FRANCE. 



FRENCH MINING INDUSTRY. 325 



mittee (representing 361 votes), and the Left 

 11 (representing 333 votes). The committee, 

 on the next day, elected the Baron de Larcy (a 

 Legitimist) President, and the Duke d'Audif- 

 fret-Pasquier Vice-President. 



The ministry was partly modified, on Decem- 

 ber 9th, by the appointment of M. Goulard to 

 be Minister of the Interior; M. Leon Lay, 

 Minister of Finance ; and M. Fourton, Minister 

 of Public Works. Though the ministry thus 

 modified was generally regarded as transitional, 

 the new appointments seemed to indicate a 

 termination of the crisis, and to secure to the 

 Government the support of the Right Centre 

 and the Left Centre. 



On December 10th a manifesto was published, 

 signed by 86 members of the extreme and 

 moderate Left, among whom were MM. Gam- 

 betta. Cremieux, Louis Blanc, and Quinet. 

 It demanded a pacific and legal dissolution of 

 the National Assembly as the only means of 

 averting fresh dangers to the country, as the 

 division in the Assembly renders the Govern- 

 ment powerless. It repudiated force from 

 whatever quarter it may come, because the 

 signers of the address were enemies of disor- 

 der, of which during the last two years they 

 have given numerous proofs. The address ex- 

 pressed strong disapproval of the pressure 

 exerted to bring about disorder, which, as had 

 been hitherto proved, could only result in ad- 

 vantage to the enemies of France. The new 

 elections would constitute a compact majority 

 in the Assembly, securing majorities therein 

 to the administration of President Thiers, and 

 for the establishment of republican institutions. 

 The right of petition to the Assembly was 

 claimed to be inviolable, for an attack upon 

 it would be an attack upon the "great prin- 

 ciple of universal suffrage. In accordance 

 with this manifesto, numerous petitions from 

 all parts of France were sent to the Na- 

 tional Assembly, asking for the election of a 

 new Assembly. The subject came up for dis- 

 cussion on December 14th, and the debate was 

 one of the most violent and exciting which 

 has taken place in the Assembly. Minister 

 Dufaure spoke in favor of rejecting the peti- 

 tions, ridiculing Gambetta, whose speeches, 

 he said, were the cause of the present needless 

 agitation. The Assembly then rejected the 

 petitions by a vote of 409 to 201, and, before 

 adjourning, adopted a resolution directing Du- 

 faure^s speech to be placarded in all the com- 

 munes of France. 



On December 19th the National Assembly, 

 by 461 votes against 158, rejected a motion by 

 Bonnet against duties on raw material. On 

 December 21st the Assembly adjourned to 

 January 6, 1873. On December 29th M. 

 Bourgoing, the French ambassador to the 

 papal court, resigned, because some French 

 naval officers in Rome, at the beginning of the 

 holy days, called on the King and the Pope, on 

 the same day, to tender the compliments of 

 the season. 



FRAZER, Prof. JOHN W., an eminent physi- 

 cist and journalist of Philadelphia, born in 

 Pennsylvania, in 1809 ; died, in Philadelphia, 

 October 12, 1872. He had been for many 

 years a member of the Franklin Institute, and 

 the editor of the Franklin Institute Journal 

 since the death of Prof. Johnson. He was ap- 

 pointed Professor of Natural History and 

 Chemistry, in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 in 1841, and held that position till his death, 

 which occurred very suddenly while he was 

 entering his apartment in the new building of 

 the university. 



FRENCH MINING INDUSTRY. The 

 committee of Mineral Industries for the dis- 

 tricts of the north of France, have considered 

 that, at the present time, when social questions 

 are occupying so important a place, it would 

 be of great service to gather practical results 

 of mining industry based on incontestable 

 figures, obtained by the owners of coal-mines 

 who have endeavored to assure to the mining 

 population their material well-being, and at 

 the same time their moral improvement by 

 instruction. 



There are in the coal-basins of the depart- 

 ments du Nord, and the Pas-de-Calais, 23 coal- 

 mines, of which 18 of the most important have 

 supplied the committee with the desired in- 

 formation. 



The production from these mines is about 

 4,500,000 tons of an average value of $12,000,- 

 000. They employ 31,000 workmen, to whom 

 is annually paid $5,200,000 in salaries. Besides 

 this sum, the employers distribute in contri- 

 butions to the relief funds, in gratuities, in 

 coal for domestic purposes, and in reduction 

 of house-rents, an annual sum of about $450,- 

 000, or 8 per cent, on the wages. The 31,000 

 workmen belong to 18,000 families, numbering 

 87,000 people, who live directly and almost 

 entirely upon the salaries paid by the em- 

 ployers. 



More than one-third of these workmen, and 

 of this population, that is to say, 11,106 work- 

 men, 6,534 families, and 31,432 persons, are 

 lodged in the 7,061 houses erected by the 

 mining companies, and the first cost of build- 

 ing which amounted to $3,200,000. One 

 house may be allowed to four or five work- 

 men, and to 650 tons of coal produced per 

 annum. 



These houses are rented for about $12 per 

 annum, a rent which is reduced for the com- 

 panies by the various contributions, repairs, 

 and depreciation, to $9, or about 2 per cent, 

 on the capital. Similar houses are let in- the 

 same localities, and produce an interest of 6 per 

 cent. The difference between the rent of the 

 houses belonging to the mines, and of those of 

 private owners, is about 70 per cent. 



Two companies have erected special build- 

 ings which they give to their workmen at cost 

 price, which is gradually paid out of the wages. 

 They have parted with forty-three houses un- 

 der these conditions, and have advanced sums 



