Part 6

A second great industry of Great Britain is its WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. This industry is specialised in England, principally in West Yorkshire, a district which is as well supplied with coal as is South Lancashire. LEEDS (410,000) and BRADFORD (232,000) are the two principal 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 principally in Gloucestershire, 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 GALASHIELS, 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 Yorkshire 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 surpasses 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 principally located in Fifeshire and Forfarshire, 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 Worcestershire, is the chief seat of the "Brussels" carpet industry; WILTON, in Wiltshire, of the Wilton carpet industry. KILMARNOCK, in Ayrshire, 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 associated 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 Cheshire, 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 competitors 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 associated 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 principally 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 buttons 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 Lancashire district. So also in LEEDS, in the West Yorkshire district. SHEFFIELD (352,000), also in Yorkshire, 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 Cumberland are identified the great ship-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 ship-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 unsurpassed. 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 classes, 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.

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 shipping. 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 classes 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.

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 canals, constitute 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 canals 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 surpasses 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 class of linens known as cambrics. A second distinctive manufacture of France is that of GLASS and PORCELAIN. In this manufacture France quite equals Great Britain in respect of value, and surpasses 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 "Sèvres" 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 fashionable boots and shoes. Paris is also a great financial centre. MARSEILLES (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 Canal has been of incalculable advantage to Marseilles. Next as shipping port comes HAVRE (119,000), at the mouth of the Seine, with a total trade not far short of that of Marseilles. 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 principally 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 shipping ports are DUNKERQUE (40,000) and BOULOGNE (37,500). CALAIS (57,000) has a great passenger trade with England.

III. THE TRADE FEATURES OF GERMANY

GERMANY THE MOST PROSPEROUS NATION IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

The greatest and most prosperous commercial nation in the old world after Great Britain is Germany. Its population is 52,000,000, as against France's 38,500,000; and while France's population is scarcely increasing at all, Germany's population is increasing the most rapidly of any in Europe. Since the Franco-Prussian war France has gained in population only a little over 2,000,000, while Germany in the same time has gained 12,000,000. In the middle of the present century the populations of Germany and France were equal, being each about 35,000,000. Since that date Germany's population has increased by about fifty per cent. and France's by only about ten per cent. Similarly, the commerce of Germany not only greatly exceeds that of France, but is growing much faster than that of France. The total exports and imports of Germany, exclusive of bullion, now foot up to nearly $2,000,000,000 a year. The total exports and imports of France, exclusive of bullion, foot up to only $1,500,000,000 a year. The total commerce of Germany is therefore about one third more than that of France. At the close of the Franco-Prussian war the total commerce of France considerably exceeded that of Germany.

THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY'S INDUSTRIES CHANGING

Germany, like England, is rapidly changing the character of her industries and becoming a manufacturing and commercial nation instead of an agricultural nation. This is the cause of her well-known anxiety to secure control of territories in Africa, Asia, etc., as exclusive markets for her manufactures, for, unlike England, Germany is at present a believer in exclusion in trade, both at home and in her colonies. Fifty years ago about four sevenths of the people of Germany were engaged in agriculture; now only about one third of the people are so employed. The growth of the great cities of Germany is eight times faster than that of the rural districts, and in fifty years the aggregate population of the six largest cities of the empire--Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Breslau, and Dresden--has grown sixfold, namely, from 600,000 to 3,600,000. In fifty years, too, the manufactures of Germany have nearly doubled, the commerce nearly trebled, the shipping increased more than fivefold, and the mining output more than sixfold. While all this is true, it nevertheless is also true that the area of cultivated soil in Germany is double what it was fifty years ago. But this is because much land, formerly waste or in pasture, has been brought under cultivation. Yet even now only one half of the land of Germany is cultivated, and thirty-three per cent. of the total food consumption of the people has to be imported. Fifty years ago only five per cent. of the total food consumption was imported, and this small fraction consisted almost wholly of luxuries.

GERMANY'S SUCCESS IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION