Up To Date Business Part 6

One reason for the great development which Britain has made as a manufacturing and trading nation lies in the fact that Britain was the first nation to utilise on a large scale the power of steam as a help to manufacture and trade. The steam-engine was a British invention.

The first railways were built in Britain. The first steams.h.i.+p to cross the Atlantic was a British enterprise. A second reason lies in the fact that when Britain began to use steam as a motive power she found her supplies of coal so near her iron mines, and so near her clays and earths needed for her potteries, that from the very first she was able to manufacture cheaply and undersell most of her compet.i.tors. Her coal-fields have an area of over 12,000 square miles, and wherever her coal-beds are other natural products have been found near by, so that her manufacturing areas and her coal areas are almost identical.

Taking Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Durham, Bristol, Stoke, Carlisle, Cardiff, Swansea, Glasgow, Paisley, and Dundee as centres, around each of these lies a coal area of such richness as amply sustains it in its commercial and manufacturing pre-eminence. London is almost the only great commercial centre of Britain that does not lie in the midst of or quite adjacent to a rich coal and other mineral region. But London is within easy distance, not only by rail, but also by ca.n.a.l and by coastwise sailing, of every coal-field and mineral deposit of Britain.

London, however, is an importing and exporting centre rather than a manufacturing centre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The coal-fields of England.]

LONDON'S SPECIAL TRADE FEATURES

The commercial supremacy attained by many of the large cities of Britain is not wholly due to natural causes, or even to ordinary causes. Much of it is due to extraordinary enterprise and forethought on the part of their citizens. London, for example, is the centre of the wool trade of Britain. The woollen manufacturers of Britain use about 250,000 tons of wool annually, and three fourths of this is imported. Other cities that lie near the seats of the great woollen manufactures--Liverpool, for example--have tried to secure a share of this vast importation of wool, but London, because of the special attention it gives to this trade, manages to keep almost the whole of the trade in its own hands. Similarly, London almost wholly monopolises the trade of England with Arabia, India, the East Indies, China, and j.a.pan. It is therefore the great emporium for tea, coffee, sugar, spices, indigo, and raw silk. It also enjoys the bulk of Britain's trade in fruits (oranges, lemons, currants, raisins, figs, dates, etc.) and in wines, olive oil, and madder, with the countries that lie about the Mediterranean. By virtue partly of its situation, but largely because of the enterprise of its merchants, it absorbs nearly the whole of Britain's French trade, and of England's trade with Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark. This includes princ.i.p.ally wines (from France), and b.u.t.ter, eggs, and vegetables. Another great branch of its trade is that with the ports of the Baltic, including those of Russia, the imports comprising, besides wheat and wool, tallow, timber, hemp, and linseed. The tobacco imported from Virginia into England goes almost wholly to London; so does almost the whole of the Central American and South American trade in fine woods, dye-stuffs, drugs, sugar, hides, india-rubber, coffee, and diamonds.

Quite a large share of the trade of Britain with Canada is concentrated in London; also, more than one half of the trade of England with the West Indies, the imports from the latter country comprising princ.i.p.ally sugar, mola.s.ses, fruit, rum, coffee, cocoa, fine woods, and ginger.

THE SPECIAL TRADE FEATURES OF GLASGOW, LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER

The great commercial centres of Britain after London are GLASGOW (800,000), LIVERPOOL (700,000) and MANCHESTER (640,000, including SALFORD). All these cities have derived the greater portion of their size from the progress they have made during the present century. All, of course, owe their progress and their prosperity largely to their natural advantages of situation, etc. LIVERPOOL stands on the margin of the Atlantic, "the Mediterranean of the modern world," and thus enjoys the princ.i.p.al share of the trade with America, especially that with the United States. Great Britain's imports from the United States amount to over $500,000,000 per annum, and her exports to the United States (exclusive of bullion, etc.) to over $100,000,000. (Formerly the exports to the United States were twice this amount.) Of this vast trade, amounting to one fifth of Britain's total trade with the world, Liverpool enjoys the lion's share. Nearly all the cotton, not merely of the United States but of the world, that is used in Europe is sent to Liverpool for distribution. Similarly, GLASGOW, situated with its aspect directed toward the same maritime routes, enjoys also an immense transatlantic trade both north and south. And MANCHESTER, situated in the very heart of the richest coal districts of the kingdom, and within easy reach of the great cotton port, Liverpool, has built up a cotton-manufacturing industry surpa.s.sing that of all the rest of the world.

THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE OF GLASGOW, LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER

But the natural advantages of situation possessed by these great cities have been grandly supplemented by the enterprise of their inhabitants. GLASGOW is only a river port. For twenty miles below its site the Clyde is naturally narrow, shallow, and shoal-enc.u.mbered. In places it is naturally not more than fifteen inches deep. By the expenditure of no less a sum than $60,000,000 this shallow stream has been converted into a continuous harbour, lined on either side for miles with wharves and docks, and easily capable of accommodating the largest and finest merchant s.h.i.+ps afloat. As a consequence of this enterprise Glasgow has become the greatest s.h.i.+p-building port in the world. No less than twenty s.h.i.+pyards--in efficiency and magnitude of the very highest cla.s.s--are to be found along the banks of the once shallow, impa.s.sable Clyde, between Glasgow proper and the river's mouth.

Similarly, the enterprise of the s.h.i.+p merchants of LIVERPOOL has converted a port, that high tides and impa.s.sable bars would naturally render unfit for modern s.h.i.+ps, into the greatest s.h.i.+pping port in the world. One hundred million dollars were spent in making the improvement, but $5,000,000 is the annual revenue derived therefrom in dock dues alone. And because of this enterprise Liverpool can now boast of controlling one fourth of all the imports of the kingdom, and two fifths of all the exports, and of handling three fourths of all the grain and provision trade of the kingdom, and of having the largest grain warehouses in the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Manchester s.h.i.+p ca.n.a.l.]

But MANCHESTER, a wholly inland city, forty miles distant from Liverpool, its nearest port, has outdone even Glasgow and Liverpool in its endeavour to bring the sea to its own doors. It also has spent $100,000,000--not, however, in amounts spread over a number of years, and as occasion seemed to demand, but all at once, in one lump sum, in one huge enterprise. It has built a ca.n.a.l to the Mersey where it is navigable, thirty-five and one half miles in length, and sufficiently deep and wide, so that the whole of its vast importation of cotton, and the whole of its vast manufacture of cotton and other textile fabrics, and as much else as may be desired, may be brought in from the sea or taken to the sea in merchant vessels of the very largest size now afloat. And it has done this in the face of engineering difficulties, and of obstacles raised against it by jealous competing interests that were almost insurmountable.

GREAT BRITAIN'S SPECIALISATION OF HER INDUSTRIES IN DEFINITE CENTRES

In no part of the world are manufacture and trade carried on with such strict regard to the conditions of economic production and the economic handling of goods as in the British Isles. The free-trade policy of the empire permits everywhere within its borders not merely national but world-wide compet.i.tion; and yet it is but truth to say that wherever Great Britain attempts to sell her goods abroad every nation and every community in the world rises against her. Even her colonies are against her. Her markets are open to every one's trade, and yet in almost every market in the world which she does not absolutely control barriers are raised against her trade. She is able to sell goods in foreign markets only because, despite these barriers, she is able to undersell all compet.i.tors in them, or to give better value for the same money than they. Even when she obtains the control of new markets, as she has in India, China, Egypt, West Africa, etc., she allows every nation to trade in these markets on precisely the same terms as she herself trades in them. In the face of this world-wide compet.i.tion, therefore, the industries of Britain would cease to exist if every condition conducive to economy of production--climatic suitability, availability of cheap motive power, accessibility to cheap raw material, and accessibility to natural and cheap means of transportation--were not taken advantage of to the utmost. But this is just what Britain does. She does take advantage to the utmost of conditions conducive to economy of production; and this is why, to a degree nowhere else attempted in the world, she has specialised her industries in definite favouring localities.

THE NATURAL APt.i.tUDES OF COMMUNITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR SPECIAL INDUSTRIES

A result of this specialisation of industries in definite centres is that a natural apt.i.tude for the industry specialised in a locality is developed among the inhabitants of the locality, and this, being stimulated by a.s.sociation, is transmitted from generation to generation with ever-increasing efficiency. Again, this inherited apt.i.tude of the community for the industry historically a.s.sociated with it is a prime element in the economic prosecution of the industry. Also, in turn, it acts as an important influence in continuing the industry in the locality where once it has been successfully specialised. In no country in the world, outside of Asia, have great industries had such long-continued successful existence in definite localities as in Britain. And therefore in no country in the world do the natural apt.i.tudes of communities for special industries const.i.tute such an important element of economic industrial production. A community of efficient "smiths," for example, has existed in and about Birmingham since the fifteenth century. As a consequence of this the Birmingham country has for several centuries been the greatest seat of the metal or hardware industries in the world. Again, the manufacture of woollen cloths has been an industry successfully specialised in West Yorks.h.i.+re from the fourteenth century. It results that nowhere in the world is the woollen manufacture carried on more prosperously than in West Yorks.h.i.+re to-day. The potteries of Staffords.h.i.+re have been in existence time out of mind, and in the eighteenth century they took a pre-eminent place among the industries of the world. They hold that place of pre-eminence now, even though since then the methods of manufacture have been several times revolutionised.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

But the influence which more than anything else has determined the specialisation of industries in certain places in Britain rather than in others has been the presence of coal-fields. In only a very few instances have great industries been maintained in districts that are not coal-producing. The busiest industrial centre in all Britain is, perhaps, South Lancas.h.i.+re, the great seat of the COTTON MANUFACTURE.

South Lancas.h.i.+re is one great coal-field. LIVERPOOL, the great cotton port of the world, is at one edge of this field. MANCHESTER, the cotton metropolis of the world, is at the other edge. Between and near these two chief towns is a whole nest of large towns and cities--PRESTON, BURNLEY, BLACKBURN, ROCHDALE, BOLTON, BURY, ASHTON, STOCKPORT, OLDHAM, etc.--every one of which is wholly devoted to the cotton interest. From their position all these towns obtain both their motive power and their raw material at the lowest possible cost. But, in addition to its advantages of cheap coal and cheap raw material, South Lancas.h.i.+re has one other great advantage in favour of its special industry--its climate is eminently suited to the industry. Its atmosphere is moist, and not too moist, and its temperature is not too cold. Cotton thread can be spun and woven in Lancas.h.i.+re which elsewhere would break. In scarcely any other place in England has cotton-weaving or cotton-spinning ever proved a success. The cotton industry of Scotland is not so localised as it is in England, but PAISLEY (65,000) is famous all the world over for its identification with the manufacture of cotton thread. Ireland has no important cotton manufactures except in BELFAST. One third of the cotton manufactured in the world is manufactured in the United Kingdom. The total product is about 14,000 miles of cloth daily. The number of separate mills is over 2500. The annual product is $500,000,000, which is one hundred times what it was one hundred years ago. The quant.i.ty of raw cotton imported annually to sustain this immense production is 1,750,000 pounds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The great manufacturing districts of England.]

THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

A second great industry of Great Britain is its WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE.

This industry is specialised in England, princ.i.p.ally in West Yorks.h.i.+re, a district which is as well supplied with coal as is South Lancas.h.i.+re. LEEDS (410,000) and BRADFORD (232,000) are the two princ.i.p.al seats of the industry, but HUDDERSFIELD and HALIFAX are also important "cloth towns," and many other communities are identified with the manufacture of woollens. The noted "West of England" cloths are made princ.i.p.ally in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, where their manufacture in the town of STROUD is a survival of an ancient industry once general throughout the whole county. In Scotland there are two centres of the woollen industry. The first and most important is in southeast Scotland, where, in the valley of the Tweed (in GALAs.h.i.+ELS, HAWICK, JEDBURGH, etc.), the celebrated "Scotch tweeds" are manufactured. The second is in the valley of the Teith (STIRLING, BANNOCKBURN, etc.). At one time the sheep that were pastured on the wolds of Yorks.h.i.+re were the chief supply of the raw material for this industry in the whole of Britain, but that time is now long past. The total annual import of wool into the United Kingdom is about 750,000 pounds, of which about one half is retained for home manufacture. Two thirds of this import comes from Australia. The number of wool and worsted factories in the kingdom aggregates over 2750. The value of the woollen goods produced annually is about $250,000,000, which is about one fourth of the total product of the world.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The third great textile manufacture of the United Kingdom is that of LINENS. This is the one manufacture in which Ireland surpa.s.ses her sister kingdoms, England and Scotland. The cultivation of flax and the spinning of linen yarn have been domestic industries throughout all Ireland from time immemorial. But at the present time the linen-manufacturing industry of Ireland is almost wholly concentrated in BELFAST. In Scotland, which now almost rivals Ireland in the extent and perfection of her linen manufactures, the industry is princ.i.p.ally located in Fifes.h.i.+re and Forfars.h.i.+re, especially in the towns of DUNDEE and DUNFERMLINE, the latter town being greatly famed for its napery and table linens. Linen, like cotton, requires a peculiar atmospheric condition of temperature and moisture for its manufacture, and only in few localities has the linen industry been successfully established. The total value of the annual linen manufacture of the United Kingdom is $100,000,000.

OTHER TEXTILE MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The annual value of the total manufacture of textile fabrics in the British Isles is about $1,000,000,000--not far short, indeed, of one fourth of the total manufacture of textile fabrics in all the world.

Great Britain has over $1,000,000,000 invested in her textile industry, and one half of her total exports consists of textile manufactures. Cotton, woollen, and linen cloths are the chief staples of this industry, but there are many other branches of it and many other localities in which it is specialised besides the ones already mentioned. LEICESTER (204,000), which, like so many other manufacturing cities of England, lies at the centre of a coal-field, is the chief seat of the WOOLLEN HOSIERY manufacture. DUMFRIES is the chief seat of the woollen hosiery manufacture in Scotland.

KIDDERMINSTER, in Worcesters.h.i.+re, is the chief seat of the "Brussels"

carpet industry; WILTON, in Wilts.h.i.+re, of the Wilton carpet industry.

KILMARNOCK, in Ayrs.h.i.+re, is the chief seat of the carpet manufacture in Scotland. NOTTINGHAM (233,000) is the metropolis of the cotton hosiery and lace manufacture of England. NORWICH (110,000), in eastern England, has a noted manufacture of muslins and fine dress-goods. The Norwich textile manufacture is an instance of the continuance of an industry in a community historically a.s.sociated with it, although its seat is far removed from a coal-field. The SILK manufacture of Great Britain is almost entirely confined to the county of Derby and adjacent districts in England. MACCLESFIELD, in Ches.h.i.+re, is the chief centre. COVENTRY is noted for its silk ribbons and gauzes. But the manufacture of silk in Britain is not prospering like that of her other textile fabrics. In fact, in forty years it has depreciated three fourths. British silk manufacturers are not as adept in weighting their products with dyes as their French compet.i.tors are, and in consequence English silks, though intrinsically better than French silks, look inferior and therefore cannot be sold at profitable prices. But, on the other hand, the JUTE manufacture of Great Britain is increasing by leaps and bounds. Established only sixty years ago, the value of its annual output is now twice that of the whole manufacture of silk, and in twenty-five years has tripled. The chief seat of this industry is DUNDEE (160,000), in Scotland.

THE HARDWARE MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The textile manufactures of Great Britain are in the aggregate first in importance, but the HARDWARE manufactures come a close second. The total amount of Great Britain's hardware products is about $750,000,000, or one fourth of the total product of the world, and of this about one third is exported. Even more than her textile fabrics, the hardware manufactures of Great Britain are a.s.sociated with her coal-fields. The most distinctive "hardware centre" is that one which is identified with the great coal-field in the middle of England known as the "Black Country." BIRMINGHAM (506,000), the chief place in this centre, is unrivalled in the world for the multifariousness and extent of its metal manufactures. It is literally true that everything from a "needle to an anchor" is made within its limits. But though its industries comprise princ.i.p.ally those of iron and steel, its manufactures in gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and aluminium are also very important. Birmingham, too, is unrivalled in the world in the application of art to metal work. Its manufacture of jewellery, and gold and silver ornaments, is enormous. Its manufacture of small wares is also enormous. For example, it turns out 15,000,000 pens weekly. Its manufacture of b.u.t.tons runs into the hundreds of thousands of millions. WOLVERHAMPTON (88,000), also in the Black Country, is noted for its manufacture of heavy hardware and machinery. So also in OLDHAM, in the Lancas.h.i.+re district. So also in LEEDS, in the West Yorks.h.i.+re district. SHEFFIELD (352,000), also in Yorks.h.i.+re, is historically identified with its celebrated cutlery manufacture, an industry that first began there because of the quality and abundance of the grindstones found near by. With the coal-beds of Durham and c.u.mberland are identified the great s.h.i.+p-building and locomotive-building industries of NEWCASTLE (218,000), SUNDERLAND (142,000), and DARLINGTON, on the northeast side of England, and the great steel manufactures (the largest in the kingdom) and s.h.i.+p-building industries of BARROW-ON-FURNESS, on the northwest side. With the coal-fields of South Wales (noted for its smokeless coal) are identified the smelting industries of SWANSEA (70,000). Ores of copper especially, but also of silver, zinc, and lead, are brought from all over the world to Swansea to be smelted. These South Wales coal-fields also account for the fact that in respect to amount of tonnage CARDIFF (160,000) is one of the chief ports for exports in the world, ranking in this respect next after New York. The exports of coal from Cardiff are now 12,000,000 tons annually.

II. THE TRADE FEATURES OF FRANCE

FRANCE A RICHLY FAVOURED COUNTRY

France by nature is one of the most highly favoured countries in the world. Its climate is genial. Its temperature is so varied that almost every vegetable, grain or fruit needed for the sustenance of man may be raised within its borders. Its soil, though not surprisingly fertile, yet yields abundantly such products as are suited to it. Its mineral resources, especially in coal, iron, lead, marble, and salt, are very considerable. Its area is compact. Its facilities for foreign commerce are unsurpa.s.sed. It lies between the two bodies of water--the Atlantic and the Mediterranean--of greatest commercial importance in the world. And its people, especially those in rural parts, are exceptionally frugal and industrious. But France as a nation has not made the progress in the world that its natural advantages call for.

It has been cursed with expensive and unstable governments and sanguinary wars. Its upper cla.s.ses, the natural leaders of its peoples, are excessively fond of pleasure and military glory, and the energies of the nation have been much misdirected. As a consequence, despite its natural advantages, France is losing ground among the nations of the world. Its national debt amounts to nearly $7,000,000,000, the largest national debt known in history, being per head of population seventeen and one half times as great as that of Germany, six times as great as that of the United States, and much more than one and one half times as great as that of Great Britain.

But, what is of more serious consequence, the vitality of its people seems debilitated. For years the annual number of births in France has been steadily decreasing, while the annual number of deaths has been more or less increasing. Over a great part of the country the number of deaths annually exceeds the number of births. In numerous years this is so for the whole country. The birth rate is the lowest in Europe. The death rate, while not the highest, is yet higher than in many other countries. As a consequence of all this the population of France is almost stationary. During the last seventy years it has increased only 18 per cent., while that of Great Britain has increased 63 per cent., Germany 75 per cent., Russia 92 per cent., and Europe as a whole 62 per cent. And even this increase, small as it is, is largely due to immigration from other countries. Nor is the emigration of Frenchmen to their colonies or to other countries to be set down as a sufficient explanation. The French are averse to emigration. At the present time the number of Frenchmen residing abroad is only a little more than half a million, while of foreigners residing in France the number is not far short of a million and a quarter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: France, compared in size with the States of Illinois and Texas.]

THE FRENCH A THRIFTY, FRUGAL PEOPLE

When France is compared with other countries in respect of commercial development and progress, the results will in almost every particular turn out unfavourable to France. For example, since the close of the Napoleonic wars eighty-three years ago the national trade of Great Britain has quadrupled, while that of France has only trebled. At the close of the Franco-German war France was eighteen per cent. ahead of Germany in the carrying power of her s.h.i.+pping. Now Germany is seventy per cent. ahead of France in that respect. But it must be remembered that the Franco-German war cost France in army expenses and in indemnity no less a sum than $3,250,000,000. The effect of that tremendous expenditure upon the prosperity of the nation can be estimated by one comparison. Since that war the annual average savings per inhabitant in France have been $17. For the same period the annual average savings per inhabitant in Great Britain have been $19.50. Had that war not occurred the average annual savings per inhabitant in France would have been $21.50. In short, no people in Europe are comparable with the working cla.s.ses of the French people in frugality and thrift, and because of this characteristic, if France were well governed, its prosperity would be equal to that of any country in the world, and this would be so in spite of the fact that France's interest bill imposes a tax of $6.50 a year on every inhabitant of the country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Street scene in Paris, showing the Bourse.]

THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE

France has one element of stability, one characteristic inducive of thriftiness, that most other countries of Europe lack. In most other European countries the land is held by few proprietors. In France it is held by many. In Great Britain and Ireland, for example, the land that is devoted to agriculture is held by only 19,000 proprietors. In France it is held by 3,500,000 proprietors.

There are also 3,500,000 district farms in France, though only sixty per cent. of the farm land of the country is cultivated by the owners. It follows from this that agriculture has in France a hold upon the affections and self-interest of the people that it has in no other country in the world. About forty-two per cent. of the total population of the country able to work are employed in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture, therefore, is one of the most important industries of France. One fifth of the total earnings of her people are made in agriculture. It cannot be said, however, that agriculture in France is pursued as successfully as it is in some other countries--in Great Britain, for example. France, with sometimes the exception of Russia, is the largest wheat-grower of all the nations of Europe, but its production of grain per acre is not more than four sevenths that of Great Britain, while its production of grain per farming hand is only two thirds that of Great Britain. But so much of the agricultural effort of France is devoted to such industries as can be carried on in small farms or holdings--potato-raising, for example, and fruit-raising and poultry-raising--that the total money product per acre in France is not far short of what it is in Great Britain. That is to say, while agriculture is more profitably carried on in Great Britain than in France, it proportionately supports a larger number of people in France than in Great Britain.

FRANCE'S WATERWAYS AND RAILWAYS

France, like Germany, is well supplied with navigable rivers, and these, with its ca.n.a.ls, const.i.tute a complete network of navigable waterways that cover all the country and greatly promote the internal commerce of the nation. These navigable rivers aggregate 5500 miles, and the navigable ca.n.a.ls over 3100 miles. The tonnage of goods carried on these waterways compares quite favourably with that carried by the railways. The railways aggregate 25,000 miles.

THE DISTINCTIVE AND IMPORTANT MANUFACTURES OF FRANCE

The most distinctive manufacture of France, the one in which she surpa.s.ses all other countries of the world, is the SILK MANUFACTURE.

France's total production of silk is not far short of one third of the total production of the world. LYONS (466,000), on the Rhone, is the chief seat of the industry, having had this pre-eminence ever since the Jacquard loom was invented there at the beginning of this century.

Its production is not far short of three fourths of the total production of the country. The most important manufacture of France, however, is her manufacture of WOOLLENS. In this manufacture she comes next after Great Britain, her total production being a little ahead of that of both Germany and the United States. Her woollen mills number over 2000. Her consumption of wool for this industry is about three fourths that of Great Britain, but the value of her production is only two thirds that of Britain. LILLE (216,000) and RHEIMS (108,000) are the chief seats of the woollen industry. Of about equal value with the woollen manufacture of France is its HARDWARE manufacture, but the importance of France's hardware manufacture is national rather than international. Of next importance is the manufacture of COTTONS and LINENS. The chief seats of these industries are, for cottons, ROUEN (113,000), the "Manchester of France," and for linens, LILLE. Near Lille is CAMBRAI, the chief place of manufacture for that finer cla.s.s of linens known as cambrics. A second distinctive manufacture of France is that of GLa.s.s and PORCELAIN. In this manufacture France quite equals Great Britain in respect of value, and surpa.s.ses her in respect of the artistic character of the wares. LIMOGES (77,000) and ST. CLOUD (near Paris) are the chief seats of the French porcelain manufacture. It is at St. Cloud that the celebrated "Sevres" porcelain is made.

PARIS AND THE GREAT SEAPORTS OF FRANCE

Paris (2,536,834) is, of course, the chief trade centre of all France, but the trade interests of Paris are general rather than special. The manufactures that are most localised in Paris are those of articles of luxury, such as jewellery, perfumery, gloves, fancy wares, novelties, and fas.h.i.+onable boots and shoes. Paris is also a great financial centre. Ma.r.s.eILLES (442,000), one of the oldest cities in Europe, is the great seaport of France. Its trade amounts to over $350,000,000 annually, and it ranks next after Hamburg among the great seaports of central Europe. Its specialty is its great trade with the Mediterranean and the East. The opening of the Suez Ca.n.a.l has been of incalculable advantage to Ma.r.s.eilles. Next as s.h.i.+pping port comes HAVRE (119,000), at the mouth of the Seine, with a total trade not far short of that of Ma.r.s.eilles. Havre is in reality the port or "haven"

of Paris. It is the great depot for French imports from North and South America. These comprise princ.i.p.ally cotton, tobacco, wheat, animal produce, and wool. Its import of South American wool is enormous, for three fourths of the wool used in France now comes from the region of the La Plata. Recently the Seine has been deepened and now both Rouen and Paris may be considered seaports. By this means Paris has direct water communication with London, and is, indeed, the third seaport in the country. Next comes BORDEAUX (257,000), the chief place of export for French wines and brandies. About twenty years ago the wine industry of France suffered tremendous loss from the ravages of the insect phylloxera. Over 4,000,000 acres of vineyard, representing a value of $1,000,000,000, were wholly or partially ruined by this terrible pest. The plague, however, has now been stamped out, but nearly 2,000,000 acres of vineyards have been permanently destroyed and have been devoted to potatoes and the sugar-beet root. The result is that the production of wine in France is now less than what is needed for home consumption, and over fifty per cent. more wine is imported than is exported. The remaining great s.h.i.+pping ports are DUNKERQUE (40,000) and BOULOGNE (37,500). CALAIS (57,000) has a great pa.s.senger trade with England.