EVOLUTION OF THE FRENCH FISHERIES 311 



Germany, Holland, and Scandinavia ; she has not 

 adapted herself to modern requirements. She possesses 

 a certain amount of modern material, but it is imprisoned 

 in an ancient organisation. The harbour works at Havre 

 have scarcely been completed, but their insufficiency is 

 already recognised ; it will be necessary to resume them, 

 and to excavate a large graving-dock for the new liner 

 La France, which has recently been launched. It may 

 be necessary to make room for liners as large as the 

 Mauritania, as the eminent president of the General 

 Transatlantic Company, M. Jules Charles-Roux, has stated. 



The internal transport of France is far from satisfac- 

 tory. Large heavy waggons are drawn by powerful loco- 

 motives over worn-out rails which were never intended 

 for such. The inertia of the administration is echoed by 

 the inertia of capital. Timid and vacillating when it is a 

 question of supporting a national industry, the French 

 will rush to the banker's counter to subscribe to a foreign 

 loan ! 



These are the prime, the fundamental causes of the 

 industrial decadence of France. The evil is not incur- 

 able, but its severity calls for drastic treatment. 



