Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/810

BELGIUM. bpcomes apparent that the house industn,' thus maintained is largely carried on by members of the family as a mere subsidiary employment. That does not represent, however, the entire ex- tent of the small industry', as a large number of workshojJs employ two, three, or a few more per- sons, with little or no machinery, and the em- ployers of all of these are included in the total •of 704,229 people working for wages. Since the.y were employed in 242,000 establishments, the average number of employes per establishment is a little more tlian three — a clear indication of the prevalence of small workshops. The total number of people engaged in manufactures in 1896 was 1,119,259, including employers and • office force, as well as workmen. The following table gives an account of the Belgian manufac- tures in the order of their .importance, shown by the census of 1896.

The chief branches of the textile industry are the manufacture of linen, mainly centring at Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Courtrai, Tournay, and -Mechlin; the woolen manufacture, employing jiiany thousands of persons at Verviers. Li6ge. Dolhain, Ypres, Bruges, Limburg, and other towns ; and the cotton industry, carried on in the same cities as the linen manufacture, besides Antwerp. Among the more fancy articles mvist be mentioned the Brussels and Tournay carpets; Brussels and Bruges lace, one of the most ex- pensive kinds in tlie world ; and the lawn and damask fabrics manufactured at Bruges.

Although the output of the metals mined in Belgium is small, the metal industry is highly important, ranking third in the number of peo-

INDUSTEIES Total No. of people engaged Per cent, of the total industry Workmen employed outside of their homes Workmen employed in theirhomes Working women employed outside of theirhomes Working women emplo.ved in their homes Steam- power employed (horse- power) 1. Textile 169,493 137.903 133.875 128,313 93.492 90.285 88. .526 76,660 41,882 89.004 24,434 22.797 20.715 14.049 12.033 26,798 16.4 12.5 12.1 11.7 8.5 8.2 8.1 6.2 3.8 3.5 2.2 2.1 1.9 1.3 1.0 2.5 44,502 8,227 100.125 112,314 66.685 58.537 47,338 18,621 17,995 34,769 9,4.38 18,523 14,961 10,200 7,530 18,483 18.720 5,409 7,303 'i,'528 7.494 ""155 689 19 ""iso 192 38,340 37,109 3.297 9,679 653 3.031 788 2.640 1,159 668 6,050 3,174 2,747 745 2,344 4,747 58,167 8.247 372 '2 776 4,916 '"375 3.719 29 ""254 191 67,480 2 Clothing 849 3. Metal 75,600 134.415 5 Building 6,775 64,690 7.428 3.087 195.110 20.301 11. Special 8.642 12. Glass 12.781 13 Chemical 15.279 14. Printing 1,336 478 15,102 Total 1,119,259 100.0 588,248 41,689 115,971 77.058 628,253

ple employed, and being next to the textile industry in the value of its products, the iron and steel industry especially being on a vast scale. The principal seats of the metal manufacture are Iji&ge, Nannir, Charleroi, Mons, and their neigh- borhoods. There are large ordnance foundries at Lifege and Mechlin, and celebrated makers of firearms and macliincry in Li&ge. Among other branches of Belgian industry are nail-making at Charleroi; tinware, etc., at Lifege and in Hai- nault : wire and brass factories at Xamur: zinc manufactures at Li&ge ; lead and shot factories at Ghent: and the manufacture of gold and sil- ver goods at Brussels and Ghent. The glass- works of Belgium lead the world. The chief works are in Hainault, Brabant, and Namur, and at Val Saint Lambert. Porcelain-ware is manu- factured at Tournaj', Brussels, Ghent, and lions.

Railways. Belgium has a greater railway mileage in proportion to its area than any other country. The first railway was opened for traffic in May, 1S35, from Mechlin to Brussels, a distance of thirteen miles. During the first few years all railway construction was done by the Government, but in 1842 private companies were permitted to enter the field. Most of the private lines, however, were bought out subse- quently by the Government, that policy being pursued with especial energy since 1807, so that at the close of the year 1900 the State owned 2503 miles, as against 330 miles owned by pri- vate companies. The growth of the Belgian rail- way system is shown by the following figures: Length of lines in 18.35, 8V3 miles; in 1855, 404; in 1875, 1219; in 1895, 2045; in 1899, 2833.

Shipping and Navigation. Belgium has a flourishing merchant marine, which is, however, unable to carry more than a fourth of the country's goods. The number of vessels in- creased from 58, with a tonnage of 86,000, in 1895, to 73, with a tonnage of 109,000, in 1899. Of these only 6 were sailing vessels, with a ton- nage of 2750. The shi])ping during the same period increased from 13,670.000 to 17,154,000 tons, carried in 14,476 and 17,253 vessels, re- spectively. Nearly one-half of the entire ship- ping is done in British vessels; a little over one- eighth is carried in German vessels, and one- fourth in Belgian vessels. There are in Belgium 1370 miles of navigable waters (rivers and canals), which float a large commerce. Prac- tically all the leading towns are connected in this "wise. The Scheldt and the Meuse are navigable from France to the sea.

. As a manufacturing country, Bel- gium requires mainly food-products and raw ma- terials from abroad in exchange for its manu- factures. The chief articles of import include cereals, cotton, wool and flax, metals, chemicals, drugs and resins, mineral substances, lumber, textiles, oil-seeds, hides, animals and animal products, eofl'ee, caoutchouc, and machinery; while the chief exports include iron and steel (with manufactured wares), raw textile materi- als, yarn and thread, coal and coke, glassware, raihvay-oars, machinery, cliemicals and dyestuffs, minerals, zinc, cereals, "and sugar. The following