OPERATIONS) .
In more distant seas, French craft helped to chase raiders and took part in certain of the colonial expeditions. The navy also furnished men to the army, notably the Brigade of Marines which, under Rear-Admiral Ronarc'h, distinguished itself at Dixmude. But the navy did not expand in numbers of big warships because industries which had before the war been associated with this work devoted themselves almost wholly to the needs of the army; this was the case both in private works and in the Government arsenals, which manufactured, among other material, bridges, artil lery and munitions.
The net decrease was: 16 battleships, 16 cruisers, 3o torpedo boats and destroyers, and 39 submarines. Total tonnage in 1914 was 816,000 tons (37% of the tonnage of the British fleet; 93% of that of the United States fleet), while in 1919 it was 590,000 tons (23% of the tonnage of the British fleet ; 57% of that of the United States fleet). This shows a considerable weakening, still more serious in view of the wornout condition of all ships remaining in commission, a situation which was especially serious in the smaller craft.
Present Situation.—Up to 1921 the French navy was engaged in making up its war losses, but the reconstitution of the fleet was delayed by the impossibility of further increasing expendi ture and the high cost of upkeep of too many wornout or obso lete ships; its tonnage, therefore, continued to decrease (to 394,000 tons in 1924). Eventually France agreed at Washington in 1922 to the proposed reductions, limiting her total capital-ship tonnage to 175,00o tons. As a great Colonial power, however, France is bound to keep up a fleet equal to her needs. For this reason, profit ing by the lessons of the war and paying due heed to the Washing ton Treaties and her own financial difficulties, she made prepara tions to reconstruct her naval, forces at the minimum practicable strength. The building of capital ships was deferred. To protect the country's vital communications, especially in the Mediter ranean, the Ministry of Marine decided to rely chiefly on sub marines, aeroplanes and light craft, with fortified bases. A re organization of coast defence was undertaken, and the naval air force was developed along new lines. Light craft and submarines were placed on the stocks: between 1922 and 1928, eight cruisers, three of 8,000 tons and five of 10,000 (now in commission [ 1928] : the three "Duguay-Trouins," of 8,000 tons, and two "Duquesnes," of io,000 tons; undergoing trials: the "Suff ren," 1 o,000 tons) ; 18 destroyers of from 2,400 to 2,890 tons (now in commission : six "Jaguars"; undergoing trials : three "Guepards") ; 26 torpedo boats of from 1,400 to 1,500 tons (18 at present in commission and four undergoing trials) ; submarines, including 20 of 600 tons ("Ondine" type), four "Saphir" minelayers of 76o tons, nine of 1,15o tons ("Requin" type), 17 of 1,500 tons ("Redout able" type), one "Surcouf" of 3,25o tons (now in commission : nine "Requins" and 12 "Ondines"; undergoing trials: two "Saphirs" and four "Redoutables") .
The future of the French navy is embodied in three bills, de termining the naval position of France. The high-sea fleet is to comprise, apart from special craft, 175,00o tons in capital ships and 6o,000 tons in aircraft-carriers, in accordance with the Wash ington treaties, together with 360,00o tons in light craft (cruisers, destroyers and torpedo-boats) and 96,00o tons in submarines. Age limits are as follows : capital ships and aircraft-carriers, 20 years ; cruisers, 17 years; destroyers, 15 years; submarines, 12 years. The naval air force will consist of 5o squadrons of aeroplanes (35 armed), and a variable number of miscellaneous aircraft (dirigibles, captive balloons, etc.). The coast will be defended by coastal flotillas (submarines, patrol-boats, minesweepers, mine layers, etc.), artillery, obstructions, detection systems, air forces, and by troops and material lent to the navy by the War Depart ment. Although these bills have not yet (1928) been passed and no time-limit has been fixed for the execution of the programme they represent, the Department of Marine hopes to complete it in about ten years.
Administration and Personnel.—The French Navy is ad ministered by a ministry of Marine which consists of (a) a navy cabinet and the minister's private staff, (b) a civil cabinet with civil secretariat. There is a naval staff which deals with organisa tion, intelligence and operations, and has also a section devoted to ports and bases, transports, supplies and communications. There is a central department of naval aeronautics, a hydrographic de partment, historical department, central headquarters of naval intendance, stores, medical, construction and naval artillery depart ments. Ships' companies of the French fleet are mainly composed of conscripts who are undergoing their eighteen months of military service, but the higher ratings are employed on a long service basis. Officers are recruited from the naval cadet officers' school and the polytechnic school. Naval engineer officers pass through an engineer cadet officers' school or are recruited direct from war rant officers of the engine room branch. There is a naval construc tion corps and a mates' corps, the latter recruited from chief war rant and warrant officers of the fleet. Most of the personnel of the French navy comes from Brittany, which is the traditional naval province of France.
The military air arm, which came into being at the end of 1909, was organised on a proper legal basis in 1912, when a Directorate of Military Aviation was established in the Ministry of War and a few scouting squadrons were formed, which took part in the general manoeuvres. There were also some balloon companies, with spherical balloons and dirigibles. In 1913, the Ministry of Marine established two naval seaplane centres.
The basic flying formation is the squadron. Squadrons are of three types : scouting, fighting and bombing. Several squadrons together form a group, and several groups a regiment. Several regiments, in combination with balloon units, make up a brigade. Taken together, several brigades constitute an "air division." There are at present 2 air divisions, 7 brigades, 14 air regiments and 5 independent groups, making a total of 133 squadrons and about 1,600 aeroplanes. The balloon branch consists of 18 com panies, forming 6 battalions. Each company handles one balloon, and has an establishment of 2 officers and loo men.
The three Ministries of War, Navy and Colonies receive from the Air Ministry, all the air-formations necessary for practical uses—co-operation with troops in the field or mutual instruction with other arms.
This reform creates great changes in the former organisation of the Air Arm, and in its connections with the army and navy, but details were not yet settled at the end of 1928.
No mean assets are her geographical position and character istics. Placed on the most frequented sea route between the New World and the wealthiest parts of the Old, and on the Medi terranean, she reaps therefrom great maritime, climatic, food, trade and general civilization benefits ; and her land frontiers con nect her with populous, highly developed and wealthy commu nities. The physical conformation of the country is favourable for internal communications : between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean they run through the fertile and sunny plains of the Garonne and of Languedoc, between the Mediterranean and the North sea along the valleys of the Rhone, Saone and Seine, between Lyons and Brittany, along the Loire valley and across the plains of Touraine and Anjou. The central Plateau (Massif central) of the Auvergne, Limousin and Cevennes alone offers some obstacles. Although not endowed with many good natural harbours on the coast lines, yet she possesses natural sea and inland ports of great merit (Brest, Toulon, Bordeaux, Rouen), and has succeeded in substantially bettering natural provisions in the sea ports of Marseilles, Sete, Cherbourg, Dunkirk, La Rochelle-Pallice, St. Nazaire.
Population: The Alien Elements.—During the last cen tury, France has not shown growth in population similar to that of the other nations of western Europe. From 1821 to the eve of the Franco-German war, population increased indeed from 302 to 38 millions, but from the first census (1876) after that war to 1911, the increase was from 36.90 to 39.6o millions. The 1921 census reflected the results of the World War, and of the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine : for, even with the contribution of 1,709,000 Alsace-Lorrainers, the total population was inferior by nearly 400,000 to that of 1911. In 1931, however, an in crease of 21 millions was shown (census population 41,834,923)• It was mainly the result of foreign immigration (which has been the outstanding phenomenon in the social life of France since 1922) : the number of aliens grew from 1,530,024 to 2,890,923. Its percentages of the total population in 1901, 1911 and 1922 were, respectively, 2.6, 3.9 and 7.2. In the late summer of 1926, over 3 millions were in the country. The most numerous were: Italians, 800,000; Belgians, soo,000; Spaniards, 430,000; Poles, 350,000; Swiss, 140,000; Russians, 9o,000; British, 8o,000; Ger mans, 6o,000; U.S.A., 48,000 and Czechoslovakians, 36,000. Apart from Europeans, a large number of North Africans (Al gerians, etc.) have entered France as workers in recent years.
Italians preponderate in the east of the Rhone area from the Italian frontier to Narbonne, and up to Lyons (they are said to form one quarter of the population of Marseilles and of Nice), but in recent years they have been moving also towards the Atlantic into the declining population areas of the south-west (Toulouse, Montauban, Auch, Agen). Italians, of whom only about 30% go into agriculture, are numerous in building and railway construction east of a line from Amiens to Marseilles.
Spaniards, who have increased proportionately far more than the Italians or Belgians, their number having grown from 106,000 in 1911 to 430,000, are mainly found within a line drawn from Bordeaux to Sete on the Mediterranean. They are engaged principally in agricultural occupations, but are numerous in manual occupations in Bayonne, Bordeaux, Toulon and Perpig nan (in this town in 1926 nearly a third of the population was Spanish). These great waves of immigration in 1922-26, which were due to the intense economic prosperity of the country, were systematically directed and controlled. State agreements were made with Poland, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Luxem burg which provided free equality of treatment with French workers as regards wages, accidents insurance, disputes, education and other matters. Depots of the Ministry of Labour were estab lished to direct the immigrants to their employment. The coal and ore mining and metal industries central organization intro duced directly about 400,000 workers in 1921-26. In 1927 a reflux occurred, owing to the return to less feverish employment conditions, and the number of recorded departures of workers exceeded the arrivals (89,982 against 59,271). This new and conspicuous prominence of the alien, his numerical importance, his penetration into so many fields of industry and agriculture, as well as into commerce, is not likely to give rise to grave prob lems. The direction of immigration has been largely determined by propinquity (Spaniards into the south-west and Pyrenees region, Italians into the south-east, Belgians into the north and east), so that assimilation as regards the normal scheme of life is more readily realized by persons who are akin in general civilization. A stringent system of control is exercised : every alien must possess an identity card, and its withdrawal or non renewal is equivalent to an indication that his presence is no longer desired ; and every employer of foreign labour must notify the fact within 24 hours to the proper authority.
Certain Demographic Facts.—The percentage of females in the total population, which was 50.87 in 1911, was 52.46 in 1926 (in that year the numbers were 20,352,884 and or an excess of over 1,900,000: in 1911, that excess was 683,000). The French birthrate is higher than those of certain other coun tries (e.g., in 1926, 1.88 per ioo born living in France, 1.78 in Great Britain, 1.75 in Sweden, 1.84 in Switzerland), but the death rate for under one year is much higher in :France (in 1926, 9.7 against 7 in Great Britain). Many public and private induce ments towards large families are provided, including exemption or reduction in taxation for families with over two children, extra taxation of childless married persons, unmarried or widowed persons, and the family and maternity allowances now universal in Government employment and widespread in industries.
The movement from the country-side continued : in 1926, the percentage of the population classed as rural dwellers (i.e., those living in communes of under 2,00o inhabitants) was 53.6.
Of the cities with over 100,00o inhabitants, those showing the greatest proportional growth between 1926 and 1931 were Mar seilles (now first after Paris, with 800,881), Nice, Toulon, Tou louse, and Reims. Besides these a modest increase appeared in the figures for Lyons, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, Le Havre, and Nancy. Lille, St. Etienne, Roubaix, Clermont-Ferrand declined. Of the total native population of 38,797,500 in 1921, 21,720,600 were engaged in occupations, of whom 8,606,00o were females; of the total alien population of 1,532,000 in the same year, 910,700 persons, of whom 213,000 were females. The total occupied population (exclusive of Alsace-Lorraine) of 20,843,805 in 1921 was distributed as follows:—agriculture and forestry, 8,660,248; fisheries, 72,283; mining, 276,725; transforming industries, 5,909, 182; transports and warehousing, 1,130,499; commerce and banking, 2,171,640; liberal professions, ; domestic services, 823,307; civil and military services, 1,232,366.
Economic Characteristics of French Nation.—The com posite racial origins of the French race, their immemorial contact with the Germanic, Roman and other Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilizations before and after the Crusades, the political pre-eminence of the nation in Iater centuries, have no doubt left their imprint in the high level of intelligence, taste, artistic and creative power that characterize the present population. France remains in the economic domain the world's principal purveyor of fine quality or luxury goods, and of works of art, which by their constantly changing nature, fancifulness, taste, quality and finish attract the more fastidious and discriminating classes in most civilized countries. The primary notes of French production retain this individuality and inventiveness, despite certain oncoming and more pronounced industrialization. These qualities explain the vigour of the small industries in France— the host of Paris trades, jewellery, artificial flowers, toys, knick knacks, distinctive creations in innumerable branches, as well as the specialization in so many textile and other industries that have been now organized on larger lines than formerly. The per sistence of these traits also explains how France still contains a very large body of small masters, and of skilled workers formed by them, whose inherited intellectual and artistic curiosity is ex tremely keen. The general population has not been overwhelmed to the same extent as most western European nations by urban ization and industrialization. The bulk of this inspiration, how ever, tends to come from more southerly parts of France where vivacity, impressionism, and artistic feeling are more rife than in the north. The nation as a whole displays other important eco nomic qualities such as adaptability, staying power, physical and moral, and a passion for hard work, which is equally conspicuous in the school, in the factory and in the field. In French agricul ture that passion and staying power are, no doubt, strongly stimulated by the magic of property. These qualities are partly maintained by the fact that the French national economy has kept at least an even balance between the two great accepted divisions of activity—industry and agriculture. An exceptional economic role is played by the French woman. Although she works with head and hand in the workshop, office, home and kitchen and, unlike her Anglo-Saxon sister, also takes her full share in the field, the structure and scale of French industry and agriculture, their many-sidedness and their considerable co-exist ence, owing to the great degree of localization of industry in rural areas, prevent her being unduly affected by the influence of factory and urbanization.
These figures are also distinctly indicative of the effects of the war : despite the accession of 65,6o0 Alsace-Lorrainers of the independent holders' class, the total in that class is 200,000 less, and women are 150,00o more numerous ; and despite the same accession and the immigration of many alien males for agricul tural work, there is a still more remarkable decrease in the agricultural labour figures.
The very small scale undertaking persists, and the relatively few large-scale undertakings have in considerable proportion been split up since the war for various reasons (labour shortage, loss of male owners or heirs through war, relative lack of capital of larger owners and relative enrichment of medium owners, tax ation). No comprehensive official figures exist on this subject more recent than those of 1892 which showed that 85% of the holdings occupying a total of 27% of the cultivated area were under 25 acres. Owing to the widespread occurrence of dismem bered holdings, whose strips are scattered usually within the same commune, about 145 million such strips (parcelles) are said to exist.
A recent enquiry (1924), limited, however, to vinegrowers' holdings, confirms the extreme subdivision of the land : of 1,565, 567 vinegrowers who declared their output, 409,297 had vine yards of less than 4 hectare, 403,962 of under ha., and 275,800 of less than one ha., or about 70% with under one ha. ; besides another 13% (200,228) with from one to under two hectares.
The livestock has regained its pre-war strength as regards cattle (14.9 millions), but sheep, of which there were 33.2, 22.5, 20.2, and 16.1 millions in 1852, 1880, 1900 and 1913, numbered only 10.7 millions in 1928. Large importations from Algeria are being made. In dairy and poultry farm products (milk, butter, cheese, eggs, poultry), made with increasing success, especially in Normandy. Brittany. the Savoy and in Poitou. a large foreign trade has developed, and a decrease in the imports of several items (eggs, poultry, game) is observable.
French soil produces practically the full home requirements, whether for man or beast, in other cereals, root crops and fruits (oats, barley, rye, maize, chicory, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beet, apples, grapes, plums, nuts, etc.) . In milk, butter and cheese, France is, or should shortly be, practically self-sufficient : she is a large exporter of soft fine quality cheeses and of butter, espe cially to England, and imports the harder cheeses. Although meat consumption has much increased owing to habits acquired on war service, French flocks and herds should, within a few years, nearly meet the French demand. One noteworthy development of the depletion of livestock and of war events has been the virtual introduction of frozen or chilled meat (from 3,200 tons in 1913, the French imports for the 5 years 1923-27 averaged io6,000 tons) and the growth of the horsemeat trade (imports alone are tenfold those of 1913) .
France, although the greatest wine producing country, has consistently imported quantities of wine many times greater than she exported (she imports ordinary wines mainly from Algeria, Spain, Greece and Tunis, largely for blending purposes, and exports, mainly to northern countries and Great Britain, finer grade wines) ; other alcoholic beverages, brandies, liqueurs, beer, cider, are all produced from home raw materials in suffi cient quantity, not only for national consumption but also for a considerable export trade. Of tobacco, the soil yields about half of the national requirements.
The official returns show that the area classified as specially devoted to fruit and floral horticulture has far more than doubled since 1913, having increased from 42 to 98,00o hectares : that to nurseries has likewise much increased (from 12,730 to 18,000 h.).
The yield of the woods and forests in commercial products must not be overlooked : for example, that of the pine forests of the Gironde and of the Landes and of Brittany, not only in pitprops, wood pavings and railway sleepers, but in turpentine and other extracts. In the category of textile raw materials, may here be included that of the silkworm ; the output of fresh cocoons and the number of growers have much diminished (in 1900, 1913, 1927, quantities of fresh cocoons were, respectively, 9,200, 4,400, and 3,600 tons, and growers numbered 136,000, 91,500 and 70,254). The production both of flax and hemp is less than half the prewar output.
Great Export Trade in Agricultural Products.—French agriculture has developed a great export trade in food and drink commodities: the total value of this trade in goods for human con sumption (as distinct from animal feeding stuffs and other prod ucts) in 1926, 1927 and 1928 reached 5,079, 5,386 and approxi mately 6,750 million francs (88o millions in 1913). Great Britain provides far the largest market, and owing to the diversity of her demands in every season, her relations are of the most ramified and constant nature throughout the year with most agricultural regions (e.g., wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Tou raine ; brandies from the Charente ; flowers and plants from the Paris and Mediterranean areas, Angers, Orleans; seeds from Provence and Orleans ; potatoes, cauliflowers, strawberries, apples, pears from Brittany and Normandy; eggs, butter, cheese, poultry, nuts, prunes, asparagus from a great part of France west and south west, and south and south-east of Paris; early vegetables and fruits from Algeria, the Rhone valley, and the Mediterranean coast).
Advance in General Organisation and in Technical Effi ciency.—Within the last generation, and notably since the war, French agriculture has made great progress both in organization and provision for the general purposes of the industry, and in technical efficiency.
County Agricultural Offices.—For the purposeful realization on a decentralized system of the definite national policy for the in crease of home food production, there was created in each county under the law of Jan. 6, 1919, a county agricultural office (Office departemental agricole) with independent legal status, directed by five elected representatives of agricultural interests of the same county, and managed by trained agriculturists. Its functions in clude the permanent general guidance on practical lines of the agriculture of the county. The State restricts its action to the giving of technical advice through its inspectors of agriculture, and to the supervision of the proper employment of its grants. Under the public Order for the administration of the law, close collaboration with the agricultural co-operative and other asso ciations within the area is postulated. These county offices are linked with a regional office (Office regional agricole), whose area corresponds to that of one of the eight agricultural regions into which France is divided : this regional office, on which the county offices are represented, has a general supervision of the county offices, and fixes the allocation of the State grants to the latter. This organization has proved efficient, and has much stimulated local progress in the theory and practice of agriculture.
The co-operative movement has made great strides, The 5,500 credit societies had 320,600 members in 1927, and the agricultural trading associations (Syndicats agricoles) increased from 2,069 with 513,000 members to 9,100 with 14 million grouped into 176 federations. Production co-operative societies number about 1,500 (principally dairies, cheese factories, wine depots, etc.). There are 7,000 cattle insurance societies with 340,000 members, S,000 fire insurance societies with 194,000 members, and about 200 accident insurance societies with about 6o,000 members.
It may be noted that the State as the owner of 1.15 million hectares of woods and forests, and the local authorities (com munes) and other public entities as the owners of 1.94 million hectares of similar property, are the greatest agricultural land lords. The return of Alsace-Lorraine brought about 140,000 h. of woods and forests to the State, and 201,000 h. to other public bodies. The administration of the whole is entrusted to a special service with a certain military basis for the 32 forest districts. The total forest land covers about 10.34 million hectares.
Probably never within such a brief period has so much been accomplished, however, in the way of improvements or renovation in the common utility services and by provision of the most various kind that forms part of the national economic equipment, as has been accomplished since 1914, and especially since 1919. The railway systems have been thoroughly overhauled as regards their permanent ways, rails, rolling stock and railway stations : two trunk systems have made great strides in the matter of electrification. Immense efforts and money have been expended on repairing and reconstructing the main highways throughout the country. Remote country districts have been provided with motor services in most cases with State or departmental subsidies, and are generally linked with railways. During and since the war manifold improvements have been made in the dock and ware housing capacity, in the machinery, motive power and in the general equipment of most French ports. Great achievements in this sphere have been the completion of the broad Rove tunnel, which gives Marseilles a large landlocked inner-harbour, the trans f ormation and enlargement of the port of Strasbourg, the con struction of a large fishing port near Lorient, and the building of large docks or other extensions at Havre, Rouen, La Pallice, Dunkirk and Marseilles. The canal system and its working equip ment have been improved and extended, e.g., the traffic capacity of the St. Quentin canal has been doubled, and the technical im provement of the water-courses, the modernization of inland ports, of haulage methods, and type of boats, has been noteworthy. The electrification of the country is now being pushed forward with such great energy that within ten years every French village and farm will no doubt possess electric light and power. The hydro electric capacity of the country has been increased from 647,000 k.w. to 2,000,000 k.w., and the capacity of the thermic stations from i,000,000 to 3,800,000.
Fresh Technical Knowledge and Foreign Undertakings.— Great accessions to the manufacturing capacity of France result from the acquisition of new technical processes and the immi gration of foreign industrial undertakings. The French since 1914 have learned to make, or improved their knowledge of making, high-speed and special steels, dyes (about 60o synthetic dyestuffs covered by i,000 patents), sulphate of ammonia by the Claude process; and they have acquired at various times manufacturing rights for the most varied engineering and electrical machinery and products from English, American, Swedish, Swiss, German, Nor wegian and Italian owners. High customs tariffs and the depre ciated franc have impelled the settlement of numerous foreign industries, especially from America, England, Switzerland and Sweden, including those of agricultural machinery, motor vehicles, railway brakes, central-heating plant, turbines, heavy and light electrical material, household and office furniture, safes, rubber and rubber goods, artificial silk, boots and shoes, biscuits, cakes, jams, etc.
Mechanical and Industrial Organisation and Direction.— The enlargement of factory units can be indicated only up to 1921 : the 1921 census returns which concerned 77 departments, giving comparisons with the year 1906 for the groups of units occupying 201 to 500, 501 to I,000, and over I,000 persons, showed that there were respective increases of 50, 48 and in the number of such establishments and of 49, 48 and 77% in the total number of persons therein employed. Since 1921 this tendency has gathered further impetus. The mechanical equip ment of factories, especially in machine tools, has been much augmented. In many works has been introduced in recent years the chain or continuous-process system (e.g, in motor and cycle, electrical material, rubber, boot and shoe factories, woodworking and several engineering trades).
Direct control of the national production in a single branch by a single concern has not been often achieved (save perhaps in potash, aluminium, dyestuffs, shipping), but in many cases effec tive control has fallen into a few hands which may reach under standing as to conditions. Several French firms or group under takings now own or have large participations in industries in sev eral foreign countries, e.g., one steel concern in Luxemburg, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Roumania, Great Britain, South America, another in Italy, Luxemburg, Spain, Den mark ; two or three motor concerns have works in two or three foreign countries.
Actual Results.—Complete demonstration of increased na tional capacity, output and power of the present France compared with that of 1913 may not here be given in detail. It may be briefly noted, however, that hydroelectric and thermic capacity have both tripled in kilowatts, the merchant fleet is greater by zoo per cent, oil tankers are twelvefold more numerous, on the main systems railway trucks number 550,000 against 385,000, locomotives 20,300 against 14,300 (besides about 46o electric locomotives against 20), automobiles over one million against 100,000. In actual output some figures are telling: potash, 2+ mil lion tons against nil, iron ore 43 million against 22, pig-iron 91 million tons against nil, and steel 81 against 4.7 million; coal against 40•8, metallurgical coke over 7 against 4 million. The annual output of automobiles grew from 55,000 in 1921 to 212,000 in 1927. The home industry of dyestuffs produces nearly 90% of home requirements and enjoys a large export trade: in 1913 the figure was under 10 per cent. ; in light and pharmaceutical chemi cals, in the electrochemical trade it also produces nearly all home requirements.
Commercial Policy and Recent Treaties.—French opinion is indissolubly wedded to protection. The powers acquired in 1916 by the executive to enact by decree, without reference to Parlia ment, import prohibitions and modifications of duties were ex tended till 1923, and were regranted in August 1926. In July 1919, to provide, in face of the depreciating tendencies of the franc, the same effective protection as was intended under the 191O customs law, the system of coefficients or multiples of increase was applied to the specific duties (i.e., to most duties, which are based on weight or material characteristic) ; these were raised on various subsequent occasions, and were stiffened in 1926 by two separate increases of 3o per cent.
France indicated immediately after the war, by a year's formal notice of the denunciation of all her commercial treaties, her intended change of general policy, and by a law of 1919 she dis carded the most-favoured-nation treatment for the reciprocity principle through the introduction of a third column of inter mediate rates between maximum and minimum. It was also an nounced in 1927 that the minimum rates were not intangible. The reciprocity principle was applied in several treaties (Canada, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy, etc.). In the long negotiations (1924-27) with Germany, that country claimed and eventually ob tained as from April 15, 1928, most-favoured-nation treatment. France accordingly now returns to that system, but not, however, without having previously negotiated a series of important treaties in which, in exchange for advantages, the minimum rates were worked out for particular commodities with countries specially interested in these commodities (e.g., for silks with Italy).
Changes in General Organization.—In France commercial enterprise for home and foreign trade has undergone transfor mations similar to those manifested in industrial enterprise, so that larger-scale organization and combination or concentration among distributors of goods and services, with the attendant conse quences, are now its leading features. In banking, transport by land and sea, the selling of oils, chemicals, metallurgy, and engi neering products, certain textiles, clothing, boots, gloves, foods, drinks, hotelkeeping, and other branches, the movement has taken pronounced form. Five or six banks with large capital, which have up to 6o offices in Paris and up to 1,300 in the provinces, and which tend to work on commonly arranged rules and rates, have gradually taken the place of hundreds of smaller banks or bankers. Three shipping companies control merchant shipping. The home and foreign chemical trade is controlled by three or four undertakings. The four or five great motor-car makers, besides having hundreds of agents as distributors at home and abroad, maintain numerous branches or garages, and in some cases have fleets of cars plying for hire in large towns. Great steel and electricity material firms have selling branches in the principal towns and in foreign countries. In many provincial towns and areas the multiple grocery shop is a prominent feature (e.g., at Rheims, one with 85o branches, at St. Etienne, one with 600, at Lyons, one with 600, another with 300), but the meat trade is not generally strongly represented, and their importance is not equal to that of the multiple grocery and meat companies in Great Britain. More important than in Great Britain, however, is the departmental store. About one-quarter of the Paris retail trade in the range of goods sold at similar shops in London (but exclud ing groceries, meat, etc.) is asserted to be done at the dozen or so great stores of the capital. Manufacturers have to a consid erable extent become also retailers: a goodly number of depart mental stores have become manufacturers or acquired interests in appropriate factories. The co-operative distribution movement is far from having attained the same development as in Great Britain or Germany. The large local society with numerous grocery, meat and general goods branches, so familiar in the industrial centres of Great Britain, is scarcely known in France.
Magnitude of Visible Foreign Trade.—France ranks after Great Britain, Germany and the United States, as regards the value of visible foreign trade, the combined total of her im ports and exports in 1926 and 1927 having reached respectively 119 and 108 milliards. In these two years visible exports repre sented 59.7o and 55.22 milliards; but it must always be recalled that invisible exports in the case of France make a most important addition to the credit side of the foreign trade account. In recent years unmistakable signs of progressive efficiency have been manifested. In 1919 and 192o, when the sterling rate averaged 32 and 51 francs, the debit balance of visible trade reached the enormous totals of 24,00o and 23,00o million francs: this was re duced to 2,50o millions in each year 1921-23, was converted into an average credit balance of i,000 millions for the years 1924-26, and into one of 2.400 millions in 1927.
In brief general terms, France now purchases abroad mainly certain sources of energy (coal, coke, mineral oils), many raw materials (especially textiles, rubber, oil-seeds, timber, wood pulp, copper, zinc, tin, phosphates, nitrates), certain foods and drinks (wheat, tropical fruit, rice, wine, coffee, cocoa, tea), and sells abroad mainly manufactures (textiles, clothing articles, metal and engineering products, leathers and leather goods, chemicals, perfumery, paper) and agricultural products (wines brandies, timber, skins, vegetable gums, beet sugar, fruits, vege tables, seeds).
Exports of food and drink products are superior in weight to the average weight of the years 1909-13. In weight, exports of manufactures show remarkable advance : the average annual weight of 2.16 million tons for 1909-13 became an average of 4.84 million tons for 1925-27. On the other hand, in weight the imports of manufactured goods have decreased (1913, 1.54, 1926 and 1927, 1.36 and 1•14 million tons). In the total value of ex ports of manufactured goods the textiles group occupies the lead ing place: in 1913 and 1924-27 it represented 37.9, 45.7, and 43.7 per cent. Developments in this group have been very striking, even after due allowance is made for the depreciation of the franc to about 2o% gold; silk piece goods, which averaged 324 millions for 1909-13, reached 4,774 and 3,590 millions in 1926 and 1927: similarly woollens, 205, 2,500 and 2,168 millions: cottons, 353, and 3,456 millions; under and outer clothing, 205, 2,886 and 2,138 millions; woollen yarns, 81, 1,041 and 1,732 millions; cotton yarns, 16, 315 and 739 millions. Similarly in other groups the value is multiplied: machines and machine-tools, 108, 1,900, 1,756 millions: small tools and metal goods, 11o, and 2,251; rubber, 73, 1,372 and 957; chemical products, 211, 1,169 and 1,523 millions.
The value in gold of the imports of most of these groups has considerably declined (e.g., woollens, 51 in 1913, 146 and 123 in 1926 and 1927; cottons, 56, 155, 86; silks, 49, 100 millions). In the category of raw materials, notable advances have occurred as regards exports in the group pig-iron, iron and steel and 3,292 millions) ; potash (nil, 161 and 231 millions) ; resinous products 375 and 258 millions). The recovery of Alsace Lorraine has considerably affected several branches of exports (cottons, woollens, ore, engineering, potash).
Her principal customers, as shown by percentages of total an nual exports, are: U.K., about 18 to 20; Belgium-Luxembourg, 14 to 17; Germany, 12.7 before war, 7, 2922-26, nearly 12, 1927; Algeria, 7, United States, nearly 7, Switzerland, 6, Italy, 4, Spain, 3, Holland, 3.2, Argentine, 2%, Indo-China and Morocco, nearly 2, Tunis, 1.3, Brazil, Canada and French West Africa, about 1. Her principal suppliers in annual percentages, are: the U.K., 1909-13, 13, now about 12; U.S.A., so, and now 13 to 14; Germany, 12, now about 8; Belgium, 7; Algeria, 4 to 5; Argentine, Holland and Italy, about 4, and Spain, 2.
Importance and Character of Anglo-French Trade. France in 1913, 1926 and 1927 sold to Great Britain goods to the value of 1,454, 10,707 and 10,179 million francs, and bought there goods to the value of 895, 6,516 and 6,464 millions: the resultant balances of the visible exchanges to French credit were accordingly 559, and 3.715 million francs. The yield of the invisible Anglo-French exchanges, were they statistically calculable, would show proportionately a far larger credit balance for France: for nothing on the English side of the Channel can match, to take the most important item, the expenditure in France of 700 to 800,000 British persons who yearly cross, thronging in the sum mer months Paris, the coast from Calais to Brest and round to La Baule, as well as the inland touristic and health resorts, and in the winter the Riviera or the Basque coasts. Great Britain in fact, as the buyer since time out of mind of one-fifth of French exports, is the vital and greatest French market, and so widespread and ramified are the origins of the exports that most industrial and agricultural regions are interested.
English exports to France, unlike those from France, which are goods into which much labour cost has entered, are mainly fuel, raw materials like wool, rubber, tin or factory equipment and textiles, of which a not inconsiderable element is made up of ma terials from other countries (e.g., wool, rubber). Coal is drawn mainly from south Wales and (less) from the north of England: Australian or Argentine wool hides, raw rubber, tin, from London; textiles from Bradford and Manchester; boilers, machinery and machinery spare parts, mainly from Manchester and Birmingham areas, and Leeds; these together represent in value over 50% of British imports into France (if the milliard francs worth of pearls are excluded-France also exports to U.K. pearls to the value of 14 milliard).
Financial Policy and Practice, 1914-19.-For the three years 1915-17 (the 1914 budget had been voted before war be gan), no regular budgets were presented to Parliament, which simply voted for the civil and military needs credits, whose dis tribution was determined later by decrees; in 1918 and 1919 were voted each year the series of two budgets, one for normal and one for extraordinary expenditure ; the needs of the second to be met by loan. Although new direct and indirect taxation was intro duced during the war (in 1916 income and war profits taxes were first applied, and raised in 1917 and 1918; in 1917, substantial increases in those on landed property and buildings; and new, or increased rates of old, indirect taxes on a whole series of com modities or services, e.g., the luxury tax, the early form of the now highly productive business turnover tax, those on tobacco, spirits, sugar, watches, stamp duties, postal rates, etc.), yet it was deemed that, since a very large proportion of the population (for two years practically all able males up to fifty years) was mobi lized, and since the devastated regions, which formerly yielded about one-sixth of the total revenue, yielded little, any attempt by rigorous and comprehensive measures to cover the war costs was foredoomed to failure. The trained human agents of collec tion were also lacking: thus the income tax, inaugurated in 1916 by reduced and inexperienced staffs, produced extremely little (in 1916 and 1917, only 51 and 269 millions). For the six years 1914-19 (1 919 may be included, as demobilization and return to normal conditions was gradual), the total revenue from taxa tion amounted to 36.24 milliards, and expenditure to 224.18 milliards, or approximately one-sixth was met out of revenue. The deficit was made good in various ways : by loans or advances by the Bank of France (about 12-14 milliards), by internal loans of various types, and by foreign loans. The current financial mainstay of the State was the national defence bond first issued in Sept. 1914 (the normal type became a treasury bill with 3, 6 and 12 months, afterwards I and 9 months' maturity, with interest payable in advance, but later issues carried 5, 6 and I o years' maturities) : at times after the war their total circulation ap proached 6o milliards. Several long-term internal loans, to a total of 28 milliards, were issued and numerous external loans were negotiated (England, America, Spain, Switzerland, South America, etc.) .
Three Financial Reform Measures.—Early in 1920 the situ ation appeared most serious : for in 1919 expenditure had been and revenue only 10.17 milliards, and the exchequer was faced with the necessity of providing for war damage reconstruc tion greater sums in 1920 and following years than the whole rev enue of 1919 (in which year war damages payments reached nearly 151 milliards) . Decisive action was necessary to secure a reduction of borrowing and to approximate more closely income to expendi ture. The proposals of the Francois-Marsal Finance Act of June, 1920, aimed at producing 8 more milliards of revenue by a general increase of taxation. The flaws of this reform were the retention of the second budget for extraordinary expenditure, which was to be entirely fed by loan, and the institution of a third budget of expenditure recoverable under the peace treaties (i.e., from Ger many), which also had to be fed by loans in France. The Finance Act of 1922 united the first two, but left the third as separate. The second reform, that by the Poincare Government in March, 1924, after the Jan.–Feb. 1924 franc crisis, showed progress towards a sole State budget by the transfer of the permanent charges of the reparation budget to the State budget ; it provided also out of revenue for six milliards so transferred, as well as for 4 additional milliards of revenue, and reduced the borrowing limit for the devastated areas to three milliards.
Another shock to public confidence in the summer of 1925 prompted the voting in July of a third reform measure in the 1925 budget, which for the first time since the war included all expenditure, and which provided for 6 milliards of additional revenue (although it still left to the exchequer the burden of pro viding a part of heavy war damages payments). It introduced a host of changes and of increases in rates of many important taxes.
Comprehensive Poincare Reform of 1926.—The effect of these reforms was being continuously counteracted by the persis tent depreciation of the franc, which, in view of brilliant economic conditions, appeared mainly due to the growing lack of public confidence on political grounds. The existence since May, 1924, of successive Governments which, although not containing mem bers of the extreme parties yet represented a combination of ad vanced parties, relied on the support of extreme parties, and were believed to intend to apply some of their principles (e.g., capital levy, compulsory exchange of I 00-franc notes for new notes of 87.5o francs, increased nationalization of industry), caused a gradual decline in the purchase of Government securities or in renewals at maturity, so that the Government had to borrow more heavily from the Bank, and to increase the note circulation, to meet both current needs and the heavy maturities. Twenty-two milliards fell due in 1925 (though only 8 were claimed) and 6.4 milliards in 1926, apart from the regular maturity every month of about 7 milliards of National Defence Bonds. Under this in fluence the note circulation rose from 43 milliards in June, 1925, to 54 in June, 1926, and the loans from the Bank from 32 to nearly 36 milliards. The movement was accelerated by the lack of confi dence that caused the non-repatriation of a great proportion of the yield of the great export trade, as well as the flight of capital from France. Within the year July, 1925–July, 1926, six Ministers of Finance and one Minister of the Budget left office without securing the desired results. In July the situation of the exchequer grew critical, its coffers were almost empty, the American loan was practically exhausted, and the official exchange rate actually sank to 243 francs. Under the staggering influence of this fourth shock, a coalition government under Poincare was formed with the full support of the nation, which at once took in hand its declared main function—that of the restoration of the national finances.
The principal aims were (I) to balance the budget, (2) to re lieve the exchequer, (3) to reduce the floating debt and (4) to stabilize the currency. About 21 milliards of new taxation revenue for the remaining 5 months of 1926 and 9.2 milliards for 1927, were voted on Aug. 5: of the latter 5.5 were to be obtained from indirect and 3.6 by direct taxation. Provision was made for the exchequer to meet its possibly heavy short-term liabilities through (a) budgetary receipts, (b) funds under the Dawes scheme (85o millions allotted in 1927), and (c) through the transfer to a special autonomous sinking fund, created under constitutional guarantee and given specific resources, of the service and redemption of national defence bonds and ordinary exchequer bonds. To this fund were assigned the total receipts of the tobacco monopoly, the yield of the new supertax on first transfer of buildings, stocks and goodwill, and of the succession duties (together estimated at 1,80o millions), as well as of other taxes. Its two-fold direction was confided to financial and technical experts (the latter skilled in the cultivation, manufacture and sale of tobacco). Its main positive function was to prepare the gradual reduction of the floating debt (then about 49 milliards principally made up of national defence bonds of under 12 months). As the stabilization of the currency depended principally on the general conditions resulting in the restoration of public confidence, on which would ensue the relief of the exchequer through the cessation of withdrawals, the renewal of subscriptions, the repatriation of capital, cessation of new ad vances from the Bank and new note issues, few positive measures to this end could be enacted, but the Bank of France was given special authority to purchase gold and foreign bills, and to issue in payment therefor notes not to be comprised in the official total of notes in circulation.
Wholesale Reform of Political, Judicial and Administra tive Systems : Economic Equipment Programme.—For the needs of their financial reconstructive policy, the Government also acquired exceptional powers to legislate by simple decree subject to Parliamentary ratification within six months, and intro duced within a brief period reforms almost on a Napoleonic scale into the political, judicial and administrative systems as ordered after the Revolution. In each capital of the 90 French de partments, the executive has maintained since that period an agent entitled the prefect with official buildings as splendid as the town hall, and with staff running perhaps into hundreds, and in the chief departmental divisions a sub-prefect also with fine buildings and considerable staff, each official being advised by a prefectoral or sub-prefectoral council ; and attached to each prefecture has been an official known as the general secretary. By a decree in Septem ber 1926, 106 out of 274 subprefectures with their staffs, all the 36o odd councils (23 councils from groups of departments were es tablished in their place), and 7o out of 87 general secretaries' offices were suppressed. In the same month 228 out of 359 courts of first instance in the former sub-prefectoral towns were sup pressed, as were 396 posts of magistrates, 228 clerks of court and 218 local prisons. Two tax-collecting departments of the Ministry of Finance with separate offices throughout France were amalgamated, and i,000 other offices of the same ministry abolished. Customs officials and postal servants were greatly reduced. The supply services of army and navy were amalgamated, two naval ports suppressed, army officers so reduced, that the 1914 figure of 3 5, 200 will gradually sink to 28,00o, a dozen cavalry regiments disbanded, 400 squads of gendarmes transferred into foot police. The Public Works Ministry, which has its engineers and employees throughout France in mines, railways, roads, ports, waterways, is compressing its departmental services into regional services. By a decree also, the Education Ministry undertook a large scheme of co-ordination and retrenchment. The great State departments occupied particularly with economic activities (Agri culture, Mercantile Marine, Public Works, Colonies) were re quired to draw up comprehensive schemes for the improvement of the national equipment or resources (e.g., for agriculture as a whole, for hydraulic power development, for full utilization of reparations in kind to provide national equipment of various categories, for colonial equipment and general expansion) . The strength of France as an economic unit cannot fail to be fortified by this large-scale recasting and modernization of the public services. This enlightened legislation by decrees produced a pro found moral effect and promoted public confidence.
has been the business turnover tax, which is normally 2% on all transactions, and 12% on luxuries; instituted in 1920 in replace ment of the luxury tax, it yielded in that year 942 and in 1927 no less than 8,6o5 millions, of which 924 millions were under the 12% luxury schedule. Other sources of indirect taxation in 1927 were : tobacco, 3,725 millions, the group contributions indirectes (taxes on wines, cider, beer, candles, railway and other transport freights and fares, cards, sugar, public vehicles, etc.), 2,994, cus toms, 2,617, alcohols, 1,878, sugars and saccharine, 999.9, mineral oils, 866 millions (plus 75.5 for heavy mineral oils and 26 for benzoles), automobiles, 62o, colonial commodities, 406, matches and lighters, 242, and salts 217 millions.
(Anticipated receipts and expenditure, according to Budget estimates. NOTE: The postal, telegraph and telephone services form an inde pendent administration with separate legal personality. Their receipts were 2,708 millions in 1927.
Introduced in 1916 (which year yielded only 51 millions),income tax showed receipts in 1927 of 9,693 millions, and those of the se curities tax rose from 290 millions in 1919 to 3,385 millions in 1927; of other taxes on property, certain miscellaneous direct taxes produced in that year 903 millions, and those on registrations, stamp duties, property transfer super tax, death with succession duties, and duties on stock exchange operations respectively, 3,696, 1,898, 474, and 347 millions. The three specifically direct taxes yielded therefore 13,981 millions and the second group, which is akin, 8,358 millions, or together 22,339 millions, or 44% of the State revenue. It may be noted in passing that the French income tax is levied in two guises both incident on the taxpayer : in the one form (as the impot cedulaire) it is levied on the component parts classifiable as wages, salaries, business, industry, agriculture, professions, and at different rates according to the class or classes therein represented, and in the second form (as impot general) at a single rate applicable to total assessed income after deduction of the other part of the tax payable. The most fruitful new tax The total debt amounted accordingly to 474.77 milliards, or 14 times that of 1913 (32.98 milliards of which internal was and external 1.53 milliards). The internal debt had increased 8 milliards since July 31, 1926, but a certain reduction was subse quently effected by the repayment to the Bank of France of two milliards, and the external debt reduced by certain instalment pay ments to the two important creditors, Great Britain and America, by virtue of funding agreements not yet officially ratified. Accord ing to the Churchill-Caillaux agreement (July 12, 1926) the French debt to Great Britain was funded at 60o million pounds, and repayment fixed by varying annual instalments (1926-27, four millions, 1927-28, six, 2928-29, eight, 1929-30, ten, 1930-31 to 1956–S7, 124, and from 1957-58 to 1987-88, 14 millions) : the first two have been paid. The agreed scale of repayments works out at 2% a year, being equivalent on the 5% basis to a flat annuity of rather less than 12 millions a year, and represents on this basis a present value of £227 millions, or a reduction of this debt by 62% or 65% of gross debt.
The other principal debt, to the United States, was funded in June 1925 at 4,025 million dollars, 3o million being payable in 1926 and 1927, 322 in 1928 and 1929, and following years amounts increasing up to 120 in 1941, from 1942 to 1986, 125, and in 1987 117.67 millions. This scale is equivalent on a 5% basis to a flat annuity of 88 million dollars, and represents on this basis a present value of 1,681.4 million dollars, or a reduction of 58% of the debt. The war debts incurred to other countries (Holland, Spain, Swit zerland, Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, etc.), which were relatively unimportant, have been repaid to a considerable extent. On the other side of the account, the debts of foreign States to France at the end of 1927 amounted to 8,542 million gold francs, of which, however, 7,839 millions are due by Russia. In March 1928 the Roumanian debt was funded at 525 million gold francs and the Greek at 178 million gold francs, both repayable in 62 annuities. The present value of the former is 185 millions and of the latter 103, on a 5% basis. The redemption of the internal debt is being pursued in various ways by the autonomous fund : that of the external debt has been much facilitated by the great reductions accorded by the two chief creditors, although the French thesis tends strongly to reject any settlement which involved a risk that at a given time France might have to meet calls from its allies superior to its receipts from Germany. A large portion of the cash receipts under the Dawes plan is, together with other resources of the autonomous fund, to be devoted to this purpose.
France possesses two great institutions which are lacking in Great Britain : namely a central real property mortgage bank and a central agricultural credit organization. The Credit Foncier, created in 1852, administered under State supervision and ac corded certain privileges, has headquarters in Paris with offices and agents in every centre of importance, makes mortgage loans and bond issues on urban and rural property, and may be held to rank after the Bank of France as the second banking institution. The National Agricultural Credit Fund is affiliated with 90 county and 7,000 local organizations. Great Britain also has no counterpart to the flourishing postal cheque system established in 1918 which showed on July i, 1928, accounts numbered 394,300.
Great improvement has been effected in the general state of the main roads, which underwent the severest wear and tear both within and without the war areas during the war years. The prob lem of maintenance has grown difficult, not only owing to the great road mileage in relation to population and the comparatively vast expanse of territory, but also because the roads also must bear now a far superior intensity, speed and weight of traffic : for within equal periods passenger cars can travel many times their former mileage, and goods transport vehicles have increased fifteenfold in number and carry heavier loads (the Minister of Public Works has, in fact, estimated the motor circulation on the roads to be thirty times greater than in 1914).
The public financial burden amounted in 1927 to nearly 2,500 millions, of which 614 millions under all forms were expended by the State on the national roads (Parliament voted 53o millions for 1928 as against 34 millions for 1913). The State however col lected 1,197 millions in taxes and duties on petrol, and the auto mobile tax for 1928 was budgeted to provide the State with 538 millions and the local authorities with another loo millions. The total cost to all public authorities is, however, elevenfold that of 1913.
Two main systems are administered by the State : the Alsace Lorraine and the State Railways. The latter (length, 5,700 m.) composed mainly of the lines of the former Ouest and of former minor concerns, connects Paris with Normandy (Havre, Rouen, Dieppe, Deauville, Caen, Cherbourg), Brittany (St. Malo, Rennes, Brest, Nantes), the west and south-west (La Rochelle, Saintes, Bordeaux) ; but its considerable territory is mainly agri cultural and sparsely populated. The taking over by the Paris Orleans system (4,900 m., serving, beyond Orleans, Tours-Poitiers B o r d e a u x, Tours-Angers-Nantes-St. Nazaire, Vierzon-Limoges Toulouse) of at least a part of the State system in territory into which it itself runs, as in south Brittany or in the area Nantes Bordeaux, has been proposed, and certain areas have voted in favour thereof.
Under the far-reaching scheme of general reforms introduced by the Railways Law of Oct. 1921, the separate railways were left independent as regards their internal administration, but there was instituted the Superior Railways Council, having rep resentatives of the State, the companies, the workers and several other private and public interests, including users and ordinary consumers. Its principal functions consist in the supervision of the general working, the issue of guiding principles for the col laboration or better working of the units, as for example the establishment or alteration of common freight or passenger rates, the standardization of rolling stock types or line equipment, the conditions of service of railways workers. One important concrete foundation was the establishment of a common fund or pool, into which in principle is to be paid the excess of receipts over expenditure of the component companies, and from which is to be made good the deficit of any company. On the institution of this new system, the State relieved the companies of a total indebtedness of 13,020 million francs, having already made full provision for the reconstruction work of the three systems (North ern, Eastern and Alsace-Lorraine) which were situated in the war zones. In the six years 1921-27, when the common fund only received comparatively insignificant sums as excess over expenditure, but had to disburse between 4,000 and 5,000 mil lions, the necessary resources were obtained by advances from the Treasury which required the railways to issue debentures, but the payment of loan charges for loans issued in the six years was assured by the State. This new system has worked well. It provides a co-ordinating authority that has tended greatly to increase the general efficiency and more economical working of the railways; it has already expedited many technical reforms.
The electrification of French lines has made good progress; about 75o m. out of the after-war scheme of 5,600 m. have been electrified. The Southern (Midi), which had before the war elec trified 142 m., has been the most active, and shows now a total of nearly 55o m.; and by 1930, by having electric traction over 65o m. out of the total 2,000 m. of that system destined to be so transformed, it reckons to dispense annually with 500,000 tons of coal. Energy is derived from four water-power stations in the western and three in the eastern Pyrenees. Of the 2,000 m. planned to be electrified on the Paris-Orleans system, about 150 have been completed.
The French Railways are more efficient and more comfortable than in 1913. In 1926 they carried 801 million passengers and 320 million tons of goods (against 525 and 193 million in 1913) . The general direction has been centralized, with the results above enumerated. The mileage is greater : the permanent works and ways have been thoroughly repaired after the war damage; rails and sleepers have been entirely replaced over a great proportion of line. The rolling stock equipment is far larger (at present 20,760 locomotives and 590,000 trucks and carriages), its quality, interior fittings and conveniences are much improved, and sleep ing-car and restaurant services have been developed. Apart from the new stations built in the devastated areas, new modern central stations have been built elsewhere (e.g., Rouen, Limoges, La Rochelle, Nice), new maritime stations are built or planned (e.g., Dunkirk, Cherbourg), and nearly all the Paris termini are being improved and greatly extended. The financial position has also shown improvement as a consequence of the repeated in creases in rates: since 1918, they have been
Inland Waterways.
In the forty years before 1914, the kilometric tonnage of the French inland waterways had quad rupled; but the war wrought great damage, so that the traffic tonnage of 42 millions in 1913 had recovered by 1921 only to the extent of 191 millions. Great advance has since been made (30.5, 37 and 39 million tons for 1922, 1925 and 1926, and for 1927, nearly 42 millions). Of the French rivers, which have a navi gable length of 3,80o m., and carried 21, 19 and 20 million tons in 1913, 1925 and 1926 respectively, far the most important is the Seine, which is navigable for 35o m., has several navigable tributaries, and is connected with the north, east and south by various canals : merely over the 7 or 8 miles of its Paris stretch, it carries annually nine million tons. The Scarpe, a tributary of the Escaut on its right bank (after having traversed Arras and Douai) with a navigable course of 46 m., shows a great coal tonnage; others of importance are the Escaut (40 m.), the Rhine (56 m. navigable along French territory), the Marne (115 m.), the Lys (45 m.) ; of the long rivers, the Rhone is navigable for 30o m., the Saone for 23o m., and the Loire for 130 m., but for various reasons these are comparatively little used for goods traffic. The South-Western rivers, the Garonne (navigable length, 240 m.), the Dordogne (17o m.), the Adour (72 m.), are likewise hardly used beyond Bordeaux, Libourne, and Bayonne, respec tively. French canals, which have a total length of about 3,30o m., carried in 1913, 1921, 1925 and 1926, respectively, 21, 9, 18 and 19.3 (in 1927, probably 21) million tons. The bulk of this traffic occurs in the area to the north and north-east of Paris, the goods mainly carried being fuel and building materials for the capital, and fuel, ores, building material and heavy agricultural products to various destinations within the same area, or to and from Belgium. There are about 55o inland navigation ports (2 24 on rivers, 325 on canals), of which 3o show an annual in and out traffic of more than 200,000 tons, Paris, Rouen, Strasbourg, with about six others on the Seine or in the north, showing over one million tons. Waterways connections are accordingly seen to exist between Paris, Belgium and Germany, and between Paris and the distant home areas of the Vosges, Lyons, the centre, and Bur gundy, so that goods from Nancy, Strasbourg, Besancon, Lyons, Nevers, Dijon, and elsewhere, reach the capital and the sea by waterway.
State policy for generations has not ceased to promote the development of internal navigation, and within the last fifty years three national programmes (1879, 1903, 1921) have obtained legislative sanction, though not subsequent fulfilment in every particular. In 1912 was established the National Office for In ternal Navigation, designed to exercise central control and guid ance, to further in every way the technical development of internal navigation and (especially since 1920) to take an active part even in its equipment and management. The yearly State appropriation is fairly substantial: that in 1927 was 117 millions, of which S7 was for new constructions, 39 for maintenance, and 21 for repairs of war damage, and that in 1928, 125 millions (the German National Budget allotted for 1927-28 for new canal building was elevenfold that amount with i io million marks for construction, plus 36 millions for improvements).
Of the three greatest French modern waterway projects, the Marseilles-Rhone canal, the Rhone development scheme, and the Grand Canal of Alsace, only the first-named has made real head way. This canal has a minimum depth of 8.3 ft., and comprises two sections in its length of 51 miles. The second part, which was completed in 1926 after over 20 years' work, and at a cost of over 200 million francs, is likely to have a great influence on Marseilles as a port, as the Etang de Berre provides in its quite close prox imity an outer spacious harbour for the reception and distribution of heavy goods for the interior and within the Marseilles urban area. The ambitious scheme for the development of the Rhone from the Swiss frontier to Arles, with the threefold object of making it navigable to Geneva, of obtaining about one million horse-power from a number of power stations (Valence, Monte limar, Avignon, etc.), and of irrigating the adjacent lands on both banks, which was to have been undertaken by a semi-public organization with a capital of 36o millions, with the participation of the State, the municipalities (e.g., of Lyons, Paris), the de partments affected, the Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean railway, and of other public and private bodies and persons, has not yet ma terialized. A beginning, however, is now probable with the con struction of the first part of the Grand Canal of Alsace.
France acquired much equipment for its Rhine traffic as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, having received in river boats about 300,00o tonnage, and in tugs a total of 33,200 h.p., besides equipment such as cranes, metal moving-bridges (poets trans bordeurs), silos and sheds.
Although since 5914 the production of power by the French water courses tripled from 647,000 to 2,000,000 kw., yet over two-thirds of the estimated capacity remains undeveloped. Lack of money rather than of plans has delayed progress in recent years. The present power is produced mainly by the waters of the French Alps, the Savoy and Provence (6o%) and of the Pyrenees (25%), but some important works have been established recently on the Dordogne, the Truyere and the Creuse.
The principal ports are Marseilles, Rouen, Havre, Bordeaux with its outports, Dunkirk, Nantes, St. Nazaire, Cherbourg, Bou logne, La Rochelle-La Pallice and Calais. Their relative position may vary according to the standard of estimates adopted (tonnage of ship entries and clearances, tonnage of goods handled, passenger traffic) . Cherbourg, now mainly a port of call for transatlantic liners, showed in 1925 a superior ship tonnage (21.9 millions) to Marseilles (18.7), Havre (8.5), Bordeaux (3.7) and Rouen (3.2), but these and others have greater real significance as places of maritime and trade activity. For passenger traffic, the leading ports are Marseilles (about 700,000 in and out annually), Boulogne (55o,000 to 600,000), Calais (500.000 to 580,000), Havre (in 1926, those to and from foreign countries, 306,900), and Cher bourg (from 68,700 in 1913 to 200,000 in 1926). Marseilles, which has the practical monopoly of the passenger and goods traffic for the Rhone valley and the south and south-east of France, for north and east Africa, for the Near arid Far East (it has been a great beneficiary of the Suez canal, but its great Mediterranean rival, Genoa, by reason of the Alpine tunnel routes to Switzerland and the Rhine, has diverted to itself much traffic) is the leading port. Rouen, the second port, leads for coal imports (3 to 4 million tons) and for mineral and other oils (800,000 tons) ; Havre for cotton, coffee, oils, and the export of luxury and valuable goods; Dunkirk for wool, jute, linseed; Bor deaux for imports of products from Morocco, Senegal and Mar tinique (e.g., ground nuts, rum, sugar), and for exports of wine and pit props; Boulogne and Fecamp for fisheries. It may be noted as a characteristic of French maritime traffic that, as a consequence of the necessity of importing in large quantities coal, copper, petrol, cereals and other heavy raw materials, and of the predominant character of French exports (textiles and other manufactured goods), there is a wide disparity between the weight of the imports and of the exports, the latter being about one-third of the former. The two important inland river ports are Paris and Strasbourg: at Paris about 6 million tons are annually discharged, and about 2 million loaded.
Brest and Toulon may be regarded as almost solely naval sta tions and arsenals, although certain attempts are being made to develop the commercial traffic. At Cherbourg, which with Bizerta under the 1925 Government Bill was to rank as an auxiliary arsenal but to be reduced in peace time, the work of the old arsenal appears to be concerned for some years only with ordinary ship repairing: Lorient, under the same Bill was to specialize in ship building, but by the State construction of the fishing port Lorient Keroman (opened in 1927), it appears likely to lose its naval port character.
The State has played a great part in all matters connected with French ports since the Napoleonic period: and their construction, maintenance and administration are still subject to the Ministry of Public Works. The prior authorization of the State is no longer obligatory before undertaking new works, but as the State makes large grants for improvements, it retains an effective con trol : for all the other ports the centralized system remains, and in 1924 diere were created by decree as directors thereof, engineers of the State service. The extent of the annual State grants for capital expenditure has been considerable, having been 19.5, 16.5, 7o and 122 millions in 1912, 1913, 1918 and 1919; but since 192o, owing to the financial stringency, they became lower in gold value, having been 42, 31, 28, 26, 23 and 20 millions in the years 192o-25. The tendency is growing to hand over a greater part, not only of the financing, but also of the management of French ports to the Chambers of Commerce, which are powerful bodies in France regulated by law. In the national programme for the improve ments and extensions of the principal seaports (16 in number) re garded as indispensable which was presented by the Ministry of Public Works to the National Economic Council and approved in July 1927, the total expenditure is estimated at 1,478 millions, of which the State would provide 649, and the local interests 829 millions.
For the handling of goods, large new provision has been made since 1914. The total length of quay railway lines has increased by about 65o miles. Cold storage plants have been erected at Havre, Dunkirk, Keroman-Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Pallice and Marseilles. In some cases (e.g., Marseilles and Strasbourg) large cereal warehouses or silos have been built. Ship repair facilities have been increased by the building of dry docks or by the acquisition of floating docks.
In French vessels is now carried a larger proportion of the total imports and exports : the percentage of tonnage of goods im ported in French ships was 48% in 1925, against 17.3% in 1913, and that of the exports was S3.3, against 35.8%.
The French shipping trade has undergone the same concen tration tendency as in many other countries, and is now con trolled by a few concerns. The largest company, which directs a fleet of 754,00o tons, made in 1928 a formal working agreement with another company whose group controls about S 5o,000 tons, and which works by agreement respecting important markets with a third group controlling about 440,00o tons. The effects of such arrangements have been noteworthy, and concentration has re sulted in both the simplification and facilitation of shipping trade. State aid is no longer given directly for shipbuilding, but subsidies are paid to the shipping companies for the mail and other services. A new government measure for financial assistance for shipbuild ing through the agency of a maritime credit institution (Credit maritime) was passed in 1928, whereby the great French mortgage bank known as the Credit Foncier will undertake to place for five years an annual average sum of 200 million francs at the disposal of shipowners for the building or purchase of ships.
Telephonic communication has immensely developed (subscribers in 1927 totalled 848,522 against 310,000, the telephonic staff 18,093 against 7,952), although France still occupies a very low place (about the loth) among nations as a telephone user, showing about two per ioo inhabitants, and even Paris and Lyons showing only 11 • i and 3.9 per ioo inhabitants. As a result of much aerial construction, Paris connections with foreign capitals (e.g., Madrid, Zurich, etc.), have also been greatly improved in late years. The installation of the Rotary automatic telephone system has already made progress. In Bordeaux the transforma tion for i0,000 subscribers was completed in 1927: in Paris, 4 new central stations, each with io,000 lines, were finished in 1928, and by 1940 it is estimated that 4o such stations will be in operation in the capital.
Wireless telegraphy has become popular in France, although it has not yet attained the same remarkable vogue as in Great Britain, Germany or the U.S.A. (a French statement that the value of wireless manufactures in France in 1926 reached only 500 million francs indicates the relative position in this respect). It is especially practised round Paris and Lyons and in the north and east, where the good contacts with English and German stations are largely utilized. No stations of the same power as Daventry or Chelmsford have yet been created in France, where the most powerful are St. Assise at Melun near Paris (with two emission stations, one the Continental, 22 kilowatts and wave length 1,50o metres, and the second the Transcontinental) which is in private hands, the Eiffel Tower (52 kilowatts) in Paris, and the Bordeaux-Lafayette at La Croix-St.-Hins, both belonging to the State. The State conducts a wireless station (with Soo watts, which may be raised to io kilowatts) at its higher school in Paris, and has established regional stations with rather low powers at Lille, Lyons, Toulouse, Marseilles, Grenoble and Rennes.
French writers incline to ascribe the slower development of wireless in their country to the lack of really powerful stations, and to the absence of central direction, so that the various broad casting stations (e.g., in the Paris region) may use their own various wave lengths. Powers of control to be taken by the Gov ernment were indicated by the decree of Dec. 1926 (whose pro visions have still to be ratified by Parliament) ; liberty is to be left to the small private wireless installations, but for broad casting purposes there are to be established three great national stations and eighteen regional stations, which are to be worked by the State or under conditions permitting the eventual cession of the undertakings concerned to the State. As from 1933, the State will become proprietor of all broadcasting stations which it will work in entrusting the programmes to collective organiza tions representing public bodies, great representative associations of trades or occupations such as the wireless industry, authors, composers, press, as well as the general public.
The aircraft industry in France has enjoyed much prosperity in recent years. It receives a large measure of State support (36, 40 and 4o millions in 1926-28 for industrial investigations and experiments), and large prizes are offered to the manufacturers of aircraft and of motors whose products gain records.
It must be emphasized that for few countries less than for France have savings bank transactions been a just test of popular thrift, and that this fact has acquired more than usual validity since 1919. For generations nearly all classes (including peasant proprietors, domestic servants of both sexes, commercial and in dustrial workers) have been wont to invest considerably in State, departmental, municipal, , railway and other standard securities home and foreign (e.g., apparently there are 12 to 2 million French holders of pre-war Russian securities). The bulk of these were bearer, therefore easily transferable, and purchasable in small amounts. Investment in foreign securities by people of small means has waned as a result of bitter European experience since 1914. National defence bonds of various denominations from loo francs have absorbed in streams since their creation (1914) the popular savings, as they have offered a better interest, payable in advance.
Important public provision is also made towards the old age pension scheme. In 185o was created the National Old Age Pen sion Fund under the guarantee and practically under the control of the State, which aimed at providing annuities on the voluntary contributory system : from 192o-24 about 750,000 policies repre senting annuities of about 140 million francs were in operation. But in 1910 was introduced for wage earners of both sexes in non State employment a compulsory contributory system (State, masters, workers) payable at sixty for those in receipt of under 3,00o francs a year, and optional for those with from 3,00o to 5,000 francs, and for agricultural labourers and small masters with only one non-own family worker. Miners and sailors come under special regulations (miners are entitled after 3o years' serv ice and at age of 55 to 3,00o francs a year, and their widows to 1, 800 francs, besides invalidity pension of 2,16o francs). At the end of 1924 the number of persons under the insurance obligation was 7,735,00o, and of optional insurers (in 192 2) 286,300. It should be added that in France a large number of important under takings both in industry and commerce possess their own old age pension schemes also on a contributory basis, or supplement their statutory obligations in this respect. A large proportion of the aid societies (caisses de secours) attached to so many factories also maintain old age schemes providing larger than the statutory annuity.
As regards wages in certain staple occupations. The available figures show an index of 576 for the French coal miners (excluding certain benefits such as houses at nominal rents for over half of all coal miners, medical attendance, pension contribution, etc.). In the Paris area for 230,000 metallurgical and engineering workers the general index in 1928 is 5?3, with 525 for skilled and 622 for semi-skilled. In these trades the family allowances give an addi tion of about 12% per worker with 2, and from 20% per worker with 3 children. Railway workers' index is 558 for a man without children, 675 for one with two children. State manual workers (State servants total about 800,000) have abundantly partaken of the increase in wages : e.g., foresters in receipt of 800 francs in 1913 now receive 6,900; canal lockmen formerly S5o to 700, now 6,90o to 8,50o francs. Perhaps the present general coefficient for the earnings of manual workers may be put as at least 81, as the minimum annual wage of 8,000 francs came into operation in 1928, and family allowances are payable. In 1927 the French Prime Minister stated in Parliament that the index figures for the various categories of smaller salaried workers ranged from 55o to 700, and for the upper salaried workers was 16o. Subsequent increases bring these indices to from 616 to 784.
Other widespread forms of welfare provision in French in dustry are housing schemes. The mining industry houses about 40% of all its workers; many great metallurgical, engineering, rubber and textile firms make large provision in this respect.