Education.—The public schools con stitute the University of France and are divided into primary, secondary, and superior. Before the war there existed 6,445 schools. Of these, 5,345 had been re-established in 1920. The total number of pupils of school age is 6,000,000. Of this about 3,000,000 are enrolled in the public schools. There are about 70, 000 schools and 150,000 teachers. Second ary instruction is supplied by the lycees and by the communes in the colleges. and by associations and private indi viduals in free establishments. There are about 120 lycees, with about 60,000 pupils, and about 200 communal colleges with about 30,000 pupils. The higher education is supplied by the state and the universities and special schools. There are 16 universities in France. They are as follows: Aix-en-Provence, Besancon, Bordeaux, Caen, Clermont Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy, Paris, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse. There were in the universities in 1917 about 15,000 pupils. Professional and techni cal instruction is provided in profes sional schools.
Religion.—There is no religion recog nized by the state. Under the law of December 9, 1905, the churches were separated from the state, and the ad herents of all creeds were authorized to form associations for public worship. All buildings actually used for public wor ship and as dwellings were made over to associations for public worship. There are in France 17 archbishops and 68 bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. The Associations law, passed July 1, 1901, requires religious communities to be authorized by the state and no mo nastic association can be authorized with out a special law in each particular case. The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic.
War Destruction and Reconstruction.
—The following figures are prepared by Andre Tardieu. The population driven from their homes by the war amounted to 2,728,000. Those returned in 1920 numbered 2,023,000. There were de stroyed 4,068 municipal governments, of which 4,006 had been re-established in 1920. The dwelling houses damaged or wholly destroyed numbered 574,777. Of these, 13,100 had been rebuilt and 178, 500 had been repaired in 1920. There had been constructed 46,570 temporary houses. The temporary houses and those rebuilt and repaired sheltered 887,000 people. The remainder of the returning population found quarter in the undam aged houses. Factories destroyed num bered 11,500. Those restored to work in 1920 numbered 3,540, and those in process of rebuilding in that year num bered 3,812. Reconstruction was under taken on a large scale by the govern ment and also by organizations estab lished in the United States and other countries. In many cases towns and
cities in the United States undertook the reconstruction of cities and towns in France. In spite of these efforts, how ever, the devastated area in 1921 had practically been untouched. The French depended in a large measure on the in demnity to be received from Germany for the reconstruction of this area. The delay in receiving any funds from the German Government made it necessary to adopt other measures.
The effect of the war on the popula tion is indicated by the fact that the pre-war population was 37,790,000. There were mobilized 8,410,000 men out of a total subject to mobilization (19 to 50 years) of 9,420,000, or a mobiliza tion of 89.5 per cent. of the available number. There were killed during the war 1,364,000 men or 16 per cent of those mobilized. The total wounded num bered 3,000,000. Of these 740,000 were incapacitated by the loss of an arm, leg, eye, or otherwise.
Finance.—The public debt on July 31, 1914, amounted to 27,264,937,331 francs. The consolidated public debt contracted in France from July 31, 1914, to June 30, 1920, amounted to 92,434,336,500 francs. The funded debt contracted from July 31, 1914, to June 30, 1920, amounted to 19,838,736,000 francs. The floating debt on June 30, 1920, amounted to 71, 487,930,000 francs. There were advanced from banks sums amounting to 26,020, 000,000 francs, making a total debt on July 30, 1920, of 247,045,937,831. The Bank of France had on hand gold amounting to 5,558,603,903 francs and of silver, 247,483,930 francs, or a total of 5,806,087,833. The total expenditure in 1919 was 48,793,884,587 francs. Of this 36,675,781,168 francs was for military and special expenditures. The budget for 1920 provided for expenditures amount ing to 17,861,140,000 francs. The for eign debt included $2,785,300,000 ad vanced by the United States Government.
Army and Navy.— See ARMY and NAVY.
Colonies.—The colonies of France in Asia include French India, French Indo China, Cochin-China, Annam, Cambodia, Tonking, and the territory of Kwang Chau Wan on the coast of China. In Africa are included Algeria, practically a government of Morocco; French Congo; Madagascar; Mayotte and the Comoro Islands; Rthinion; French Somaliland; French West Africa and the Sahara, and Tunis. In America, they include Guadeloupe and dependencies, French Guiana; Martinique, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. In Australasia the colonies are New Caledonia and dependencies, and the French establishments in Oceania.