Part 30 (1/2)
The easily travelled overland routes between the Mediterranean and North Seas in very early times gave the country a commercial prominence that ever since has been retained. Even before the time of Caesar it was a famous trading-ground for Mediterranean merchants, and the conquest of the country was not so much for the spoils of war as for the extension of Roman commercial influence.
The greater part of France is an agricultural region, and nowhere is the soil cultivated with greater skill. Although the state is not quite as large as Texas, there are more farms than in all the United States, their small size making thorough cultivation a necessity. Much of the land is too valuable for wheat-farming, and so the eastern manufacturing districts depend upon the Russian wheat-farms for their supply. Northwestern France, however, has a surplus of wheat, and this is sold to Great Britain.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANCE]
The sugar-beet is the most profitable crop, and its cultivation is aided indirectly by the government, which gives a bounty on all exported sugar. The area of sugar-beet cultivation will probably increase to its limit for this reason.
The French farmer is an artist in the cultivation of small fruits, and the latter form an important source of revenue. Of the fruit-crop, the grape is by far the most important commercially. French wines, especially the champagnes, are exported to a greater extent than the wines of any other country.[72] Most of the wine is sold in Great Britain and the countries north of the grape belt; a considerable part is sold in the United States and the eastern countries. Champagne, Bordeaux, the Loire, and the Rhone Valleys are famous wine districts.
Wine is also imported, to be refined or to be made into brandy.
Cattle-breeding, both for meat and for dairy purposes, is extensively carried on. The meat is consumed at home. b.u.t.ter is an important export, especially in the northwest, where a large amount is made for London consumers. This region produces Camembert and Neufchatel cheese, both of which are largely exported; Brie cheese is made chiefly along the German border. The Roquefort product, made of ewe's milk, is fermented in limestone caves and cellars. All these varieties have a large sale, the United States and Great Britain being heavy purchasers.
The Percheron draught-horse is raised for export as well as for home use; mules are extensively raised for the army wagon-trains of Great Britain and Germany. Sheep are grown for the finer grades of wool, but so much of the sheep pasture has been given to the cultivation of the sugar-beet, that a considerable part of the woollen textiles are now made of wool imported from Argentina. A large part of the eggs and table poultry consumed in London are products of northwestern France.
The coal-fields of the north produce nearly two-thirds of the total amount consumed. Iron ores are found near the German border; they are sent to coal-fields in the neighborhood of St. etienne and Le Creuzot to be manufactured into steel. Both coal and iron ore are deficient. To meet the requirements of consumption, the former is imported from Great Britain, Germany, and Belgium; the latter, mainly from Germany and Spain.
The manufactures of France have a wide influence. From the coal and iron are derived the intricate machinery that has made the country famous, the railways, the powerful navy, and the merchant marine that has made the country a great commercial nation. Because of the great creative skill and taste of the people, French textiles are standards of good taste, and they find a ready market in all parts of the world. In textile manufactures more than one million people and upward of one hundred thousand looms are employed.
The United States is a heavy buyer of the woollen cloths and the finer qualities of dress goods. Inasmuch as these goods have not been successfully imitated elsewhere, the French trade does not suffer from compet.i.tion. The best goods are made from the fleeces of French merino sheep, and are manufactured mainly in the northern towns. The Gobelin tapestries of Paris are famous the world over.
The cotton manufactures depend mainly on American cotton. About two-thirds of the cotton is purchased in the United States, a part of which returns in the form of fine goods that may be cla.s.sed as muslins, tulles, and art textiles. The market for such goods is also general. In the manufacture of fine laces, such as the Point d'Alencon fabrics, the French have few equals and no superiors. The flax is imported mainly from Belgium.
Silk culture is aided by the government, and is carried on mainly in the south. The amount grown, however, is insufficient to keep the factories busy, and more than four-fifths of the raw silk and coc.o.o.ns are imported from Italy and other southern countries.
The chief imports to France are coal, raw textile fibres, wine, wheat, and lumber. The last two products excepted, they are again exported in the form of manufactured products. The great bulk of the imports comes from Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and Argentina. In 1900 the import trade from these countries aggregated about five hundred million dollars. The total export trade during the same year was about eight hundred million dollars; it consisted mainly of high-priced articles of luxury.
The foreign trade is supported by a navy, which ranks second among the world's navies, and a merchant marine of more than fifteen thousand vessels. Aside from the subsidies given to mail steams.h.i.+ps, government encouragement is given for the construction and equipment of home-built vessels. It is a settled policy that French vessels shall carry French traffic.
Of the 24,000 miles of railway, about 2,000 miles are owned by the state. The rivers are connected by ca.n.a.ls, and these furnish about 7,000 miles of navigable waters. As in Germany, the water-routes supplement the railway lines. Practically all lines of transportation converge at Paris.
_Paris_, the capital, is a great centre of finance, art, science, and literature, whose influence in these features has been felt all over the world. The character of fine textiles, and also the fas.h.i.+ons in the United States and Europe, are regulated largely in this city.
_Ma.r.s.eille_ is the chief seaport, and practically all the trade between France and the Mediterranean countries is landed at this port; it is also the focal point of the trade between France and her African colonies, and a landing-place for the cotton brought from Egypt and Brazil.
_Havre_, the port receiving most of the trade from the United States, is the port of Paris. _Rouen_ is the chief seat of cotton manufacture.
_Paris_ and _Rheims_ are noted for shawls. _Lille_ and _Roubaix_ are centres of woollen manufacture. _Lyons_ is the great seat of silk manufacture.
=Italy.=--Italy is a spur of the Alps extending into the Mediterranean Sea. From its earliest history it has been an agricultural state, and, excepting the periods when it has been rent by wars, it has been one of the most productive countries in the world.
Wheat is extensively grown, but the crop is insufficient for home consumption, and the deficit is imported from Russia and Hungary. A large part of the wheat-crop is grown in the valley of the Po River.
Flax and hemp are grown for export in this region; and corn for home consumption is a general product. Cotton is a good crop in Sicily and the south, but the amount is insufficient for use and must be made up by imports from the United States and Egypt.
Silk, fruit, and vegetables are the staple products that connect Italy commercially with the rest of the world. About a million people are concerned in the silk industry, and Italy is one of the foremost countries in the world in the production of raw silk. Most of the crop is produced in northern Italy; western Europe and the United States are the chief buyers. The silk of the Piedmont region is the best in quality.
Fruit is the crop next in value to raw silk. Sicilian oranges and lemons, from about twenty millions of trees, find a ready market in Europe; the oranges come into compet.i.tion with the California and Florida oranges of the United States, in spite of the tariff imposed against them by the latter country. Olives are probably the most important fruit-crop. Both the preserved fruit and the oil are exported to nearly every civilized people. Much of the oil is consumed at home, very largely taking the place of meat and b.u.t.ter. Lucca-oil is regarded as the best.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ITALY]
The grape-crop is enormous, and the fruit itself is exported. Some of the fruit sold as ”Malaga” grapes throughout the United States during winter months comes from Italy. Chianti wine, from the vineyards around Florence, has. .h.i.therto been regarded as an inferior product, but the foreign demand for it is steadily increasing. The Marsala wines of Sicily are largely exported.
Among mineral products the iron deposits in the island of Elba are undoubtedly the most valuable, but they are yet undeveloped to any great extent. The quarries at Carrara produce a fine marble that has made Italy famous in sculpture and architecture. Much of the boracic acid used in the arts comes from Tuscany, and the world's chief supply of sulphur comes from the neighborhood of Mount Etna in Sicily. Of this Americans buy about one-third.
On account of the lack of coal, the manufactures are restricted mainly to art wares, such as jewelry, silk textiles, and fine gla.s.sware. The Venetian gla.s.sware, the Florentine and mosaic jewelry, and the pink coral ornaments are famous the world over. Within recent years, however, imported coal, together with native lignite, have given steel manufacture an impetus. Steel s.h.i.+ps and rails made at home are meeting the demands of commerce. Goods of American cotton are made for export to Turkey and South American countries.