FRANCE. 



333 



best popular work on the anti-slavery movement. 

 It was decided to hold another congress in two 

 years. 



Algeria. The administration of Algeria is 

 carried on by a civil governor-general under the 

 orders of the ministry, and all laws are made by 

 the French Chambers, in which each of the three 

 Algerian departments is represented by a Senator 

 and two Deputies. The Governor-General is Louis 

 Tirman, who was appointed in 1881. The area is 

 477,913 square miles, and the population in 1886 

 was 3,817,306, of whom 25,972 were French, 43,- 

 182 naturalized Jews, 3,262,849 natives of Al- 

 geria, 18,194 Moors, 4.344 Tunisians, and 217,386 

 Spaniards, Italians, Maltese, Germans, and other 

 foreigners. The males numbered 2,014,013 ; fe- 

 males, 1,791,671. The city of Algiers had 74,792 

 inhabitants ; Oran, 67,681 ; Constantine, 44,960. 

 The military force in Algeria is the Nineteenth 

 Corps of the French army, numbering about 

 54,000 men and 16,000 horses, in addition to 

 which there are the zouaves, foreign legions, 

 native sharpshooters, Turcos, and spahis or cav- 

 alry scouts. The expenses of civil administra- 

 tion in 1888 were 43,602,887 francs ; military ex- 

 penses, 53,352,489 francs ; extraordinary expendi- 

 ture, 26,658,797 francs ; total, 123,614,173 francs. 

 The revenue that year was 36,935,300 francs. 



The total value of the imports in 1888 was 

 234,908,120 francs, of which France furnished 

 173,630,107 francs and French colonies 16,298,879 

 francs. The exports to France were 159,438,372 

 francs and the total exports 197,699,565 francs, 

 against 185,959,302 francs in 1887 and 182,255,- 

 123 francs in 1886. The principal exports to 

 France in 1888 were cereals of the value of 32,- 

 003,325 francs, wine of the value of 42,928,445 

 francs, animals of the value of 34,047,699 francs, 

 and wool of the value of 20,914,706 francs. Sheep 

 and goats are raised in great numbers by the 

 Arabs in the region of the high plateaus, where 

 nothing grows but alfa grass and the scanty 

 vegetation on which these animals feed. The 

 wool is good in quality, and the sheep are in 

 great demand in France, which consumes 3,000,- 

 000 or 4,000,000 every year, and in some years 

 nearly double that number. Alfa fiber was im- 

 ported into Great Britain to the amount of 248,- 

 000 tons in 1888, valued at 11,QOO,000 francs. 

 Small quantities are consumed also in France, 

 Germany, and Belgium. The plant thrives in 

 heat and drought, and grows wild everywhere 

 except in damp soil ; yet, since it requires fifteen 

 years to arrive at maturity and can be killed by 

 too frequent plucking, there is a general law 

 against gathering it between Jan. 1 and July 1. 

 The demand has fallen away, owing to the larger 

 use of wood pulp for making paper, and the 

 price has greatly decreased. Of the 4,014,980 

 hectares that were cultivated in 1887, there were 

 2,803,224 hectares under wheat, barley, and other 

 cereals. The vineyard area was 70,041 hectares, 

 producing 1,665,995 hectolitres of wine, and this 

 has since been much enlarged. The crop of 

 olives in 1886 was 54,764,000 pounds ; the quan- 

 tity of oil extracted 9,034,652 gallons. About 

 11,000 hectares were devoted in 1887 to tobacco, 

 of which 5,631,945 quintals were produced. In 

 1886 the quantity of iron ore exported was 432,- 

 671 tons, valued at 3,604,028 francs, the main 

 part of which went to the United States. 



The length of railroads in 1889 was 1,600 

 miles. The receipts were 21,069,098 francs. 

 There were 7,000 miles of telegraphs, with 16,000 

 miles of wire, in 1887. They are operated by a 

 subsidized company. 



Tunis. The treaty of Kasr-es-Said, signed on 

 May 12, 1881, after the bombardment of Sfax 

 and the occupation of the country by French 

 troops, placed the principality of Tunis, which 

 is nominally a vassal state of the Turkish Em- 

 pire, under the protectorate of France. A resi- 

 dent general, under the direction of the French 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, practically governs 

 the country. The reigning Bey is Sidi Ali, who 

 succeeded to the throne on Oct. 28, 1882. The 

 French Resident-General is M. Massicault. A 

 garrison of about 10,000 French troops is main- 

 tained at the cost of the republic. 



The area of Tunis is about 45,000 square miles 

 and the population is estimated at 1,500,000, con- 

 sisting mainly of Bedouin Arabs and Kabyles, 

 the latter descended from the aboriginal in- 

 habitants. The city of Tunis has between 100,- 

 000 and 150,000 inhabitants, of whom 20,000 are 

 Europeans. 



The revenue for the year ending Oct. 12, 1889, 

 was estimated at 31,876,000 piasters and the ex- 

 penditure at the same figure. The Tunisian 

 debt in 1884 was consolidated into a 4-per-cent. 

 rente of 6,307,520 francs a year, and on Dec. 17, 

 1888, this was converted into 3i-per-cent. bonds 

 extinguishable in ninety-nine years. 



The total value of imports in 1888 was 31,334,- 

 403 francs, of which 17,175,632 came from France. 

 The exports amounted to 19,654,978 francs, of 

 which 5,242,557 francs were shipped to France 

 and 4,308,793 francs to Algeria, the greater part 

 being destined for France likewise, as there are 

 no customs -barriers between Tunis and Algeria, 

 and therefore the productions of western Tunis 

 are sent by railroad to Bona, to be shipped 

 thence to France as Algerian goods. The im- 

 portation from France into Tunis in 1889 

 amounted to 21,250,000 francs, including 5,000,- 

 000 francs of coin, and the exports to France 

 were 16,000,000 francs, one half of the amount 

 being specie. The country has suffered from a 

 scarcity of money and a contraction of com- 

 mercial and agricultural business. The French 

 Government has wished to establish free trade 

 with the protectorate, but has refrained because 

 the British Government would not yield its 

 claim to equal treatment under its most-favored- 

 nation treaty with Tunis. On July 3, 1890, the 

 French Chamber voted to reduce the duties on 

 Tunisian products. The chief exports are olive 

 oil, wheat, tanning material, alfa grass, barley, 

 wool, sponges, hides and skins, cane and reed 

 fabrics, and woolen goods. There are about 

 3,000,000 cattle, 20,000,000 sheep, and 5,000,000 

 goats. The French settlers and merchants com- 

 plain that the Government has neglected Tunis, 

 and call upon it to fix the rate of interest, 

 though this the banks resist, and especially to 

 encourage agriculture and to take measures to 

 enlarge the area of cultivation. They complain 

 also of the financial administration, which esti- 

 mates the revenue beyond the actual receipts, 

 causing a deficit, and of the increasing number 

 of officials in all branches of the civil service. 

 In spite of these drawbacks and of the temporary 



