INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 323 



The conclusion to be drawn from these facts 

 is thus worded by M. March : "To sum up, dur- 

 ing the last fifty years a notable concentration 

 of the factories took place in the big establish- 

 ments ; but the just-mentioned results, supported 

 by the statistics of the patents, permit us 

 to recognise that this concentration does not 

 prevent the maintenance of a mass of small 

 enterprises, the average sizes of which increase 

 but very slowly." This last is, in fact, what we 

 have just seen from our brief sketch for the 

 United Kingdom, and we can only ask ourselves 

 whether such being the facts the word " con- 

 centration " is well chosen. What we see in 

 reality is, the appearance, in some branches of 

 industry, of a certain number of large establish- 

 ments, and especially of middle-sized factories. 

 But this does not prevent in the least that very 

 great numbers of small factories should continue 

 to exist, either in other branches, or hi the very 

 same branches where large factories have appeared 

 (the textiles, work in metal), or ki branches 

 connected with the mam ones, which take their 

 origin in these main ones, as the industry of 

 clothing takes its origin from that of the textiles. 



This is the only conclusion which a serious 

 analysis permits us to draw from the facts 

 brought to light by the census of 1896 and sub- 

 sequent observations. As to the large deduc- 



