EUROPE: BELGIUM. 63 



The law prohibits the employment in these factories of boys 

 under the age of 14 years and of girls under the age of 16. The 

 boys are ordinarily employed six months at the rate given in the 

 above table, at the expiration of which time they are advanced to 

 the rate of 39 cents a day and considered second-class workmen. 



In the two principal manufactories known to me, within the work- 

 ing day of ten hours one hour's time is devoted to the instruction of 

 the boys and girls in the elementary branches of study. In addition 

 to this, one hour is devoted to the manual instruction of the girls. 



Labor in paper mills is considered very efficient. 



IMPORT DUTY. 



The import duty on wall paper is $1.54 per 220.46 pounds; on all 

 other classes, including cardboard, writing, drawing, and printing 

 paper, 77 cents per 220.46 pounds. 



BANKING AND MAIL FACILITIES. 



The banking facilities existing here are such as are found in all 

 leading European states, and financial connections with every coun- 

 try exist. 



The mail and telegraphic facilities are excellent and constant. 



OUTLOOK FOR AMERICAN TRADE. 



Just what other countries are doing at the present moment to 

 build up their export trade in this particular line of manufacture is 

 unknown to me; but probably producing countries are using the 

 same means they have always employed, to wit, introducing their 

 goods to the notice of the public and possible purchasers by the aid 

 of capable representatives. 



As to what opening exists for the articles of American manufac- 

 ture of the varieties in question, the same answer can be given as in 

 the case of nearly all of our like productions. The only article for 

 which a demand has been made at my office, mentioned in the list 

 given, has been pulp of the bleached dry-soda variety. The uni- 

 form excellence, and in many cases superiority, of the manufactured 

 products of our country is almost universally admitted; but the fact 

 must not be overlooked, and it is probably not by our business men, 

 that to-day cheapness of price is as often sought for as excellence of 

 quality in the article itself. Probably, in the case of the articles 

 referred to (and this is true of nearly every manufactured article ex- 

 ported from our country) the greatest obstacles to success would be 



