EUROPE: BELGIUM. 51 



BELGIUM. 



ANTWERP. 



POPULATION. 



According to the last census (December 31, 1895), the total popu- 

 lation of Belgium was 6,410,783, and the increase each decade since 

 1866 has been about 10 per cent. 



In my consular district (Province of Antwerp) the population at 

 that date was 769,634, dwelling in one hundred and fifty-two com- 

 munities. The percentage of illiterates amounts to 37.63. 



The Belgians are exceptionally industrious, and Belgium is 

 crowded with manufactures of all kinds. The Belgian people have 

 great mechanical aptitude and furnish engineers of skill and many 

 clever inventors. The great number of paper mills in operation in 

 the country in proportion to its size shows that the paper industry 

 is very prosperous and that the activity of the manufacturer in that 

 direction is great. 



CONSUMPTION. 



In Belgium, paper is used for every purpose for which it can be 

 employed, principally as follows: Printing of newspapers, circulars, 

 books, advertisements, posters, chromolithography ; for the manu^ 

 facture of fancy-colored paper boxes, playing cards, wall paper, 

 match boxes, packing cases, bags, etc. 



There are no industries peculiar to this country requiring the 

 special use of any sort of paper. 



As to kinds of paper in use, it may be stated that almost every 

 kind known any where is employed, as, for instance, ordinary paper for 

 newspapers, fine and ordinary paper for printing purposes, paper 

 colored in the pulp for the purposes of printing "affiches," paper 

 made of rags, the thin variety used in the manufacture of letter 

 copy books, paper employed in the manufacture of colored paper, 

 colored paper used in the manufacture of record books, in the manu- 

 facture of cardboard and for binding purposes, wall paper, paper 

 for the manufacture of spinning bobes, straw paper for packing pur- 

 poses, candle boxes and playing cards, gray paper, one-fourth-white 

 paper, half-white paper, colored, celluloid, tar paper used for pack- 

 ing purposes and the manufacture of bags, fine colored paper for the 

 packing of woolen goods, parchment paper for the covering of 

 margarin and preserves (this paper is also used in the combed-wool 

 factories). 



There exist no special requirements as to weight. The qualities 

 required differ widely according to its destined use. For instance, 



