292 



FRANCE. 



istry of Finance, 19,471,260 francs: Ministry of 

 Justice, 35,:.!20.233 francs: Ministry of Foreign 

 Affairs, 1 5,1)84,800 francs ; Ministry of the Interior, 

 75,786,209 francs; Ministry of War, 609,145,480 

 francs for ordinary, and 42^029,340 francs for ex- 

 traordinary purposes; Ministry of Marine, 272,614,- 

 898 francs'; Ministry of Public Instruction, 195.018,- 

 342 francs for education, 8,148,985 francs for fine 

 arts, and 44,125,953 francs for worship : Ministry of 

 Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs, 198,- 

 213,197 francs ; Ministry of the Colonies, 79,018,500 

 francs: Ministry of Agriculture, 30,115,090 francs ; 

 Ministry of Public Works, 270.639.764 francs ; regie 

 and collection of taxes, 204,469,771 francs ; repay- 

 ments, 40,842,000 francs ; Algeria, 74,010,620 francs. 



The expenses of the departmental and communal 

 administrations are paid by levying additional cen- 

 times in connection with the land and building 

 taxes, the personal and property tax, and the taxes 

 on doors and windows, trade licenses, and carriages, 

 horses, and bicycles. These additional centimes 

 amounted in 1896 to 375,684,784 francs. 



The capital of the public debt on Jan. 1, 1894, 

 was 31,035,252,522 francs, of which 22,005.373.951 

 francs represented the consolidated debt, 243,788,- 

 253 francs the Morgan loan, 3,986,320,000 the re- 

 deemable debt, 3,347,428.776 francs the capitalized 

 value of annuities, 1,146,889,547 francs the floating 

 debt, and 305,451,995 francs the guarantee debts. 

 The expenses of the debt for 1896 were 693,761,924 

 francs for the consolidated debt, 298,813,194 francs 

 for interest and amortization of redeemable debt, 

 and 227,216,918 francs for the floating debt. 



Commerce. The general commerce in 1894 con- 

 sisted of 4,795,000,000 francs of imports and 4,125,- 

 000,000 francs of exports. The total value of the 

 special imports was 3,850,000,000 francs, of which 

 sum 1,198,000,000 francs represent articles of alimen- 

 tation, 2,104,000,000 francs raw materials and prod- 

 ucts, and 548,000,000 francs manufactured goods. 

 The special exports had a total value of 3,078,000.- 

 000 francs, of which 666.000,000 francs represent 

 articles of alimentation, 755,000,000 francs unmanu- 

 factured products, and 1,657,000,000 francs manu- 

 factured goods. The values of the principal im- 

 ports in 1894 were: Cereals, 363,000,000 francs; 

 wool, 317,000,000 francs; oil seeds, 199,000,000 

 francs ; raw silk, 183,000,000 francs ; coal and coke, 

 172,000,000 francs ; raw cotton, 169,000,000 francs ; 

 timber and wood, 148,000,000 francs ; coffee, 147,- 

 000,000 francs; wine, 145,000,000 francs; cattle, 

 132,000,000 francs; hides and furs, 116.000.000 

 francs; ores, 53,000,000 francs; flax, 52,000.000 

 francs; sugar, 51,000.000 francs; woolen goods, 

 44,000,000 francs; silk goods, 42,000,000 francs; 

 cotton g<jods, 33,000,000 francs. 



The special commerce with the leading com- 

 mercial countries had, in francs, the following 

 values in 1894 : 



The values of the principal exports of French 

 produce and manufacture were : Woolen manufac- 

 tures, 242.000,000 francs ; wine. 233,000,000 francs ; 

 silk manufactures, 224,000,000 francs ; small wares, 

 154,000,000 francs ; raw wool and yarn, 124,000,000 



francs; cotton manufactures, 113,000,000 francs; 

 linen goods and clothing, 101,000,000 francs : raw 

 silk and yarn, 89,000,000 francs ; leather, 81,000,000 

 francs ; leather goods, 80,000,000 francs : cheese 

 and butter, 66,000.000 francs : skins and furs, 66.- 

 000,000 francs ; chemical products, 57,000,000 francs ; 

 tools and metal manufactures. 56,000,000 francs; 

 spirits, 54,000,000 francs ; refined sugar, 48,000,000 

 francs. 



The imports of gold coin and bullion in 1894 

 were 461,543,561 francs, and of silver 88,596,733 

 francs : total, 550,140,294 francs. The gold exports 

 were 107,602,070 francs, and the silver exports 108,- 

 462,180 francs; total, 216,064,250 francs. 



Navigation. The merchant navy consisted in 

 the beginning of 1895 of 14,332 sailing vessels, of 

 398.567 tons, and 1,196 steamers, of 491.972 tons. 

 Of the former, 266, of 29,118 tons, navigated between 

 European ports in the neighboring seas, and 291, of 

 140,221 tons, were employed in ocean commerce, 

 and the rest were coasting and fishing craft. Of 

 the steamers, 237, of 169,821 tons, were engaged in 

 navigating European seas, and 181, of 267,178 tons, 

 in ocean commerce, while the rest were employed 

 in port service, the coasting trade, or the fisheries. 

 The crews on all the sailing vessels numbered 

 69,900 while the steamers employed 14,333 men. 



During 1894 the number of vessels entered at 

 French ports was 98.697, of 20,851,023 tons, of 

 which 78,471, of 10,808,550 tons, were French, and 

 20,226, of 10,042.473 tons, foreign. Of the French 

 vessels, 70.131, of 6,784,993 tons, were employed in 

 the coasting trade and 8,340, of 4,023,557" tons, 

 in foreign commerce. The total number of vessels 

 cleared in 1894 was 99,484, of 21,257,790 tons, of 

 which 8,755, of 4,236,299 tons, were French vessels 

 in the foreign trade, 20,598, of 10.236,498 tons, were 

 foreign vessels, and 70,131, of 6,784,993 tons, were 

 French coasting vessels. Of the total arrivals of 

 vessels engaged in foreign commerce, 7,496 French, 

 of 3,891,816 tons, and 17,750 foreign, of 9,602,124 

 tons, were with cargoes ; of the total departures, 

 7,269 French vessels, of 3,733,908 tons, and 12.805 

 foreign vessels, of 5,351,911 tons, carried cargoes. 



Communications. The railroads had a total 

 length of 22.462 miles at the end of 1894. The 

 state owns 1,700 miles. The lines constructed by 

 companies are supervised by the state, which has 

 assisted in the construction or guaranteed the in- 

 terest on the cost. The guarantees of four of the 

 six companies expire in 1914, of a fifth in 1934. and 

 of the last in 1935. Between 1950 and 1960 the 

 railroads revert to the state. France has 23,643,000 

 miles of national roads, 5,512 miles of navigable 

 rivers, and 2,984 miles of canals. 



The telegraphs have a length of 59.693 miles, 

 with 197,622 miles of wire. The post office in 1893 

 carried 713,410,000 internal and 137,213,000 inter- 

 national ordinary letters, 35,832,000 internal and 

 2,098,000 international registered letters. 46,044.000 

 internal and 6,054,000 international postal cards. 

 and 943,714,000 internal and 127,894,000 inter- 

 national newspapers, circulars, and samples. 



Currency. The French mint issued from 1795 

 to 1894 of gold coins 8.882.405.730 francs, of silver 

 five-franc pieces 5,060,606.240 francs, and of minor 

 silver coins 474.068.884 francs. In 1894 there were 

 coined 9,831,060 francs of gold, 4,000.000 francs of 

 silver, and the annual amount of 200,000 francs of 

 bronze pieces. No five-franc pieces, which alone of 

 the silver coins have full legal tender, have been 

 coined since 1878. In consequence of the adoption 

 of the gold standard by Germany in 1873, which 

 led to a rapid depreciation of silver, the states of 

 the Latin Union, created in 1865 by a monetary 

 treaty between France, Belgium, Italy, and Switz- 

 erland, to which Greece acceded later, entered on 



