The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-30
IN FACTORIES OF FRANCE
CONSULAR REPORT FROM MAR
SETTLES DETAILS TRADE AND
MANUFACTURING CONDITIONS
ARE FORMING TRUSTS NOW
Groups Of FnctorieF Are Being Or
ganized into Centralized Cor
pOratiOns Quite on the
Morgan Plan.

WASHINGTON. May 29.-Trarde ana
economic conditions in France is the sub
1ect OF the next chapter 20 he made pub
lic OF Commercial relations OF the
United States for $780, which is now II,
course of preparation under the direction
of Frederick Emory chief of the bureau
OF foreign commerce Of .theustate de-
partmert. This chapter consists of tae
following resume by Consul Skinner at
Marseilles:
OF all the great powers of Europe.
trance alone could stand isolation with
out a severe shock. The colonial empire
is developing, not rapidly enough 10
satisfy, but still developing The pro-
tcctVc tarin system, Notwithstanding its
defccts of detail, obtains credit and is
liked III popular esteem. Spurrcd into
activity by competition from without and
especially by the commercial rena tssance
OF Germany, workshops good enough
twenty five years ago, are UNDERGOING a
revolution IN material ard organization.
Inc corporation, inch by inch, is sup
planting the family in the control OF
! producing institutions. Great trusts are
| rare, because France is essentially a
| country exploiting specialtfes in TRACE for
which limited demand exists. Never
! theless large corporations are absorbing
| smaller ores. Groups of factories have
| q 4
| years ago was law unto itself The
! public encouraged to take shares in
these enterprises, is beginning to do so.
ana statutory law protects these small
| investors from the INSCRIPTIONS manipu-
1 latlon Of their properties by Spectators.
| Very Interesting is this unfolding Of the
| french democracy, i'm business com
! merce and industries in a land Of con-
! serVatism. The growth has been slow
! but sure and in the process the rainbow
! Visions of equality and fraternity merely
! written into law are no longer confused
| with the acts OF progress Thus good
sense has begun to triumph over appar-
/ emily insuporable political difficulties in
! the past year and the existing order OBJ
tains another proof Of it's security.
The French republic is preparing to
! Join the sisterhood of wheat exporting
nations and TO resume a position
| abandoned in 1850.
WILL EXPORT WHEAT
| "a no less able authority than Prof.
Laroque informs me that ten wears
| hence Franco will have from 1OJOCO0 to
| l,5CO0OO tons to spare annually for ex-
| port. This situation, eminentIy salts
! factory from all economical Point of view.
| IS not without its enibarrassments.
| French wheat has sold during the last
! year at from S3.47 TO So. &c per go pounds
| ret to tie farmer Imported wheat sold
| for Sab, duty added. Thus, the French
| man saw the foreigner obtaining more
! qfGn himself fer the same article and
! naturally he revoltCd. The fact that for
| elgn wheat can be imported during years
OF French plenty and sold Tor more than
| the domestic crop arises largely from the
! &ppiication OF q Law renting the duty
I on wheat made into flour fer export. By
imposing a duty on wheat imported for
| consumption and remitting the duty
wnen it was made into -four and EXPORT
ed the home market was protected and
tho export market preserved when the
domestic crop was short. In seasons OF
| plenty however, French millers con-
tinued to import wheat and to secure the
rebate 1t has been proposed to abandon
tnls system, ard to substitute bOunties
or exports of French wheat and flour.
considerable importstons Of wheat
are assured in France. whatever the
domestic situation may be, because Of the
necessities of the great and growing
! macaront trade, which requires q hard
wheat not grown in France at all The
| domestic wheat is also deficient I'm gluten
| and to produce a -four satisfactory in th.s
climate it must be mixed with imported
grain, the best Of which thus far has
come from Texas.
AMERICAS OPPORTUNITY.
with the acquisition Of the Pm lippines
the United States has within itself the
elements necessary to control the soap
trade Of the world-a trade in which Ma.
seilles has been supreme for many years.
| Experience has proved that the best
soap IS the product OF either cocoanut
and cotton or peanut oil in about equal
| quantities. We are now exporting cot
| ton oil to the European soap trade and
| at Marseilles the cOcoanut crushing in
dustry Is at present centralized. Over l.
100000 pounds OF copra were received
| here from foreign countries during the
first half Of 1900, most Of which was
from the Philippines. There Is no ap-
parent reason why American capital
should not crush these nuts in the Phil p
pines and ship the oil to the United
States, thus effecting great saving OF
freight, and enabling the manufacturers.
who already have cotton oil a. their com
mand to dominate the business.
"In the soap trade. coccanut OIL is de-
sirable not only because OF its intrinsic
essence, but for the less desirable rcd-
son that soap IN which it is employed
will absorb water freely, thus becoming
as cheap an article to manufacture as
the conscience of the producer suggests
and the knowledge Of the buyer per-
mits
"In spite Of the predominance Of the
Philippines as a place OF supply the
Philippine copra is the least desirable
and cheapest in the market, because It is
most frequently kiln dried NidS-eil!es
manufacturers prefer sun dried nuts.
In regard to the development os cur
| merchant marine. the consul says:
FILIPINO SAILORS
with a population of 100000. more or
less, in the Philippines, It has occurred
to me that we might turn 10 them 10
assist US in this matter. These iitilc
| FiIipinos are transacting an important
coasting trade among their own Islands.
| I frequently encounter them in this city
| as sailors, in which capacity they give
! entire satisfaction. They are obei.ent.
| active. intelligent, clean and Wll.ug 10
| work for low wages. They are accys-
! toned to employment IN tropical eli
! mates, whereas Europeans experience
! difficulty in traversing the Red Sea for
| example. The employment OF Eiiipia3s
| would not displace American sailors. as
| they are comparatively rare ant are
| needed for the coasting and lake trade