

FRANCE. 



239 



foreign. The French vessels entered comprised 

 8,533, of 4,611,561 tons, engaged in the foreign 

 trade and 73,561, of 7,295,707 tons, in the coasting 

 trade; of those cleared 9,024, of 4,925,265 tons, 

 were in the foreign and 73,561, of 7,295,707 tons, 

 in the coasting trade. Included in the French 

 marine in the foreign trade are the vessels of the 

 colonies and those in the sea fisheries. The mer- 

 chant marine on Jan. 1, 1899, consisted of 14,406 

 sailing vessels, of 414,673 tons, with 67,583 men 

 in their crews, and 1,209 steamers, of 485,617 tons, 

 with crews numbering 20,627. The sailing vessels 

 plying European waters numbered 150, of 14,824 

 tons, and 271, of 178,307 tons, navigated the 

 oceans; all the rest were employed in the coasting 

 trade or the fisheries or in port service. The 

 Government gives 16,000,000 francs a year in 

 premiums for building and navigating vessels and 

 4,550,000 francs to encourage the cod fisheries. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads in operation in 1898 was 23,324 

 miles, besides 2,404 miles for local traffic. In 1899 

 the railroads of general interest had a length of 

 23,576 miles. The length of tramways at the end 

 of 1899 was 2,319 miles. The main lines of rail- 

 road were built by companies under the super- 

 vision and partly with the assistance of the state. 

 They belong to six companies, and will revert to 

 the Government between 1950 and 1960. The Gov- 

 ernment guarantee of interest expires in 1914 for 

 four of the companies, in 1934 for another, and in 

 1935 for the last. The Government built and is 

 the owner of 1,700 miles of railroad. The cost of 

 the railroads up to 1897, when they had a length 

 of 23,152 miles, was 15,898,000,000* francs. There 

 were 374,755,000 passengers carried in 1897, and 

 108,399,000 tons of freight. The expenses in 1897 

 were 696,775,000 francs; receipts, 1,335,350,000 

 " 'ancs. 



The number of letters sent through the post 



~ce in France and Algeria in 1897 was 952,- 

 644,000, of which 795,745,000 were internal and 

 156,899,000 international; registered letters and 

 parcels, 46,550,000, of which 44,062,000 were in- 

 ternal and 2,488.000 international ; of postal cards, 

 58,767,000, of which 51,681,000 were internal and 

 7,086,000 international ; of newspapers, circulars, 

 samples, etc., 1,305,764,000, of which 1,153,575,000 

 were internal and 152,189,000 international. 



The telegraph system on Jan. 1, 1898, consisted 

 of 62,952 miles of lines, with 218,684 miles of wire. 

 The number of dispatches in 1897 was 44,515,175, 

 of which 36,799,740 were internal, 5,158,911 inter- 

 national, 1,116,142 transit, and 1,440,382 official. 

 There is in Paris a pneumatic tube system with 

 237 miles of tubes. The telephone systems of 

 France had 10,510 miles of line and 99,890 miles 



I of wire in the towns, and there were 103,807,528 

 conversations in 1897. The long-distance circuits, 

 of which there were 809, had 12.892 miles of line 

 and 34,510 miles of wire, and there were 1,916,966 



Inyersations in 1897. 



Dependencies. The colonies and protectorates 

 France have an estimated total area of 4,307,000 

 square miles and a population of 60,000,000. Al- 

 geria is regarded as a part of France, and has no 

 separate Legislature. The Governor General com- 

 municates with the ministers of the different de- 

 partments in regard to the administration, and is 

 advised by a council of 15 members, which dis- 

 cusses and votes the annual budget, while the de- 

 partments of finance, justice, and public instruc- 

 tion, public works, and native affairs have local 

 officials to direct them. Tunis is under the pro- 

 tectorate of France, and is practically ruled by a 

 ministry selected and directed by the Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs. The colonies proper have elective 



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councils to assist the Governor besides representa- 

 tion in the French Chambers in the case of the 

 older colonies and delegates in the Superior Colo- 

 nial Council in the case of the others. The Sen- 

 ators and Deputies of the colonies have seats in 

 this council, and officials and private individuals 

 who are appointed on account of their local or 

 expert knowledge. Most of the colonies receive 

 assistance from the French Government in the 

 form of grants of money voted by the Chambers, 

 which amounted in 1900 to 89,768,262 francs, while 

 the receipts of the French treasury from colonial 

 services were 4,730,540 francs. Naval and military 

 expenditures incurred in the colonies are not as 

 a rule included in these votes, but in the budgets 

 of the Ministries of War and Marine. 



Andorra is a semi-independent republic in the 

 Pyrenees, partly under the suzerainty of France, 

 which is exercised through the prefect of the 

 department of Pyrenees Orientale. The heads of 

 families elect the Legislative Council of 24 mem- 

 bers, which elects the syndic who presides over 

 the executive. The judicial magistrates are ap- 

 pointed alternately by the French Government and 

 the Spanish Bishop of Urgel. The area of the 

 republic is 175 square miles and the population 

 about 6,000. 



Algeria is divided into the three departments of 

 Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, each of which 

 elects a Senator and two Deputies to the National 

 Assembly. The Governor General is M. Jonnart, 

 who in November, 1899, succeeded M. Laferri&re, 

 appointed in 1898. The area is 184,474 square 

 miles, with a population in 1896 of 4,429,421, of 

 whom S. 873,278 were found in the civil area and 

 556,143 in the military territory. The French 

 population in 1896 numbered 318,137; foreign 

 population, 446,343. Of the native population 

 about 75 per cent, consists of Kabyles or Berbers, 

 15 per cent, of Arabs, and 10 per cent, of Moors, 

 Turks, negroes, etc. Outside of the boundaries of 

 Algeria is the Algerian Sahara, having an area of 

 123,500 square miles and about 50,000 inhabitants. 

 The city of Algiers in 1899 had 96,784 inhabitants: 

 Oran, 85,081 ; Constantine, 51,997. The natives are 

 all Mohammedans, the Jews now having the status 

 of French citizens. In the primary schools, of 

 which there were 1,161 in 1897, with 62,873 boy 

 and 41,334 girl pupils, instruction is given in 

 French or Arabic. There were 52,108 French, 

 19,362 Mohammedans, 14,791 Jewish, and 37,839 

 foreign pupils taught in 1896. The infant schools 

 were attended by 26,075 children. The university 

 students in Algiers in 1896 numbered 522 ; in the 

 lyceums maintained in the capitals of the three 

 departments there were about 2,000, and in com- 

 munal colleges 3,863. The expenditure for educa- 

 tion in 1900 was 6,453,824 francs. 



The receipts of the Government for 1900 were 

 estimated at 55,398,711 francs from local sources, 

 of which 12,135,331 came from direct taxes, which 

 are paid by natives only, 8,394,400 francs from 

 registration and stamps, 13,425,000 francs from 

 customs, 5,583,600 francs from monopolies, 4,385,000* 

 francs from domains and forests, 8.066,770 francs 

 from miscellaneous sources, and 3,405,610 francs 

 were recettes d'ordrc. The budget of expenditure 

 amounted to 72,144,494 francs, which does not in- 

 clude 55,901,310 francs for military purposes and 

 2,500,000 francs for the public debt. The expendi- 

 tures of the different departments of the adminis- 

 tration were 23,435,013 francs for the interior, 

 21,031,000 francs for public works, 8,136,448 francs 

 for finance, 6,528.824 francs for instruction and 

 fine arts, 6,326,099 francs for commerce, posts, etc., 

 3,108,590 francs for agriculture, and 2,622,250 

 francs for justice. The military forces in 1900 con- 





