FRANCE. 



307 



Consolidated debt 748,026,239 francs. 



Redeemable capital 840,432,278 u 



Annuities and life-interests 151,881,060 " 



Total outlay on account of the debt, 1,235,889,577 francs. 



On January 1, 1873, the new army law of 

 July 27, 1872, went into operation. Its first 

 article enacts universal liability to military 

 service. Every Frenchman capable of bearing 

 arms must serve for twenty years, namely, five 

 years in the standing army, four years in the 

 reserve of the standing army, five years in the 

 territorial army, and six years in the reserve 

 of the territorial army. 



By a law of July 24, 1873, on the reorganiza- 

 tion of the army, France is divided into eight- 

 een districts, each of which is occupied by an 

 army corps. One army corps is also organized 

 in Algeria. Each of the eighteen army corps 

 consists of two divisions of infantry, one bri- 

 gade of cavalry, one brigade of artillery, one 

 battalion of engineers, one squadron of the 

 train, a general staff and the subordinate staffs. 

 By a law of March 16, 1880, the former gen- 

 eral staff, which was a closed corps consisting 

 of 513 officers, has been dissolved, and has 

 been replaced by a new staff which is acces- 

 sible to all officers who, after completing the 

 course of studies in the military school, have 

 obtained the staff brevet on the ground of their 

 final examination. In this examination all cap- 

 tains may fake part, even if they have not passed 

 through the school. Moreover, officers of the 

 staff may receive the brevet under special con- 

 ditions fixed upon by the Minister of War. The 

 Minister of War selects among the brevetted 

 officers those who are to enter into the service 

 of the general staff. In time of peace they re- 

 main in this service for four years, after which 

 they return to their former position. They can 

 not be recalled to the general staff until two 

 years later. While serving in the general staff, 

 their names remain on the lists of their own 

 branch of the army, but they are kept there 



" hors cadre." The brevetted officers who are 

 not called into the service of the general staff 

 form a reserve. The new general staff consists 

 of 300 officers and 150 archivists. Outside of 

 this cadre a land-surveying commission has been 

 established in connection with the war depot, 

 consisting of twelve officers. 



The actual strength of the army on a peace 

 footing in 1881 was 498,497 men, of whom 52,- 

 750 were in Algeria, while about 39,000 were 

 absent on leave and in hospitals. Here follows 

 the latest published classification by arms: 



Infantry 288,168 



Cavalry 68,907 



Artillery 68,762 



Engineers 11,007 



Train 9,540 



Administrative troops 27,990 



Gendarmerie 26,511 



Total 495,880 



The total number of recruits in 1879 was 

 316,662, of whom 34,857 were rejected. Of 

 the total number, 46,636 were unable to read 

 and write, 9,931 were able to read only, 64,409 

 could read and write, 181,680 had an element- 

 ary education, 5,851 held degrees and diplomas, 

 and of 9,155 the degree of instruction was un- 

 known. 



The navy, on January 1, 1881, comprised 356 

 vessels. Of these, 59 were ironclads (32 large 

 war-vessels and 27 for coast defense); 235 

 steamers (57 cruisers, 39 dispatch-boats, 4? 

 gunboats, 61 transports, and 31 torpedo-boats); 

 and 63 sailing-vessels. 



The foreign trade of France is officially di- 

 vided into " commerce general," which com- 

 prises the entire imports and exports, includ- 

 ing goods in transit, and "commerce special," 

 which embraces the imports consumed and 

 the exports produced within the country. The 

 following table exhibits the movements of 

 French commerce from 1859 to 1880 (value 

 expressed in francs) : 



France produced 680,316 gallons (U. S. wine 

 measure) of wine in 1879, against 2,217,600,- 

 000 in 1875. The mean price per gallon from 

 1862 to 1867 inclusive was 36 cents, and the 

 percentage of taxation upon the value, 14'55. 

 The wine exported from France in 1879 was 

 of the total value of $45,917,000 ; and that im- 

 ported, $21,074,400. More than 4fc per cent 

 of the area of France is vineyard, occupying 

 7,000,000 persons. Yet the wine consumed in 



and exported from France is not all of French 

 growth : 1,400,000 acres of vineyard had, up 

 to 1881, been devastated by the phylloxera, 

 and foreign wines are imported in ever-in- 

 creasing quantities (nearly 15,700,000 gallons 

 in 1880), mostly from Spain, Portugal, and 

 Italy. The champagne exported to the United 

 States in 1880 was of the value of $2,317,593. 

 The chief sources of the imports and desti- 

 nations of the exports in 1880 were as follows: 



