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portant establishments at Bayonne, in Lorraine, at Maubeuge and Hautmond.

Further, these enterprises have extended to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Rumania and Poland. It is sufficiently well known that the purpose of the great iron and steel manufacturers of France has been to enter into some kind of collaboration with the German magnates of the Ruhr. If their interests were joined, as without doubt they will be some day, and if the process of amalgamation continued, the French and the German coal- and ironmasters would become the most powerful force in the whole of Europe.

III

Although the potential strength of France in metallurgy is so remarkable, it does not follow that the country has been able to avail itself immediately of the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. Circumstances have conspired to reduce the output. The occupation of the Ruhr, whatever may have been the political interest and whatever may be the ultimate economic result, made it incumbent on the ironmasters of France to close down many of their blast furnaces for want of coal. Until some arrangement is reached with Germany, there will be considerable wastage. All that can be said at the moment is that the French industrialists are perfecting their plants and are elaborating the economic machinery, which one day will run smoothly.

In 1913 France had an output of over twenty-one million tons of iron ore, ranking third in the production of ore, following the United States and Germany. With the deposits of Lorraine, she should have doubled her output, while the German output should have been more than halved. Lorraine in 1913 yielded over twenty-one million tons, that is to say sixty per cent of the

whole German output. Yet France does not, as might have been supposed, produce over forty-two million tons to-day. The returns show that very little more than the pre-war production has been obtained. The increase is only about one-and-a-half million tons. The figures for cast-iron and for steel are very much what they were in 1913.

Germany managed to import highgrade ores from Sweden and Spain, and the lower-grade ores of Lorraine, which will hardly bear transportation on account of the cost, could not be worked on the spot. Unless France can obtain a constant supply of coal and coke, there is a sense in which the acquisition of the Lorraine mines is a handicap; for against the demand for coal and coke for the blast furnaces, there are no corresponding home supplies. It is precisely this dependence of France on foreign coke which makes it inevitable that, sooner or later, a bargain between the French and the German industrialists will be struck.

Before the war the French production of coke met only about half the French requirements. This shortage is greatly increased by the addition of the immense ore fields of Lorraine and the diminished output of French coke. But these are temporary conditions which will in time pass, unless both the French and the German industrialists, each side with its advantages over the other, attempt to obtain too much and, instead of reaching a peaceful agreement, provoke armed strife.

It is not only in the coal and iron industries that the consolidation to which we have called attention applies. Particularly in the electrical trades, which are developing enormously, there is a tendency to combination. The number of firms engaged is small, and they are all more or less interlocked. This is true not only of the producing companies, but of the distributing

companies. In dye-stuffs there is one dominant company; in what is called the heavy chemical trade there are two concerns which control most of the factories.

The movement is not so pronounced in the textile trades, though it is still to be remarked. There are, indeed, few branches of industry in which it is not true either that a small group of powerful firms predominate or that a number of companies have a working agreement. In transport this policy is particularly to be noted; the railway systems consult with each other and have unified their freight rates. Even in Paris the various services tramways, omnibuses, and others — work together. The shipping companies have in the same way abandoned, to a large extent, competitive methods. All this is comparatively new in France and betokens a desire to imitate the example set by Germany and other industrial countries.

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It would be tedious to show in detail the expansion of industries which have hitherto languished in France, such as engineering of all kinds and especially the building of motorcars; but it may be said in a phrase that the trading returns are all extremely favorable.

Among the public works which are destined to augment the economic force of France is the construction of new stretches of national road. Much money is being spent on this object as well as on the improvement of rivers and canals. On the Canal du Nord, boats of six-hundred tons can pass; there is a canal which will establish direct waterway communication between Upper Alsace, the region of Paris, and the North; the Rhône-Rhine Canal is being completed. There is a Marseilles canal scheme involving the piercing of the Rove tunnel which will cost 220 million francs, and which will connect the port with the Étang-de-Berre. It is

held that this particular improvement will not only alter shipping conditions but encourage the building of many important factories. Indeed, most French sea-ports have been, or will be enlarged, and such inland ports as Strasbourg will be entirely reorganized at considerable cost.

The handling of cargoes has been improved out of all knowledge. Before the war, the French mercantile marine took fifth place among the fleets of the world. To-day, with its four million tons, it takes third place, coming after Great Britain and the United States. In 1914 France owned a fleet of 2,488,000 tons, of which 1,115,000 tons were lost during the war. It is extraordinary that France has managed to make up these losses so quickly. It is possible that she has somewhat overdone shipbuilding, and that the best is not being got out of her mercantile fleet.

In civil aviation great enterprise has been shown and there are services to every part of Europe which have their centre in Paris. In addition, there are air lines from Toulouse to Morocco, and special attention is being given to connecting up Northern Africa with Eastern and Equatorial Africa by aeroplane. The State contributes handsomely toward the expenses of the air companies.

IV

In nothing is the economic progress of France demonstrated so clearly as in the utilization of water power. It is believed that the available resources of France in water power amount to nine million horsepower. No less than one third of this amount will, it is hoped, be used within the next few years, and there are great schemes for the even fuller exploitation of the rivers and the waterfalls of France.

Enthusiasts see in these schemes the possibility of making up for the short

age of coal. The electric power which can be obtained within a short space of time will be equivalent to twenty-four million tons of coal a year. Trains can be run, electric power conveyed to the most remote villages, not only for electric lighting purposes, but for the working of agricultural machinery. This means that labor, too, can be saved. A large outlay of capital is needed, but in the long run France will greatly benefit.

The programme is to be carried out through the coöperation of public authorities and of private capitalists. The public authorities have promised their assistance to four great schemes, those of the Rhône, Dordogne, the Truyère, and the Rhine.

In the case of the Rhône scheme, the various departments which will be affected are participating in the capital of 360 million francs, while Paris and Lyons are also to give their help. Sixteen stations are to be constructed, with a total of nearly a million and a half horsepower. This is the largest of the schemes, but others are extremely important.

Moreover France is experimenting in the possibility of obtaining power from the tides. In this she is a pioneer. There is being constructed at Aber-Wrack an experimental tidalpower station which it is hoped will provide a constant minimum of 1600 horsepower. At the same time, since the power stations are usually remote from the centres of consumption, a careful estimate of distribution is being gradually worked out which will enable practically every commune in France to obtain electric energy.

The French railways have seen the desirability of introducing electric traction, and three large companies - the Midi, the Paris-Orléans, and the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée are putting into execution a plan which affects

5625 miles of railway. In the Basque country and in the neighborhood of the Pyrenees, there are abundant evidences of the work now proceeding to install electric traction by employing the 'white coal' furnished in the Pyrenees. It is estimated that it will take fifteen years to realize the whole project, but beyond the present project there is another much vaster plan which is being prepared in association with the Ministry of Public Works.

The P.-L.-M. began to electrify its lines as long ago as 1893, but progress until recently has been extremely slow. It now hopes at an early date to electrify lines from Lyons to Geneva, from Lyons to Grenoble and from Lyons to Marseilles.

As for the Paris-Orléans Company, it is electrifying a third of its system, obtaining power largely from the Auvergne Mountains, though partly it will be generated near Paris. Next year, it is expected, an electric line from Paris to Orléans will be opened.

V

Many other facts could be given, but these will suffice to show that France has not only recovered herself but has done much more than was necessary to get back to the starting-point of 1914. She has done this in spite of the gravest preoccupations, political and financial. About her future, as I see it, there can be no doubt if she is permitted to work in peace and obtains some kind of relief by the payment of Reparations. There are practically no social questions which are likely to shake the country. The population - unfortunately inferior to the pre-war population is as content as any population ever is. The taxation, in spite of grumblings, is not heavy. The cost of living has increased fivefold (as expressed in francs), but wages have mounted fairly

rapidly, and the eight-hour day has social agitation, in which there is pracbeen introduced.

Since the short and ill-fated railway strike of 1920, there have been no industrial disturbances. There is work for everybody who will work. There are, of course, many problems, such as the housing problem, which cannot be solved for years to come. But, on the whole, the conditions are favorable, and it seems to me impossible that the franc can fall much lower than it is at present, unless the French politician is even worse than the average politician.

The country is sound and prosperous and, moreover, it is much more consciously organized than before. Its industrialization does not mean that agriculture is being neglected; on the contrary, industry and agriculture are being encouraged together, and France in respect of wheat and vegetables, and indeed most commodities, is practically self-supporting. All this is in spite of the fact that every young Frenchman is compelled to serve in the Army and is thus unable to render productive service to his country for eighteen months. The maintenance of such a conscript army is undoubtedly a handicap, but France does not yet feel herself free from danger. It is precisely this danger, or fear of danger, that may upset the prophecy that, within a few years, France will be recognized as in a material sense perhaps the strongest country of Europe.

If wise counsels prevail on both sides of the Rhine, the outlook will be bright for France, for the financial difficulties can be conjured; but if a foolish policy is pursued, either on the part of France or on the part of Germany, and war again becomes a possibility, no man can foretell the dreadful consequences.

But, as I see it, subject to this warning, no anxiety should be felt about a country in which there is no

tically no misery, in which there is an undoubted forward movement in industry and in commerce.

France has sloughed her old conservative methods. She has come into closer contact with the world and has been fired by the spirit of progress. A few years ago French business men were content to vegetate; they rarely thought of developing their enterprises; they preferred to carry on in the old safe manner. As far as possible, they kept their business in the family. The interlocking of companies frightened them. They had little conception of industry and commerce on the grand modern scale; they declined to accept more responsibility than they could properly carry; and were even opposed to natural expansion. They liked to retire from active life as early as might be.

But all this seems to be changed. Citroën, who has adopted the methods of manufacture of Henry Ford, may be taken to be in some respects the most representative of the new generation of Frenchmen. But the Schneiders and the de Wendels, who have modeled themselves upon the Stinnes and the Krupp families, are thoroughly representative, though one hears so little of them.

This at least the war has done for France, though whether it be altogether good or altogether bad is debatable: it has given Frenchmen a greater spirit of daring and of enterprise; it has made Frenchmen look beyond their own frontiers; life has become more intense, and France is determined to keep up in the race. In some literary and artistic manifestations of recent days there is much which one deplores, but the keynote of these manifestations is not a fiercer nationalism, as is sometimes pretended, but a cosmopolitanism.

Cosmopolitanism is, when one comes to think of it, the outstanding feature of French art and literature, and, curiously enough, it is the outstanding feature of French economic life. France has suddenly begun to borrow ideas from the business men of other countries; she is imitating them, striving to enter into accord with them, and reaching out beyond her borders to

attain economic control and to enjoy economic influence in many lands.

It may well be that France, which tended to become narrowly nationalistic and to shut herself up in a watertight compartment will, in spite of certain superficial, and chiefly political, signs be led by the war to take a fuller part in the common economic activities of the world.

OUR NATURAL RESOURCE PROBLEM

BY GEORGE H. CUSHING

THE proper disposition of our natural resources raises one of the largest public questions which has been discussed in a half century. One might as well try to describe the course of a sailing ship as to write a connected history of the debate. It seems to have gone on a different tack with each shift of the political wind. And yet, a'though our discussion has pursued an erratic course and has been fitful and indifferently sustained, it remains true that it seems to have been headed toward a known goal. That fact justifies a present discussion which strives at impartiality, even though the whole subject may be embroiled in national politics long before this article can possibly reach its reader. The fact that this paper is written a considerable time before any platform declaration on the subject should serve to lift it out of the zone of politics and place it upon the higher plane it is designed to

occupy.

I hope we may avoid any possibility

VOL. 134-NO. 2

I

of confusion by agreeing at the outset upon a definition of what shall be included in a proper classification of natural resources. I do not recommend my definition to the lexicographers but I trust it will serve admirably the purpose of this article while leaving others at liberty to expand its scope to serve their own purposes in their own discussions. What I mean by a natural resource is: 'A product extracted from beneath the surface of the earth; something which is not reproductive in character our extractive industries, so-called.' Thus, my definition embraces all minerals, coal, and oil. It excludes water power, which is the resultant of persistent creation, and timber, which over long periods is reproductive. It excludes, obviously, all farm and animal products as they are essentially reproductive in character.

Confessedly, my definition will prove far too narrow to suit many. Even so, I believe it safe to draw my line between those things which afford but one

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