Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/98

 88 PARIS financial and commercial centre of France; and its importance in this respect, in a country so centralized, is not exceeded by that of any capital, unless perhaps by London. Here are the bank of France, which has branches in the departments and in Algiers, and has the exclu- sive privilege of issuing bank notes in France ; the other principal financial institutions of the country ; and the administrations of the five great railways, which with their numerous branches cover France with a network of iron. In 1867 (a somewhat exceptional year) there were 31,308 arrivals of canal boats and oth- er vessels at Paris, gauging an aggregate of 3,689,881 tons, or as much as the tonnage of the five .principal seaports of France. All edibles, potables, and combustibles, building materials, and some other classes of merchandise, pay on entering the city an octroi or customs duty, which is collected at an expense of less than 5 per cent, of the total receipts. The city budget for 1873 presents the following among other figures: Receipts, 197,815,582 francs; expenditures, 197,080,082. The chief item of receipts is octroi, 102,286,000 francs. The principal expenditures were : interest on debt and sinking fund, 46,170,825 ; cost of tax collecting, salaries, &c., 8,420,000 ; primary schools, 5,966,000 ; public assistance (charities), 22,346,000 ; promenades and works of art, 3,267,000; repairs of public buildings, 1,703,000; new public works, 24,512,000 ; prefecture of police, 15,462,000 ; lighting streets, 3,917,000. The latest trustworthy statistics of the indus- trial condition of Paris are those obtained by the inquiry instituted by the chamber of com- merce in 1860. Between that time and 1870 there was an increasing activity ; but this again received a check by the war and the commune, from which in some departments of business, especially in that of building and its connected group of trades, it is slow to recover ; mean- time the rate of wages has followed at an in- terval the rise in the cost of living. The fol- lowing table .of the principal trades arranged by groups is still worth regarding : INDUSTRIES CONNECTED WITH. No. of establish- ments. No. of hands. Value in francs of yearly production. Food. . . 29.069 83,859 1 087 904,367 Buildinf 5378 71 242 315266477 Furniture. 7391 87951 199 825 948 Clothing 23,800 78377 454'538'l68 Spinning and weaving Ordinary metals 2,836 3,440 26,810 28,866 119,998,751 163,852428 Precious metals 3199 18 731 188 390 553 Chemicals and ceramics Printing, engrav'g, paper, &c. Clocks and watchwork, mu- sical, mathematical, and other " instruments of pre- cision" 2,719 2,759 14,397 19,507 193,616,349 94,166,528 66 040 233 Furs and leather Carriages and saddlery Cooperage ... . Uo,580 82,071 100,881,795 93,849,195 27 075 323 Fancy articles (articles de Paris) 127 546 540 Sundry, ungrouped 141,140,294 Total 101 171 416 811 3 369 092 949 Of the 416,811 hands employed, 285,862 were men, 105,410 women over 16 years of age, 19,059 boys, and 6,481 girls. Of the men, 1,588 earned less than 1 franc daily, 18,266 from 1 to 2 francs, 44,226 from 2 to 3, 82,337 from 3 to 4, 98,527 from 4 to 5, 30,757 from 5 to 6, 14,186 from 6 to 10; 221 earned 11 francs; 380, 12 ; 216, 15 ; and 57, 20. Of the women, 17,203 earned less than 1 francs, 49,176 from li to 2, 35,239 from 2 to 3, 3,925 from 3 to 4, and 767 from 4 to 10. The value of exports from Paris to foreign countries in 1861 was 347,349,098 francs. The chief receiving coun- tries were: the United States, 81,024,729 fr. ; Great Britain, 34,750,393 ; Russia, 23,119,924; Spain, 17,763,921; Switzerland, 13,409,138; Italy, 12,613,720; Germany (exclusive of Prus- sia and Austria), 9,032,930; Belgium, 6,630,- 484; all other countries, 13,942,230. The ex- ports from Paris to the United States have of late increased very rapidly. For several recent years their amount has been as follows: 1864, $16,469,000; 1865, $27,824,000; 1866, $36,- 123,000; 1867, $29,998,000; 1868, $26,295,000; 1869, $30,103,000; 1870, $26,696,000; 1871, $25,975,000; 1872, $38,680,000. Paris is cele- brated for its jewelry and other goldsmith's work, watches and ornamental bronzes ; its boots, shoes, and gloves ; its pianofortes, paper hangings, perfumery, artificial flowers, articles of female dress, and military equipments. Its mathematical, optical, and surgical instruments have a deservedly wide reputation for beauty and accuracy. The products of the Gobelins manufactory of tapestry and carpets do not enter into commerce. The manufactory be- longs to government, and like the porcelain factory at Sevres is not a rival of, but a bene- ficial model and pioneer experimenter for pri- vate enterprises. The government tobacco factory in Paris furnishes about one fifth of the snuff, cigars, and smoking tobacco con- sumed in France. Among the most interest- ing establishments organized and directly con- trolled by the municipal administration are the great central markets (holies centrales), consist- ing of 12 great pavilions or halls of iron and glass, covering a space of 87,790 square metres, and divided into stalls, &c., somewhat in the manner of our own markets. Each pavilion is devoted to the sale of some special class of provisions, and all are connected and traversed by passages and streets, all under cover, the whole forming as it were a small covered city. The halles are at the S. E. end of the rue Mont- martre, near the boulevard de Sebastopol. Underneath the pavilions are great vaults, where there are tanks for live fish, storage places for vegetables, &c. These vaults are connected with the railway termini by un- derground railways, by which the provisions arrive at the markets, and the garbage and refuse are carried away. The following sta- tistics of the sale of articles of food at these markets during 1874 are interesting as afford- ing some means of judging of the city's con-