Omaha daily bee., 1916-11-16
MARINE BUSINESSO
FRANCE FALLING OFF.
Loan to Help Build Up the Ship
ping Industry Of Country
u Is Proposed.
SOME FIGURES SUBMITTED

Correspondence Of The Associated Pre.s.)
Paris, Nov. 2,-"Lack of outgoing
freight was what allied the French
merchant marine before the war j
says Maurice Alan, deputy for the
department of the Sarthe and former
under-secretary for the merchant ma
rine. Outgoing freight, heavy
freight. is the only permanent cure
for that ailment; the remedy will be
furnished blythe issue of the war.
Five million tons Of steel and iron
from the valley Of the Moselle," Alan
said to the Associated Press, will be
added to our expectations, since the
least that France will get out Of the
war will be her old provinces Of
Alsace and Lorraine, with the iron
deposits that Germany took from US
in 1871"
"The Frenchman is stay-at-home, !"
says N. Alan, "and we can't give to
Our. lines the revenue German ships
derive from the emigrant trade. We
can and will give them products and
ma1ufactures in place Of live freight.
At least, we can give them larger
proportion of our own current carry
ing trade that went to foreign ships
before the war"
The significance OF M. Ajam,s ref
erence appears from figures showing
that France paid l,085, 100000 francs to
foreign ships and 345,0O0,0OO to
French lines in 1915. The balance Of
740, 100000 francs has had more weight
in the argument for a greater mer-
chant marine than years of propa-
ganda. Both the government and
parliament propose immediate action,
but they are not yet agreed as to
what action.
Marine Business Falls.
Statistics collected by the Moniteur
de la Flotte, the French >maritime
journal, show that the part of the
French marine in the exterior conf
merce Of France had fallen to so per
cent in 1895 and to 24sper cent in
1913. In the meantime the general
freight traffic of the country had
gone from 5000, 600 tons in 1880 to
45,000,000 in 1918.
French linesscarriedlmore and more
freight, but considered in comparison
to the development Of French foreign
trade, its proportionatc share became
less and less. The unusual circum-
stances developing from the war
changed the situation and increased
the part Of French bottoms to 81 per
cent in.l9l5, but the Moniteur De La
Flotte estimates that, as result Of
remarkable increases in imports DUR
ing this year, the share of French
ships will have dropped again to
about IS per cent; in other words, for
eign ships are bringing to France
three.quarters Of all the products and
manufactures that 1t imports. France
will have expended for the year 1916,
at the present rate, 5000, 10000 francs
for ocean transportation, of which g.
500, 000, 900 will go to foreign bottoms,
reducing the share of French lines to
20 per cent.
M. Ajain proposes, in bill just
introduced in the Chamber Of Depu-
ties, the construction OF merchant
ships to the aggregate of 100000 tons
burden. He demands that in view of
the magnitude of the task OF restor-
ing and developing the merchant fleet,
the first initiative be confided to the
and that the ships be put
on the stocks at once, to be sold sub
sequently to steamships lines on the
most favorable terms possible.
The merchant marine committee of