EUROPE: FRANCE. 83 



is in proximity to railroads, and is chiefly in the Departments of 

 the Isere and Savoy. 



The principal fuel used is coal. 



In the Departments of the Isere and Ardeche, both wood and 

 rags are used in making paper. Rags are more plentiful than wood. 

 Some alfa is used. 



The price of wood pulp varies from 10 to 12 francs ($1.93 to 

 $2.32) per 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds); pate de boise chimique 

 (chemically prepared wood), from 22 to 25 francs ($4.25 to $4. 83) 

 per too kilograms; rags, from 4 to 12 francs (77 cents to $2.32) per 

 100 kilograms; the best quality, from 35 to 50 francs ($6.76 to $9.65) 

 per 100 kilograms. 



Paper-making machinery is manufactured at Vienne, near this 

 city. The facilities for its production are said to be exceptionally 

 good. 



The average pay of labor in paper mills is from 50 to 60 cents 

 per day. 



The mills in this region produce about 6,000 pounds of paper per 

 day, or an average of 1,000,000 pounds per year, omitting fete days. 

 They are all run by turbine wheels propelled by water. 



Very little handmade paper is produced here, and that only in 

 Auvergne. 



The methods of manufacture are said to be modern. It would 

 require an expert to determine this question. The methods are im- 

 proving, and the production is likely to increase. 



FOREIGN TRADE.. 



The imports of paper are insignificant and only f romTJSBKSF an<4- 

 Norway. 



The tariff on paper is 12 francs ($2.32) per 100 kilograms; 8 franc s 

 ($1.54) from Sweden, a country to which the minimum taiSMMHKl 

 applied. 



I can not learn that any country is striving to build up a paper 

 trade with France. The only way to establish a market for Ameri- 

 can paper in this country is to make it cheap and send it direct from 

 an American to a French port, without paying profits to middlemen 

 or losing time by warehousing and transshipment. Frenchmen all 

 want to deal directly with the American producer. They are not 

 certain that someone else is no-t making most of the profits, unless 

 they buy direct. The French are averse to telling me what they pay 

 for paper or anything else. They say it is unpatriotic to help build 

 up the trade of a competitor, who may throw their countrymen out 

 of work. In regard to canned meats, fruits, staves, shocks, and many 



