Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-02-05
HOW WAR AFFECTS GERMANY AND FRANCE

I
From an article written by the Hon.
David A. Wells, OH the Franco-G German
war and its effects upon trade and COM
meree, we CLEAN few facts which we are
sure will be of interest to our readers. As
usual, Mr.. Wells has full data of great in
terest As an evidence of the great drain
upon the industrial classes In both Ger
| many and France the war has made, he
| gives, amongst others, the following facts :
1 The Stumm Iron Works, in the district
! of Saarbruck, which afforded employment,
before the war, TO ten thousand operatives,
now employs but two hundred and fifty.
The majority of the force, including one of
the proprietors, have been called into ser
vice.
! In France, the disastrous effects Of the
war are, of course, greater. To realize
| their magnitude, We need only be remind
cd of the following statistics of the indus
trial interests of these sections most de-
vastated by the war:
''In Sedan and its immediate vicinity, there
were employed, previous to the war, IN the
wooden industry alone fifteen thousand work
men; in Rheims and the adjacent districts, six
ty-two thousand; at Orleans, in WOODEN. cotton,
and hosiery, thirty thousand; at St Quentin
and the vicinity in the manufacture OF cotton,
seventy-fvc thousand ut Strasburg in various
mechanical industries fifty thousand atNancy,
twenty thousand; at Metz, twenty-five thou
sand at Orleans, thirty thousand; while in
Paris, the number of persons engaged in manu-
turing industries has been estimated ~ not less
than five hundred thousand"
The losses to the peasants in the agricul-
tural districts are equally severe. Armies
numbering full two millions operating for
so long time in the thickly settled dis
tricts of northern and eastern France, could
not fail even by the greatest precaution to
destroy buildings, fences, farming imple-
ments and farm products. Mr.. Wells es
Inmates the destruction in all respects to
France at $1,000 000, 900, and to Germany at
81. 600 600. 1t is hardly possible that
even the few of their Workmen escaping
from actual service in the armies, have
been able to earn more than the scantiest
subsistence. It is probable that some of
these works have been destroyed and that
even after the warts ended 1t will be some
time before employment can again be
given. To give an idea Of the extent of
suffering thus caused read the following
from the recent appeal of citizens for the
relief of peasants and skilled workmen.
They state that in the department of Ar
dennes alone, there were, on the 1st of Oc-
tober, not less than two hundred thousand
persons in the condition of the utmost mis-
cry and in Lorraine, the number i'll want
Of Of i
er. skilled workmen in the manufactu-
ring towns, especially those devoted to the
WOODEN industry" says the report Of the
Sedan committee, "who formerly gained
from five to ten francs per day, arc now
glad to earn ten or twenty sous by any jobs
in which the municipality can employ
them which SUM they instantly spend in
buying Il little bread"
This destruction of property and prostra-
ton of industries in France and Germany,
Mr.. Wells says, does not benefit any other
country. III Holland and Belgium the /
armies have been modified, and thousands
of workmen have been withdrawn from
theshops. The cessation of work in thcSaar-
bruck mining regions has cut Off supplies
of iron ore and coal for Switzerland and
Belgium, causing a stoppage of WOODEN,
cotton, and other works, in those countries. |
In England, with the exception of few
special trades engaged in furnishing army
supplies, nearly everything is stagnant
English trade is limited almost entirely to |
wealthy merchants who can afford to give
credit until the war is over. The influence
of the war on American trade is shown by
the decline i'll cotton, which RIr. Wells |
thinks more than counterbalances the adj |
vantages to be derived from improvements
in our breadstuf1s and provision trade. We |
have suffered great loss from decreased eX-
p0rtation of petroleum. The expectation |
of cotton has decreased. On this subject |
Mr.. Wells says the diminished consump-
ton of raw cotton on the continent for one |
year, i'll consequence of the war, is vari- |
ously estimated at from 500, 900 to 5O0, 900 |
bales. Under such circumstances, with an |
increase of products in the United States |
and al average crop of India, the price of |
raw cotton has since midsummer steadily /
tended downward, occasioning To the pro-
ducers in the United States heavy loss. |
Mr.. Wells thinks that the unparalleled |
destruction ofcapital by the war will lessen /
the chances for funding our debt at or be-
low five per cent. After the war an In
crease III the demand for capital must in
crease the rate of interest.
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JEFFERSON county is not behind her sis
tiers in the great cause of educating the