308 



FRANCE. 



nopolies was estimated at, 609,841,690 francs in 

 1891, against 600,330,862 francs in 1890; the 

 revenue from domains and forests at 43,390,050, 

 against 42,706,250 francs ; and that from other 

 sources at 22,790,160, against 27,414,194 francs. 

 This makes the total ordinary revenue 3,158,119,- 

 100 francs in 1891 and 3,023,339,546 francs in 

 1890, to which is added to make the total budg- 

 et 27,174,981 francs in 1891 and 766,945 in 1890 

 from exceptional sources, and 62,114,744 francs 

 in 1891 and 61,507,969 in 1890 of receipts 

 d'ordre. 



The total ordinary expenditure was estimated 

 at 3,247,169,967 francs in the budget for 1891, as 

 compared with 3,236,742,885 in the rectified es- 

 timates for the preceding year. The expenses for 

 the public debt in 1891 were set down as 1,300,- 

 569,685 francs, against 1,318,248,408 francs in 

 1890. For the President, the Senate, and the 

 Chamber the expenditure in 1891 was 13,051,940 

 francs, against 13,044,048 francs in 1890. The 

 expenses of the various administrations foot up 

 1,573,639,652 francs in the budget for 1891 and 

 1,548,567,173 francs in the revised estimates for 

 1890. Of this, 37,636,301 francs were assigned to 

 the Ministry of Justice in 1891 and 37,468,450 

 francs in 1890; 45,067,003 francs were appro- 

 priated for Public Worship in 1891, against 45,- 

 085,503 francs in 1890 ; 15,228,800 francs for the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1891, against 14,- 

 168,500 francs ; 63,257,212 francs for the expenses 

 of the Ministry of the Interior in France and 

 7,291,635 francs in Algeria, against 62,473,310 

 and 7,282,635 francs respectively in 1890; 20,873,- 

 370 francs for the Ministry of Finance in 1891, 

 against 19,593,870 francs ; 1,928,200 francs for the 

 Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs in 1891, against 

 1,906,000 francs ; 578,470,845 francs for ordinary 

 and 130,000,000 francs for extraordinary expen- 

 ditures of the Ministry of War, against 556,333,- 

 550 and 154,073,000 francs respectively; 218,- 

 767,702 francs for the Ministry of Marine, 

 against 199,903,686 francs; 55,748,920 francs for 

 the colonies, against 55,483,255 francs ; 173,734,- 

 840 francs for Public Instruction, against 170,- 

 692,878 francs; 12,083,905 francs for the De- 

 partment of Fine Arts, against 12,063,905 francs ; 

 20,555,483 francs for the Ministry of Commerce 

 and Industry, against 20,539,483 francs ; 21,080,- 

 330 francs for the Ministry of Agriculture, against 

 20,737,830 francs ; 113,978,642 francs of ordinary 

 and 57,936,473 francs of extraordinary expendi- 

 ture for the Ministry of Public Works, against 

 113,168,384 francs of ordinary and 57,592,934 

 francs of extraordinary expenditure in 1890. 

 The expenses of collecting taxes was estimated 

 at 337,725,190 francs for 1891 and 334,216,756 

 francs for 1890, and repayments, etc., at 22,183,- 

 500 francs in 1891 and 22,666,500 francs in 1890. 

 The extraordinary expenditures were 449,126,- 

 163 francs of special credits, etc., in 1891 and 

 446,087,668 francs in 1890, and the entries d'ordre 

 in 1891 were 102,286,836 francs and in 1890 93,- 

 881,833 francs, making the grand total of expen- 

 diture 3,798,582,966 francs in 1890, against 3,- 

 776,712,386 francs in 1890. 



The national debt has been calculated by M. 

 Leroy Beaulieu to amount to 31,718,000,000 

 francs. M. Camille Pelletan, in a report to the 

 budget committee in November, 1890, made the 

 total nominal capital 30,300,813,594 francs, on 



which the average rate of interest is 3-48 per 

 cent. ; but this he capitalized at the actuaji sum 

 of 22.824,043,690 francs, paying the average rate 

 of 4-62 per cent. The expenses of the debt in 

 1891 were 447,519,532 francs on the 3-per-cent. 

 rente, 305,540,303 francs on the 4J-per-cent. rente, 

 325,126,924 francs for annuities, and 222,382,926 

 francs for pensions and life interests. The cap- 

 ital of the rentes or consolidated debt is 21,241,- 

 621,710 francs, and the floating debt amounts to 

 908,724,600 francs bearing interest and 71.476,- 

 000 francs bearing no interest. 



The Tariff. The most important action of 

 the French Chambers in 1891 was the framing 

 of a new tariff system in accordance with the 

 proposals submitted by the Government. A 

 general tariff was adopted, in which the duties 

 were made very high on nearly all imports. A 

 special tariff offers much lower rates to nations 

 according reciprocal privileges to French com- 

 merce and manufactures. The treaties with 

 Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Nor- 

 way, Portugal, and the Netherlands, running 

 till Feb. 1, 1892, were denounced before Feb. 1, 

 1891, in "order that the new tariff might be ap- 

 plied not only to those countries, but to those 

 enjoying the same rights under the most-favored- 

 nation clause, among others, Germany, England, 

 Denmark, Russia, and Austria. In expectation 

 of a larger revenue from the new protective du- 

 ties, the railroad-traffic tax was repealed. The 

 excise duties on sugar were modified. Raw ma- 

 terials are to be imported free, and to compen- 

 sate the flax growers and breeders of silk- worms, 

 bounties are given for these cultures. The ex- 

 isting conventional duty on cotton yarns was 

 renewed for the treaty or minimum tax and 

 increased by 30 per cent, for the non-treaty or 

 maximum tax. The duty of 20 francs per "l 00 

 kilogrammes on pork proposed by the ministry 

 was approved by the Chamber, but the Senate 

 raised it to 25 francs. On petroleum the duty 

 was fixed at 12 francs. Countries enjoying the 

 former conventional tariffs under favored-nation 

 treaties can be admitted to the new treaty tariffs 

 at the discretion of the Government. This is not 

 the case with the United States, and therefore 

 negotiations for a special treaty of reciprocity, 

 which must be ratified by the National As- 

 sembly, were opened by the French Govern- 

 ment, which demanded merely the application 

 of the reciprocity clause of the American Tariff 

 act to produce of France and her colonies, by 

 which skins, sugar, and molasses of the value of 

 12,000,000 francs per annum will be admitted 

 into the United States free of duty, and Ameri- 

 can products of about the same export value 

 will be admitted to the French market on the 

 payment of the minimum duties. 



Legislation. An important change in the 

 mode of punishing criminals was the law relat- 

 ing to first and repeated offenses, which was 

 promulgated on March 27, 1891. On the convic- 

 tion of a prisoner for a first criminal offense the 

 judge is authorized to postpone the execution of 

 the punishment, and after the lapse of five years 

 it is entirely remitted, unless the person is con- 

 victed within that period of a second criminal 

 act. in which case the first penalty will be car- 

 ried into execution in addition to that attach- 

 ing to the second offense. In the session that 



