New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-14
HARD TIMES IN FRANCE.
AGRICULTURAL MANUFACTURING AND
COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION.

STATISTICS OF ls94-WHEAT RAISINCi-DEPOPULA-
TON OF FARMING OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
a PARTIAL. REMEDY-AN INSTANCE OF
THE SILVER QUESTION - MONO
METALLTsM AND LOW PRICES.
Paris. March o.
The official statistics of the year 1894 have now
been published and the discussion of this years
budget In the Chamber Of Deputies is over. The
fact that crisis has been reached in French agri
culture. manufactures and commerce can no long
err be concealed. BY the confession OF all parties
protective tariffs have been Of some and
even a necessity of the situation. but monometal-
ism. with the largest gold reserve in the world
still increasing month by month, has not succeed
ed in STAYING off the evil for a single day. What
precisely should be done Is ia from being so plain
The worlds overproduction cannot be hindered
and each separate nation has TO look out for its
own commerce in the growing international COM
petition. Moreover. the real influence Of the vary
ing rate of money exchange on prices and wages
seems more obscure than The lesson Of
what is happening in France Is therefore not in
support of any patent theory Of economic progress
1t is simply an increase of valuable experience for
other nations
The first fact In the agricultural problem OF
France is the most significant. II concerns the
raising Of wheat which has been a chief factor In
the country's prosperity for thousand years. At
present it's cultivation has become Improbable
that whole farming districts gradually losing
their population. This fact has several conse-
quences. any one Of which may be taken as worse
than the loss Of many battles in war
VI. Leygues who was then Minister OF Public
Instruction. drew attention to one OF these last
September "Tn few years" he said. Lot Dor
dogne. Gers, Yonne (all exclusively agricultural
departments have lost from 5000 TO 10000 inhab-
| itants. On the other hand, the Nord. Rhone, Pas
de-Calais manufacturing centres), have gained
from 10000 to $4,000 This Is a real national dan
ger" As a politician, he could not well say that
the danger lay partly In resulting social uneasi-
ness, which was rapidly preparing the way for the
| violence Of revolutionary Socialism. In the coun-
try. labor is scarce and farming dearer year by
| year. In the towns the oversupply Of factory
workers brings about low wages and frequent
stagnatlon. Everywhere the complaint arises Of
! hard times, and there is a growing discomfort with
| the present order ~ things.
Already In August at the Congress Of Agricui-
tural Unions. in Lyons. another and more radical
danger had been pointed out In the farming dis
tricts the annual mortality is not more than 1895
per 1000 inhabitants. while in manufacturing
]
timated that in the last twenty years alone the
constant migration Of the country populations into
towns has thus been responsible for 100000 more
deaths than would otherwise have taken place.
But this is little compared with what would re-
suit from the general ruin that now threatens
French agriculture. The displacement of the pop
ulaton would then mount into the millions, with
"A consequent increase Of mortality
Even this does not finish with the evil conse-
quences OF the movement Of the population away
from the country districts into cities. Between
1852 and 1891 about Cos. 900 young men left the
farms t. seek their fortune in towns. According
70 the ideas Of the English followers OF Nautilus.
a theorist Of the Manchester Free Trade stamp.
the proportion Of births ought steadily TO have
increased In the districts thus relieved Of a
congestion OF inhabitants. Just the contrary has
happened. Where the brth-rate in 1882 was 2il
per 1000 il had dropped in 1890 to 20 which rep
resents yearly dminut.on OF 100000 births in
these rural districts. on the other hand the
proportion OF births has had no increase among
the town populations from this influx of peasant
blood Life is too dear and success too rare TO
permit of children.
NJ I.annes, who has thoroughly Investigated
the question. declares that this cause alone is
sufficient TO account for the alarming depopula-
ton Of France. where for one year at least. the
births have been far from balancing the deaths.
H. points out that this is a mechanical cause.
acting Of itself like gravtation in the system Of
worlds This explains the power and the uni
versatility of its effects" The same remark evil
IDENTIFY applies Ia the increased mortality already
noticed Il is the result II physical causes and IS
sure tn continue So long as the country popula-
tion continues to migrate into towns without
statement Of the problem which NJ. Lannes re-
strictcd t. the decrease in the birth-rate: That
which 1t Is necessary to seek is how - procure
for the peasant such conditions Of well-beng that
IT will be- for his interest not to abandon his
native fields"
The conditions Of the present unrest are easily
stated To begin with they do not arise from
the fact that wheat is no longer grown In
France In the year 1894 the wheat growing sur
face owing to the disbursement already exist
ing had diminished by 49, 500 acres; yet tho yield
was greater than II had been I'm twenty years
1872 80 900 bushels nearly 100 600 more bush
els than are required for the consumption OF the
entire United Kingdom. Moreover this amount
corresponds with an average yield per acre Of
several bushels less than results from the 'in-
tensiye' cultivation II countries like Belgium.
Holland Denmark and England. France is quite
capable Of the same processes OF cultivation: and
where they have been tried they have given
better results even than in England. For that
matter. the condition of farmers In Free-Trade
England is VIGOROUSLY worse than In France
where Protection has It least stayed the de-
structive work of international competition for
a time.
Without the protective duty the price of wheat
I'm France at the end Of 1894 had reached the
lowest point yet known--ll francs per quintal
0French mcasure-that is 100 kilogrammes or
about 900 Pounds. This was the extreme price
Of American wheat in London but IT Is greatly
below the cost Of actual raising In France The
duty Of francs per quintal. which has been
sidered So exorbitant by forcing the price t. is
francs has made 1t barely possible for the French