New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-12
INDUSTRIAL FRANCE.
ny ROBERT p. PORTER, MEMBER OF THE LATE
TARIFF COMMISSION.
nrsrEIBuTroN OF VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.

r1sTIIglTTION or VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.
trRon SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TRIBUNEl
RoUEN, Sept. G.
The Anapaire Stdtistiqae de la France for 1882
ewes the number of persons employed in the cotton
,ndpstry at about 100, 900, and estimates the num-
her of spindles. active and inactive, at about
= 600 600 Roucn may fairly be considered the
centre of the cotton trade, because the official
statistics give % 600 as the number Of persons en-
gagged in the Department of Seinc-Interieure-
nearly oue-Quarter of the total number re-
turned as employed in the cotton mills OF
France Travelling from Roucn to Havre, the
country traveTsed by the line exhibits the progress
of the cotton industry in mills, factories, country
houses and small villages. Hayre is TO france
what Liverpool is TO Engand-thc chief cotton port
of the country while Rouen, Amiens, Evreux St.
Quentin, Douai, Cambria, Lille, TurcoinG hou-
baix and many other towns ION smaller scale. 10
he sure) are TO Northwestern France what Man
chester. Blackburn, Burnley. Preston, Bolton and
the other cotton towns are TO Northwestern Eng
land.
poforo tho Franco-GeI1nan war of 1870 France
nossessed important cotton districts in Alsace-
I oyra,ne of which Williamson and Colmar were the
centres Unwilling TO become German citizens,
many of the manufacturers of the lost provinces
crossed the frontier, settled in the Nosges, and
established the cotton trade there, which has Hour
isbed 70 such an extent that the Department of the
Yospes forms the second cotton district of France,
EMPLOYING about 10000 operatives in the valleys
that in olden times sent forth the most valiant
crusaders and gave to France her best soldiers.
Here. at st. Maurice, Thanh, Epinal, st. Die, Re-
mremont, and many other towns, are groups of
factories. especially cotton mills; the vale teens
with evidences of peaceful industrial life. This
district. with that of Northwestern France incud-
ing the Departments of the Seine lnf6rieuTe Eure
and Nord produce about twO-thirds of the whole
manufacture of cotton. OF course this industry
is carried on i'm a small way in about foty-iNe out
of the eighty-seven Departments, but aside from
those already spoken of the Loire and AuOe are tue
only ones important enough for special MENTION
The consumption of raw cotton IN France Is H.
oreasing. the importation in 1881 being about
SO 600, 600 pounds.
The DEPARTMENTS of the Pas de Calais and the
Nord have the lions share of the flax, hemp and
iptc Industries. The clean and well-paved town of
Dunkirk in the extreme north, is the headquarters
of the French jute trade Indeed it is sort OF
second Dundee, for of recent years several scotch
mill-owners have been obliged to transplant hither
their lutte mills from Free Trade Scotland TO seek
refuge in Protective France-because living and
rents are cheaper and the home market secure.
Cambria the Camaracum of Oden times, has long
been famous for its manufacture of fine
muslin. TO which it gave the name
of cambria These fine linen cambrics
are still made here, as 100000 persons are sand TO
be employed in and around the town. Flanders and
Picarly furnish the flax the finest quality coming
from Marchiennes. The weavers mostly work be-
low ground and in cellars, for the sake of the moist
and even temperature, which prevents the thread
from breaking. Lille, Douai, Vaenccnnes, ROu-
baix TurcOng and Confines are also extensively
engaged in this industry-the Department OF the
Nord manufacturing more than One-thiTd of all the
fax goods made in France. Seine, Sarthe, Maine
et-Lore Seine InfGrieure, Calvados Iloct-Viaine
LOt-et-G aronne IndTe-et-LOire and Seine-et-Oise
are next to the Nord the chief seats of the indus
try. Besides producing more than 100000 cwt
of fax, the impOrtations from Russia and other
countries into France sometimes reach an annual
value of S2O,OOOOO0, and the industry employs
about 10000 persons
Ihave shown that the coal ron steel, woollon, cot
ton and linen industries all flourish particularly
i'm Northwestern France. InOw come to what may
iustlv be considered the most important of French
textile industries and in my study of 1t must re-
move from the extreme northwest to the extreme |
southwest of the country. The silk-wOTm is cult
waited in at least twenty-five Of the southern depart
ments. though those of the Gard, Ard6che, Dr6me
and Vaucluse are the four most important. The |
silk of this region comes to the picturesque town of
Aubenas. The silks are deposited here 10 the value
of millions of francs to be disposed of to the
faeturers in Lyons and st. Etienne who find here /
an assortment of all the various grades of silks.
According TO the following table France is the !
fourth silk-producing country of the world: