore 

 in 1898 was 474,569 tons; of zinc ore, 29,774 tons; 

 of salt, 21,302 tons. The quantity of phosphate 

 of lime dug was 269,500 tons, valued at 5,390,000' 

 francs. The general commerce in 1899 was 319,- 

 846,493 francs for imports, of which 260,421,593 , 

 francs came from France, and 346,415,000. francs 

 for exports, of which 279,675,000 francs went to 

 France. The value of special imports was 309.- 

 947,382 francs, of which 49,525,789 francs camo 

 from foreign countries and French colonies, and 

 of special exports 325,407,699 francs, of which 53,- 

 940,079 francs went to foreign countries and 

 French colonies. The chief exports are wine, 

 cereals, sheep, and horses to France, and alfa,. 

 tobacco, iron ore, cork, and hides to foreign coun- 

 tries. The number of vessels in the foreign trade 

 entered in 1899 was 1,798, of 1,198.247 tons; 

 cleared, 1,840, of 1,263,217 tons; entered and 

 cleared in the coasting-trade, 9,635, of 1,782,531 

 tons. The merchant navy consisted on Jan. 1,. 



