The following list gives an approximative estimate of the value of the chief products of French industry: Millions of Francs.
Linen fabrics 250 Cotton " 650 Woolen " 950 Silk 1,000 Mixed " 330 Jewelry, watchmaking. Gilt-wares 12 Minerals, mines, salt, etc .................... • 600 Articles of food—as sugar, wines, etc 364 Skins, leather, oils, tobacco 556 Bone, ivory, isinglass, etc 30 Chemical products 80 Ceramic arts. 86 Paper, printing 60 Forests, fisheries 98 Industry, Trade.—The principal seats of industry are as follows: For textile fabrics, the department be Nord, La Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Seine-Inferieure, Le Calvados, Seine-et-Oise, Ille-et-Vilaine, etc. F. stands unrivaled for her silk manufactories, the of which are at Lyons, Tours, and Paris; while St. Etienne is the special seat of the ribbon trade. Alencon, Bailleul (fabricating the so-called Yalencienne), Lille, Arras, -Caen, and Bayeux are all famous for their laces and blonds, which alone occupy 250,000 persons. Rheims stands conspicuous for its merinos and fine flannels; Amiens and „Nancy for their fine printed woolen goods; Lodeve and Elbceuf for army cloths. Gloves -are made at Grenoble, Paris, etc. The best carpets are made at Aubusson, Abbeville, and Amiens. Paris is the seat of industry for some of the most costly fabrics, as Gobe lius tapestry, shawls of great value, watches, clocks, articles of vertu, carriages, philo -sophical instruments, etc. Sevres stands unrivaled for its china and glass. St. Gobain and St. Quinni manufacture looking-glasses of the largest size.
The trade of F. is inferior only to that of England and the United States. The great -emporiums of trade are Paris, Lyon, St. Etienne, Lille, .Rheims, Nimes, Toulouse, St. 'Quentin, Orleans, Avignon, Montpellier, etc.; and the most active maritime ports are Marseilles, Cette, Havre, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Calais, Dunkirk, Boulogne, Dieppe, etc. These centers of trade have all suffered at different periods during the present -century, from the political disturbances under successive governments; but notwith standing these drawbacks, the commercial activity of the country had made rapid strides within the last 30 years before the war of 1870-71. The following table shows the con
dition of trade during four years of the old monarchy: The transit trade of F. is effected by maritime navigation between foreign and French ports, by coasting traffic, or cabotage, between various French ports, and by rail ways. The merchant navy, which has increased extensively of late years, numbered. in 1877, exclusive of small fishing vessels—bateaux de la peche cotiere-15,407 vessels having a tonnage of 1,011,285; of these, 546 were steamers of 213,440 tons, and 71,750 horse-power. The cabotage, or internal and coasting traffic, is a great source of finan cial wealth fo the state, to which all rivers and canals belong. There is a length of 13,155 kilometers available for inland navigation in F., but, according to official reports, three fourths of the entire traffic is concentrated upon 1800 kilometers of this distance. Of this number, 73 per cent belonged to the ocean ports, and 27 per cent to the Mediterranean.
Railways, etc.—According to the official report, the railways in operation in the year 1877 measure 22,671 kilometres, or 14,200 miles. With the exception of less than 200 m., the railways of F. are held by six companies, which are under the superintendence of the state, from which they receive the following subsidies as defined by the budget for 1873: • Francs.
Eastern line 57,900,000 Western line 82, 000,000 Orleans line 92,416,000 Lyons 189,233,333 South 45,300,000 North 45,300,000 The total receipts of all the lines were, for 1858, 334,769,469 francs; and the total number of passengers conveyed by rail, 37,952.398. In 1865, the number was 81,533, 061; and in 1869, 111,164,284. In 1877, the total receipts were 842,199,600 francs. By a clause in the treaty of 1871, the whole of the lines of the Eastern company in Alsace Lorraine, about 700 kilometres in length, were sold to the imperial government of Ger many for 325 millions of francs.