Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/558

 522 FRANCE [MINES. papers must deposit with the treasury a guarantee that they will pay the fines to which the press law often renders them liable ; security to the amount of 24,000 francs is required in the department of Seine, and 12,000 francs in the others. If the paper appears only once or twice a week, the security required is only 18,000 francs in the depart ment of Seine and 6000 in the rest of France. The paper on which political newspapers are printed is charged besides with a tax of 20 francs per 100 kilogrammes (about 8s. Hd. per cwt.). Notwithstanding this 854 political newspapers, 210 of which were daily, were published in France (54 of them in Paris) in 1873. Non-political periodicals were not fewer tlian 1220, to which number Paris contributed 718, divided thus : religious, 81 ; educational, 21 ; legal, 42 ; administration, 18 ; political economy, insurance, and commerce, 40; stock-exchange interests, 39; medical, 54; natural philosophy, 45 ; agricultural, 37 ; military and naval, 23 ; history and geography, 17 ; fine arts and archi tecture, 49 ; literary and critical, 56 ; fashion and [the amusement of the young, 84; archaeological, 14; public works, 2G ; technology and popular science, 50. The printing and bookselling trades are carried on by about 7000 persons, who may be classed as follows : Paris. Departments. Total. Printers 88 944 1032 Printers and lithographers Copper-plate printers Booksellers 549 67 1034 911 61 3354 1460 128 4388 1738 5270 7008 Alais Creuzot; Blanzy Commentry ............ Aubin Aix Graissessac Coal. The principal mines which France possesses are coal and iron mines. Coal-pits are almost exclusively confined to the east, south-east, and north of the country. The richest departments are Nord (239 square miles), Pas-de-Calais (201), Gard (187), Saone-et-Loire (165), Herault (113), Loire (110), and Bouches-du-Rhone (107). The whole area is about 2200 square miles, and comprises 623 sepa rate concessions, which, however, are not all being worked. The yield of coal mines in 1876 was 170,477,613 quintals (16,795,824 tons), the following being the most productive districts : Names of the Basins. Departments. Quintals. Valenciennes Nord, Pas de Calais 65,332,909 Loire Loire, Rhone 34,717,183 ... Ardeche, Gard 16,448,387 ... Saone-et-Loire 9,905,876 ... Allier 9,219,227 ... Aveyron 7,046.129 ... Bouches-du-Rhone, Var 3,545,100 ... lle&quot;rault 2,757,831 ... Tarn 2,571,700 Ahun. Creuse 2,150,828 Hrnssac Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dome 2,020.896 Ronchamp Haute-Saone 1,998,332 St Elov Puy-de-Dome 1,772,765 Decize&quot; Nievre 1,626,430 Epinac Saone-et-Loirc Le Maine Mayenne, Sarthe Le Drac Isere Hardinghcm Pns-de-Calais Basse-Loire Loire-Infe&quot;rieurc, Maine-et-Loire... Vouvant, Cliantounay Deux-Sevres, Vende e 445,819 Buxiere-la-Gruc &quot;. Allier 437,282 M inosque B;&amp;lt;sses-Alpes, Vaucluse 388,054 15,.,-t Allier 358,145 Saintc-Foy-l Argenticre Rhone 332,103 Maurienne-Tarentaise, Briaiifon.... Hautes-Alpts, Savoie 299,690 Peat. Peat is to be found in 40 departments, but especially in Somme, Pas-de-Calais, Loire-Infe rieure, Isere, Oise, Seine- et-Oise, Aisne, Nord, Doubs, Marne, Vosges, and Aube. The cutting of this fuel, so useful to the poorer classes, gives work to from 30,000 to 40,000 men, whose wages amount to a total of about 4 millions of francs. The mines of mineral tar yield about 3 millions of quintals (295,566 tons) annually. Saone-et-Loire, Allier, and Ardeche are tlie principal centres of its production. Iron France is very rich in iron mines ; but as these are generally far from the districts which produce coal, the 1,490,170 1,190,680 1,086,520 942,734 680,293 working expenses are considerably increased, and some times to such an extent that the metal extracted cannot repay the outlay required for its extraction, and the mines have to be abandoned. The production of iron, however, is on the increase, and reaches 7i millions of quintals (738,915 tons), which represent about 14,500,000 quintals (1,428,571 tons) of pig-iron. The details in quintals of this production for 1876 are appended : Departments. Pig-Iron. Iron. Departments. Pig-iron. Iron. Allier 947,730 247 990 ; 29 226 808 597 841 1 I3 8 &quot; 06 142 700 348 650 20 553 130 209 195 87 550 Meuithe-et-Moselle 3 267 959 568 393 Aubc 1,200 297 230 69,906 368 250 Mcuse 176,150 25 350 125,000 Nievre 203 137 2 9 5 000 13400 Nord. . . 1 486 5 9 5 1 778 343 6 750 Oise 166 653 Cher 351,185 48 000 34,596 12000 Orne 60 390 1, JOO 6 000 CCte-d Or COtes-du-Xord .. 110,200 14,750 54,900 150,450 25,006 44,823 Basses-Pyro ni es .... Pyrdndes-Oricntales Haut-Rhin (Belfurt) 79,074 4,432 11 313 30 677 32 41 Rhone 697 737 43 5 Hnute-Saone 1 9 8 7 nr &amp;gt; 20,570 4,767 Saone-et- Loire 1 506 927 509,925 Gard 854 868 255 878 1 8 4 1 442 17,000 Savoie 2850 L255 Girondc 55,000 19 790 9,442 1 550 Hautc-Savoiu 7,960 240 400 Indre Isere 39,970 220,369 297 310 16,925 73,145 167 110 Seine-Infe rieure Seine-et-Oise 6.040 25,085 8 300 152 135 25 566 Tarn 7 264 Loir-et-Cher 467 895 2,350 669,901 Tarn-et-Garoime ... 53,500 49,750 1 600 83 600 66 500 17 075 128 000 96 806 14,495,377 7,332,716 In some iron-works, especially those which are established in the chain of the Pyrenees, wood is still used as fuel : 185,024 quintals (18,266 tons) of iron were made by this process in 1876. The production of steel was for the same year 2,618,767 quintals (258,006 tons), the largest part of which came from the departments of Loire, Saone-et- Loire, Gard, Allier, Nord, and Rhone. In 1864 there Oth were 64 mines from which other metals than iron were ex- meti tracted, viz., 39 of silver ore (galene argentifere and alquifoux) in the departments of Hautes-Alpes, Finistere, Gard, Haute-Garonne. Ille-et-Vilaine, Isere, Loire, Haute- Loire, Lozere, and Puy-de-D6me ; 12 of copper (Rhone and Vosges) ; 8 of antimony (Cantal, Haute-Loire, Lozere, Puy- de-D6me) ; 4 of manganese, and 1 of nickel. There were 5066 men employed in working these mines, which gave a return of 4,955,515 francs. But these statistics cannot be relied on, except for the year of their publication, as old mines are constantly closed and new ones opened. In 1869, for example, there is no mention of silver mines, and the mines of manganese are 9 in number instead of 4 as given above. The quarries of France are about 24,000 in number, giv- Qu; a ing employment to more than 88,000 men. The last valua tion of the produce was made in 1846, and amounted to 41,047,519 francs, but it must be much higher now. Marble is abundant, especially in the departments of Pyrenees, Bouches-du-Rhone, Puy-de-D6me, Herault, Hautes-Alpes, Corse, Ariege, &amp;lt;fec. Alabaster is found in the departments of the Yonne, in the valley of Aspe (Pyrenees), at Lagny (Seine-et-Marne), and at Montmartre (Paris). Lithographic stones are common in the departments of Ain, Indre, and Cote-d or. Slates are principally extracted from the quar ries of Cherbourg and St Lo (Manche), Angers (Maine- et-Loire), and Fumay (Ardennes). Limestone is abundant in 50 departments, and 38 yield plaster. Paris is the chief centre of the manufacture of artistic Go * objects in gold or silver; in 1860 the workmen were sil1 18,731 in number, distributed among 3199 establishments, W( and the business was transacted to the value of not far from 184 millions of francs. Lyons holds the second place, and