Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/559

 COMMERCE.] FRANCE 523 hes 3. then Bordeaux, Marseilles, Nimes, Besai^on, Clermont-Fer rand, and Toulouse. The gross value of the various metals used by the trade at the same period was calculated at 52,625,000 francs, silver forming about a third of the whole. The manufacture of watches and clocks yields a revenue of 30 millions of francs. Large iron clocks are made at Morez (Jura); time-pieces are constructed in part at St Nicolas d AUermont (Seiue-Iuferieure) and at Montbeliard, and finished at Paris ; watches are begun at Montbeliard and ClusL-s (Haute-Savoie), and finished at Paris and Be- sa^on. This last town is the central place of the trade, and represents 99i per cent, of the total manufacture ; 15,000 persons, men, women, and children, are employed in this trade, and in 1872 they turned out 135,270 gold and 259,626 silver watches. XIII. Commerce and Banking Establishments. Commerce is naturally divided into home and foreign trade, the former being greatly more important than the latter. It is impossible to give a strict and correct valua tion of the inland traffic, but, judging of the whole from the few accessible details, we may, without exaggeration estimate its amount at about 35 or 40 thousand millions of francs. The gross weight of goods conveyed through the canals and navigable rivers has been given above (p. 518) ; these goods principally consist of coals, wood, stones, metals, wines, corn, and other heavy materials. This mode of conveyance is slow, but cheap, the duty levied varying from 1 to 5 centimes per 1000 kilogrammes per kilometre, i.e., the maximum rate is about |d. a ton per mile. The administration of public works published in 1867 a table of the traffic on French railways by goods trains, from which the following is an extract : Metric Tons, Flour and corn 3,233,369 Wine, spirits, and vine gar 2,670,424 Grocery and provisions 1,836,678 Metals 3,298,317 Building materials 5,242,354 Metric Tons. Manures 521,932 Coals 11,638,662 Carriages 11,724 Horses 218,504 Cattle 5,929,667 Miscellaneous 10, 124,766 In 1869 the total weight of goods conveyed by petite vitesse (goods trains) was 44,013,433 metric tons. 1 Since that time a considerable increase has evidently taken place, the consequence at once of the general progress of com merce and of the great extension of railways. The coasting trade has always been of great importance in France, though it is far inferior to that of England. In 1875 the total weight of goods transported by coasters was 2,022,559 tons, an increase of nearly 7000 tons on the preceding year. These goods were of various kinds, building materials (258,174 tons), wines (225,595 tons), salt (213,185 tons), wood (207,211 tons), corn and flour (199,461 tons), coals (125,243 tons), being the chief articles in the general traffic. 62,396 vessels, the tonnage of which amounted to 3,207,933 tons, were engaged in this trade, while in 1874 there were only 57,888, of 2,952,414 tons. The harbours most frequented by coasters are Mar seilles, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Dunkirk, Rouen, Cettes, Dieppe, Nantes, St Nazaire, and Boulogne. The annual produce of river and pond fishing in the interior of France may be valued at about 10 mil lions of francs. Coast fishing was carried on in 1871 by 8995 boats, manned by 38,150 men, with a tonnage of 68,517 tons, giving a return of 51,609,200 francs. In 1875 the increase was considerable, the number of the boats being 20,159, the tonnage 101,852 tons, the crews 1 The ton here and in what follows (as well as in the table) is the French metric ton of 10 quintals, which is about 33 ft less than the English ton, the latter in commerce being held equivalent to 1015 kilogrammes. 68,651 hands, and the revenue 61,780,160 francs. The same year 178 vessels, with a tonnage of 30,295 tons, and manned by 7800 men, sailed from French ports to fish for cod on the coasts of Newfoundland; the year before the number of the boats engaged in cod fishing was 188. The average value of the Newfoundland fisheries is estimated at about 17 millions of francs. The rearing of oysters has of late made very great progress in France. Large beds are established on almost every suitable point of the coast, as at Cancale, Auray, Marennes, Oldron, and Arcachon. The last-named place is the most important of all, the beds being not fewer than 2427, which gave for 1876 a return of^3,941,309 francs, represented by 196,885,450 oysters, 4,700,000 of which were shipped to England. In 1510 towns a duty is levied on goods, especially upon Octroi, provisions and liquors, brought to market for public sale, or disposed of privately. In 1871 the total revenue yielded by this tax, which is known by the name of &quot;octroi,&quot; was 156,490,935 francs, divided as follows: Francs. Francs. Wines 48,427,924 Fuel 17,704,919 Cider 2,771,743 Fodder 7,906,196 Spirits 8,997,298 Building materials... 7,891,322 Other drinks 15,624,090 Miscellaneous 5,319,968 Provisions 41,847, 475 The following table shows the returns of the octroi tax, in the towns where it yielded more than 1 million of francs for the years 1874 and 1876 : 1874. 1876. Francs. Francs. ?aris 08,896,890 124.238,118 Lyons 8,570.618 11,138,497 Marseilles 6,228,699 9,782,279 Bordeaux 3,670,979 4,267,331 Lille 2,971,308 1,317,053 Nantes 2,041,361 2.309,377 Toulouse 2,471,514 2,904,121 Rouen 2,883,526 3,499,820 Le Havre 2.309.623 2,484,347 StEtlenne 2,269,951 2,847,545 Rheims 1,002,037 1,072,340 Roubaix 1,138,525 1,350,249 Nimcs 996,914 1,095,857 Amiens 957.925 1,107,082 Angers 870540 1,096,869 Nancy 1,095,856 1,363,654 Limoges 958,555 1,140,029 Toulon 1,076,139 1,207,100 Nice 1,087.901 1,277,581 Rennes 1,004,110 1,148,469 Tours 778,876 1,023,582 Versailles 1,089,532 1,146,738 Grenoble 896,999 1,049,734 This tax is far from being uniform, the percentage in some places, as Paris, being as low as 4 76 francs for every 100 inhabitants, and in some others, as high as 13-55 (Amiens), 14-15 (Rouen), 14-98 (Bordeaux), and 15 56 (Versailles). It is fixed by a decision of the municipal council, sub ject to the sanction of the legislative chambers. If the average of the tax be reckoned at 10 per cent, of the value of the goods liable to it, the returns would show that such goods have a value of about 16 millions of francs, not including, of course, the considerable trade which is carried on in places where no octroi has been yet established. Although the principles of free trade are now better Foreign understood in France than they were formerly, and are tnwle - generally considered by French economists and statesmen as most conducive to the interests of a nation, their appli cation is still far from complete, owing to the enormous charges brought upon the country by the late war, but chiefly to the personal influence of M. Thiers, the first president of the republic, who was a determined upholder of protection. This is not the place to enter on any dis cussion of the merits of the two opposite doctrines ; but the fact does not admit of question that, notwithstanding the tax on raw materials and other duties which hamper the commercial intercourse of France with other nations, her foreign trade has been constantly increasing. The imports amounted in 1875 to 3,537,000,000 francs, and the exports to 3,872,000,000 francs (goods in transit not