_ i oe 
TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 64.0 
80 centimes to 8 francs 89 centimes. These goods, made into shirts, collars, and 
sewed lingerie, are worth 40 francs 60 centimes per kilogramme. 
The export prices of silk woven goods have been valued for 1902: Plain, 
75 franes; figured or brocaded, 88 francs; mixed, 39 francs; figured, 42 francs the 
kilogramme. Made-up silk garments for women are valued at 389 francs 50 centimes. 
Whence this difference unless it comes from the fashion given to these stuffs ? 
And the larger part of this difference between the price of the primary material 
and that of the garment represents wages. 
In France the woollen industry has a plant whose producing power is double 
the amount consumed. The trade has been stationary now for some years, What 
is needed here is an outlet, not protection. 
The textile manufacturers who never cease to demand protection are the cotton- 
spinners (who also weave, or drag the cotton-weaving in their train) and the linen- 
spinners. The cotton-spinner earns 2 francs 50 centimes, where the woollen-spinner 
earns 4 frances 50 centimes. The number of cotton-spinning spindles in 1891 was 
3,779,400, In 1902 it was, according to M. Méline, 6,150,C00, The consumption 
of raw cotton, 1889-91, was 143 million kilogrammes; in 1898-1902 it was 
178 million kilogrammes. This increase of 24 per cent. is 38 per cent. less than 
the increase of the plant, which is 62 per cent., and this takes no account of the 
increased fineness of the numbers spun. 
All the ectton and linen spinners complain of over-production. They are 
reduced to running short time and shutting down, and very often to clearing off 
their stock abroad at a loss. Protection has called forth an artificial demand for 
labour. Wages are lowered by the irregular employment. It has thus brought 
about a series of crises. 
The silk industry has need of freedom. Nevertheless, it is tributary to the 
duties which have been put on silk yarns and on cotton yarn. Of 3,712,000 kilos. 
exported in 1902, 2,024,000 kilos., z.c., 54 per cent., are mixtures which pay the 
exorbitant duties that burden the finest numbers of cotton yarn. 
It may thus be seen that the clothing and lingerie industries pay quite a special 
tribute to the cotton-spinning industry, which represents 50,000 workers, as 
against more than 1,400,000. 
The silk industry is similarly tributary to it. 
The metal industry is divided into two groups: the one representing 0:88 per 
cent. in industrial importance, the other 9°55 per cent. In the first are thirty 
factories of over 500 workers, representing 50,000 workers. (The caiculation is 
exaggerated, as not fifteen of these factories produce pig iron and steel.) The 
second group, with 650,000 workers, cotints for 10 per cent. in industrial import- 
ance. This group, which comprises builders and smiths, uses iron and steel as 
primary material, and pays tribute to the minority which produces them. 
The legislation of 1893 had recourse to a system of premiums for naval con- 
struction ; if it had not been that the vessels of subsidised postal companies were 
bound to be built in France, this legislation would have done away with the 
building of steamships. The building of such ships represented, in 1900, 10,396 
gress tons; in 1901, 10,190. The building of sailing ships was 78,903 tons in 
1900, and 59,320 in 1901. Between 1893 and 1902 the State had paid to attain 
this result 183,796,000 francs, not counting about twenty-six millions per annum of 
postal subsidies. 
In 1884, in order to justify the sugar legislation, M. Méline pleaded the 
interest of the workers. Now the number of these workers was 43,896 in 1884-85, 
and 40,982 in 1902-03. The total wages during the first year of the legislation 
were 15,539,000 frances; during the last, 13,115,000 francs; a reduction of 
2,424,000 francs. To attain this result, the Treasury had paid out to the sugar 
manufacturers, who numbered no more than 332 in 1902, the sum of 1,109 
millions, exclusive of 168 millions as bonus to the colonial sugar industry. 
These facts prove that the industries which are most important, both as regards 
the number of persons sa pt and the returns, pay tribute to industries which 
employ but a limited number, with a much smaller return. 
