BELGIUM. 



69 



474000; cereals, 68,995,000; textile manufact- 

 ures, 65,821,000; stone, 63,119,000; hides and 

 skins, 59,832,000 ; iron and iron manufactures, 

 58088,000; machinery, etc., 52,361,000; vegeta- 

 ble substances, 46,782,000; glass, 45,638,000; 

 suo-ar, 35,531,000 ; animal products, 31,682,000 ; 

 chemicals, 23,912,000; zinc, 28,019,000; paper, 

 26,902,000; live animals, 22,217,000; mineral 

 substances, 20,251,000; resinous substances, 18,- 

 177,000; steel, 16,453,000; meat, 16,181,000; 

 arms, 12,257,000. 



The participation of the principal trading 

 countries in the foreign commerce of Belgium In 

 1888 is shown in the following table, which gives 

 the values of the commerce with each, in francs : 



Navigation. During 1888 there were 6,930 

 vessels, of 4,912,601 tons, entered and 6,915, of 

 4,907,498 tons, cleared at Belgian ports. Of the 

 vessels entered 1,496, of 944,140 tons, came from 

 England, and 268, of 478,322 tons, from the 

 United States ; of those cleared 3,542, of 1,791,- 

 432 tons, were bound for English and 235, of 

 473,667 tons, for American ports. The merchant 

 fleet on Jan. 1, 1889, consisted of 9 sailing ves- 

 sels, of 4,271, and 50 steamers, of 73,384 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 railroads open to traffic on Jan. 1, 1889, had a 

 total length of 4,647 kilometres, or 2,904 miles, 

 3.201 kilometres being under state management 

 and 1,446 kilometres operated by companies. 

 The receipts on the state lines in 1888 were 

 131,612,594 francs and the expenses 69,922,322 

 francs; on the companies' lines the receipts 

 were 38,057,337 francs and the expenses 18,545,- 

 658 francs. The total cost of the state railroads 

 was 1,284,122,184 francs. 



The Post-Office during 1888 carried 90,940,333 

 letters, not counting 15,977,216 official letters, 

 27,484,548 postal-cards, 59,960,862 circulars, etc., 

 and 95,837,755 newspapers. The receipts for the 

 year were 15,476,335 francs and the expenses 

 8,796,704 francs. 



The length of telegraph lines in the beginning 

 of 1889 was 4,013 miles and the length of wires 

 19,030 miles. The number of messages in 1888 

 was 7,266,694; receipts, 3,278,815 francs; ex- 

 penses, 3,860,544 francs. 



Finances. The revenue is estimated in the 

 budget for 1890 at 332,596,411 francs from or-, 

 dinary sources, 24,172,000 francs being derived 

 from property taxes, 19,739,000 francs from per- 

 sonal taxes, 6,580,000 francs from trade licenses, 

 352,000 francs from mines, 27,253,331 francs from 

 customs. 40,934,504 francs from internal revenue 

 duties, 19,710,000 francs from succession duties, 

 24,170,000 francs from registration, 5,800,000 



francs from stamps, 1,458,000 francs from vari- 

 ous indirect taxes, 127,500,000 francs from rail- 

 roads, 3,713,000 francs from telegraphs, 9,855,800 

 francs from postal receipts, 2,375,000 francs from 

 navigation dues, 1,300,000 francs from forests 

 and domains, 14,428,500 francs from funds and 

 securities, and 3,245,27^6 francs from repayments. 

 The total ordinary expenditure is placed at 321,- 

 092,479 francs, of which 99,165,209 francs are 

 allotted to interest on the public debt and the 

 sinking fund, 4,570,465 francs to the civil list 

 and dotations, 15,672,075 francs to the Ministry 

 of Justice, 2,414,720 francs to the Ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs, 22,747,906 francs to the Minis- 

 try of the Interior and Public Instruction, 16,- 

 799,032 francs to the Ministry of Public Works, 

 91,903,897 francs to the Ministry of Railroads 

 and Telegraphs, 46,367,790 francs to the Minis- 

 try of War, 15,586,585 francs to the Ministry of 

 Finance, and 1,686,500 francs to repayments. 



The general budget for 1891 makes the ordi- 

 nary receipts 337,957,202 francs and the ordinary 

 expenditures 327,936,352 francs. The extraor- 

 dinary budget, wnich. according to a custom 

 that has become established, contains expendi- 

 tures properly belonging to the ordinary budget, 

 amounts to 61,500,000 francs, converting the so- 

 called surplus into a considerable deficit. The 

 principal extraordinary expenditures are for 

 fortifying the Meuse and building harbors for 

 Bruges and Brussels. The entire expenditures 

 may be covered without borrowing, as the esti- 

 mates of income are usually surpassed by the 

 actual receipts. 



The debt of the kingdom was incurred almost 

 entirely for the construction of railroads and 

 other useful works. The capital amount in 1890 

 was 1,923,118,174 francs, consisting of 219,959,- 

 632 francs paying 2|, 511,344,735 francs paying 

 3, and 1,191,813,807 paying 3-J per cent, interest. 



The Army. About 13,300 recruits are en- 

 rolled in the army every year. They serve nom- 

 inally eight years, but actually the term of serv- 

 ice is shortened by furloughs to not more than a 

 third of the full period. The strength of the 

 army on the peace footing, officers and men, as 

 sanctioned in the budget for 1889, is as follows: 

 infantry, 30,778 ; cavalry, 6,048 ; artillery, 8,371 ; 

 engineers, 1,479 ; administration, 894 ; total, 

 47,570. 



Politics and Legislation. The Moderate 

 Liberals by introducing a system of state schools 

 in 1879 alarmed the clergy, whose influence over 

 the peasantry is supreme/although the law gave 

 every facility for religious instruction by placing 

 all schools at the disposal of the clergy at the 

 hours which suited them and within those hours 

 allowed them complete freedom of action. The 

 Church, which possesses enormous wealth in Bel- 

 gium, established rival schools. The contest 

 against secular education was waged with all the 

 energy possible because in Belgium the Ultra- 

 montanes had better chances of success than else- 

 where. In offering to relieve the tax payers of 

 the cost of public instruction they bribed the 

 self-interest of the electors, who as the result of 

 the agitation were inspired with vague fears of 

 the democratic tendencies of Liberalism. In 

 1884 enough voters swerved to the Conservative 

 side to place the Clericals in power. Frere- 

 Orban, far from evincing any radical tendencies, 



