Evening star., 1901-05-30
FRENCH TRADE CONDITIONS
AN INTERESTING PAPER BY UNITED
STATES CONSUL SKINNER.
Development Of the Colonial System-
Protective Tariff Fixed in
Popular Esteem.

| Trade and economic conditions in France
| Is the subject Of the next chapter to be
| made public Of Commercial Relations Of
! the United States for 1900" which Ia now
| in course Of preparation under the direc-
| tion Of Frederic Emory chief of the bu-
| reau of foreign commerce of the State De-
| partment. This chapter consists Of the fol-
! lowing resume by Consul Skinner at Mar
| seiiles:
Of all the great powers Of Europe
France alone could stand isolation without
| severe shock. The colonial empire is de-
Neloping, not rapidly enough to satisfy
| but still developing. The protective tariff
| system. notwithstanding its defect in de-
TAIL obtains credit, and is fixed in popular
esteem. Spurred into activity by cOmpeti-
ton from without, and especially by the
commercial renaissance of Germany work
shops good enough twenty-five years ago
are undergoing revolution in material
and organization. The corporation, inch by
inch. is supplanting the family In the con-
troll of producing institutions. Great trusts
are rare, because France Is essentially a
country exploiting specialities in variety,
for which limited demand exists. Never
tneleSS, large corporations are absorbing
smaller ones. Groups of factories have
now one head, each of which but few
years ago was a law unto itself The peo-
pie. encouraged to take shares in these en-
terprises are beginning to do so. and statu-
teiS pIotectS lneSe small investors from
unscrupulous machnation against their
properties by spectators. Very interest
ing is this unfolding Of the French democ-
racy In business, politics and society, in a
la no or precedents and traditions The
growth has been slow but sure and in
the process thereof rainbow visions of
equality and fraternity, merely written into
law, are no longer confused with the vital
facts OF progress. Thus good sense has
peen seen to triumph over apparently in
superable political difficulties in the past
year. and the existing order obtains an
other proof Of its security.
Expectation of Wheat.
'The French republic is preparing to
join the sisterhood Of wheat-exporting na-
tlons. and to resume position abandoned
IN 1880. A no less able authority than
Prof de Laroque informs me that ten
years hence France will have from 1,OoO.-
ooo TO l.oo0,oVo tons to spare annually for
export This situation. eminently satisfac-
tory from an economical point of view, is
not without its crnbarrassments French
wheat has sold during the last year at
from $3.47 to $3.66 per 200 pounds net to
duty added. Thus the Frenchman saw the
foreigner obtaining more than himself for
the same article, and naturally he revoIted
The fact that foreign wheat can be import
ed during years of French plenty and sold
for more than the domestic crop arises
largely from the application Of a law re-
mitting the duty on wheat made into flour
for export By imposing a duty on wheat
imported for consumption, and remitting
the duty when it was made into flour and
exported. the home market was protected
and the export market preserved, when
the domestic crop was short. In seasons
OF plenty, however, French miiiers conttn.
ued to import wheat. and to secure the re-
bate. 1t has been proposed to abandon
this system. and to substitute bounties on
exports of French wheat and -four
Considerable importations of wheat are
assured in France, whatever the domestic
situation may be, because of the necessi-
ties Of the great and growing macaroni
trade. which requires a hard wheat not
grown in France at all. The domestic
wheat is also deficient in gluten, and to
produce flour satisfactory in this eli
mate 1t must be mixed with imported grain
the best Of which thus far has come from
Texas.
Soap Trade OF the World.
with the acquisition Of the Philippines
the United States has within itself the ele-
ments necessary to control the soap trade
of the world-a trade in which Marseilles |
has been supreme for many years. Experi- |
ence has proved that the best soap is the
product OF either oocoanut and cotton or !