23. FRENCH MERCHANT FLEET. If' a study is made of the French merchant fleet covering a period of more than a century and its importance compared with the maritime traffic in France, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the commercial fleet sailing under the French flag has never been in proper proportion to the maritime traffic of the differ ent French ports.
The present situation as disclosed by the figures leaves no doubt in this respect. If the last normal year (1913) be taken as an example, it will be seen that the maritime trade holds, as regards French exterior trade, a prepon derating place, no matter under what aspect it is considered. Merchandise forming the ex terior trade of France in 1913 weighed no less than 78,800,000 tons. Of this, trade by sea ac counted for 40,000,000 tons, or 54 per cent. From the point of view of weight of merchan dise, maritime trade therefore accounted for more than half of France's exterior trade. If the value of the goods is considered, and not their weight, the result is even more striking. The general exterior trade of France in 1913 represented 20 milliard of francs ($4,000,00),000) . Of this sum maritime trade accounted for 13 milliard of francs ($2,600,000,000), or 65 per cent. As regards the value of the goods making up this exterior .trade, sea traffic represented two-thirds of the total. Before the war, con sequently, despite the considerable development of our commercial relations with Belgium, Ger many and Switzerland, France carried on a vast sea trade with foreign countries. It is nevertheless a fact that the part played by France in sea trade was relatively small when compared with that of other countries. Im ports amounted in 1913 to 22.56 per cent as regards weight and 38.8 per cent value. The exports were 56.95 per cent weight and 57.1 per cent value. The result of this situation is that France paid in 1913 to foreign vessels an amount of 414,000,000 francs ($82,800,000) in freight charges.
History.— The most serious point is the disproportion which is continually increasing • between the importance of the French maritime traffic and its merchant fleet. This can easily
be realized by quoting a few figures from old statistics. Up to the end of the •9th century the statistics of the French Customs Adminis tration gave the value of imports and exports, distinguishing between traffic by land and sea; but without indicating weights. We are, there fore, obliged to base our comparisons on the value of the merchandise carried at a fairly remote period which gives a less exact idea of the problem under consideration. As a matter of fact, the important thing to be con sidered when studying the maritime transport industry is more the weight of the goods trans ported than their value. However, useful con clusions can be drawn from the figures appear ing in the statistics. In 1822 ships flying the French flag carrying transports of French origin and destination represented 61 per cent. In 1835 it fell to 48 per cent. This percentage was maintained during the reign of Louis Philippe, reaching 48.9 per cent in 1850. In 1866, on the eve of new legislation (law of 19 May 1866) establishing equal treatment for all ships in French ports, the percentage fell to 43 per cent. From this time onward, it continued to decline rapidly owing to competition with foreign ships, and in 1880, before any new legis lation was made to protect it, it only represented 37 per cent. These fluctuations are shown in the following table: More precise information is available for recent years. We know, for instance, that in 1900, ships flying the French flag accounted for 26.18 per cent of imports, while exports amounted to 50.82 per cent. If a comparison is made of the figures quoted for 1913 and 1900 it will be seen that there was an improvement in exports but a diminution for imports. As regards the freight charges paid by France to foreign countries, this amounted in 1900 to a little more than 300,000,000 francs ($60,000,000) or an increase of $22,800,000 in 13 years.