field.

The efforts of the union to promote the interests of the textile industry at Crefeld were more in the field of art industry. The union of German wallpaper manufacturers has been able to keep up to its agreement in every respect. The same applies also to the convention of manufacturers of dressmakers' busts at Berlin, which is in indirect connection with the textile branch. The newly founded "Society of Corset Manufacturers" has met with much opposition, even within its own branch of trade. As to the greater and older unions in the textile industries, it is to be remarked that the union of German wool combers and carded-wool spinners had to deal during the last year almost exclusively with the question of reducing the output, and managed to solve it in the interests of the spinners; the united vigogne spinners could, unfortunately, not effect the same in their branch. The commercial-political relation of the union of yarn consumers merits special consideration. It is known that the German spinners desire, on the conclusion of new commercial treaties, to again have the yarn duties raised. This intention is seconded by the influential protective union; but since, notwithstanding the high customs duty, it has not so far been possible to manufacture the finer yarns in Germany in competition with Great Britain, the yarn consumers fear from an increase of customs duties serious injury to their export interests. Their endeavors, therefore, are directed to preventing the increase of the duties, and if possible to obtaining facilities for the import, as they can not refrain from importing from Great Britain.

FRANKFORT, September 22, 1899.

RICHARD GUENTHER,

Consul-General.

PARCELS-POST EXCHANGES WITH GERMANY.

The convention recently signed between the Governments of the United States and Germany, extending to both countries reciprocally the advantages of a public parcels-post service, will be of vast importance and benefit to the retail trade and exchange of mercantile samples between the two countries, and the facilities thereby. offered should be generally understood.

Hitherto, much difficulty and many complaints have been caused by a certain carelessness on the part of many American exporters in sending packages of small value, without any definite idea of what the cost of transmission might be and a consequent neglect to provide for them.

A few practical examples from recent experience will illustrate this point:

An importer in Hamburg had occasion to order from a firm in the United States a small package of fine bicycle fittings, valued at about $7. The express charges on the package to Hamburg (75 cents) had been prepaid. The local agent through whom the goods were delivered presented a bill for miscellaneous charges amounting to 7.20 marks ($1.72). The profit on the sale of the fittings by the importer was only 15 cents, so that the transaction was spoiled for him by the additional charges for transmission.

The same dealer ordered some samples of other wares from a Western firm, who shipped the goods through an express company, marked "Collect charges on delivery." The eighteen articles had been ordered at an advertised price free on board at New York, and sold to arrive at a price which yielded a small profit, the main object of the importer being to introduce the goods by sample to dealers in Germany. They arrived with a freight bill of 60 marks ($14.28), including the express charges from factory to port of shipment. This was an average of 3 marks, or 72 cents, on each article, which entailed a loss to the importer, so that the goods were refused for noncompliance with the advertised or agreed terms of sale.

Henceforth, it will be possible for shippers in both countries to send, prepaid, postal packages not exceeding 5 kilograms (10%1⁄2 pounds) in weight with absolute certainty that they will be delivered without any other charge than import duty, which can be accurately calculated-all German duties being specific-and provided for by previous agreement.

BERLIN, September 11, 1899.

FRANK H. MASON,

Consul-General.

SAVINGS BANKS OF FRANCE.

A report has just been made to the Government on the operations of the savings banks of France for the year 1897.

The number of savings banks in France on December 31, 1896 (545), had not changed during the year, but 13 had established branches, which increased the number of branch banks to 1, 181. In addition to this, 356 tax collectors had represented 60 banks in 39 departments. The number of bank books in use in December, 1897, was 6,772,582. The sum due depositors was 3,427,096,888 francs ($661,329,700). The total receipts during the year, including deposits, the interest earned for depositors, and the arrearages left by them on deposit, reached 835,016,017 francs ($161,158,091). The disbursements in money, in the purchase of Government bonds, deposits to account of old-age pension fund, and by the reduction of accounts passing the legal limit of 1,500 francs ($289. 50), aggregated 799,259,989 francs ($154, 257,178). The amount paid in interest was about 100,000,000 francs ($19,300,000). The sum total of deposits is nearly one-tenth less than the disbursements.

Compared with 1896, there was an increase of about 20,000,000 francs ($3,960,000) in the deposits of 1897.

A law of 1895 fixed the maximum of deposits at 1,500 francs ($289.50), interest included, except for old depositors, for whom the limit is 2,000 francs ($386).

Among depositors, the men exceed the women in number, the first footing up to 3,540,582; the second, 3,232,000. The number of minors was 95,588 boys and 92,800 girls.

There is one depositor for every 51⁄2 persons in the country, or 179 for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Since 1835, when the enumeration of depositors was begun, the increase has been constant. At that time, the ratio was 4 per 1,000; in 1860, it was 31; in 1870, 58; in 1880, 104; in 1890, 151.

The following details are noted among the depositors:

Persons at the head of some agricultural, industrial, or commercial interest-men, 29, 288; women, 19,833; farm hands, all who work for wages on farms-men, 31,476; women, 20, 168; persons working in mills, factories, at any employment not exclusively agricultural, dressmakers, washerwomen, ironers, milliners, even those owning small establishments of their own-men, 37,368; women, 31,907; hired servants, valets de chambre, etc.-men, 15,641; women, 32,058; soldiers and marines, in which class are included not only men who belong to the army and navy, but gendarmes, field guards, gamekeepers, policemen, and custom-house employees-men, 4,754; women, 1,170; employees in offices, public administrative offices, conductors, letter carriers, clerks and typewriters-men, 15,516; women, 4,647; the liberal professions-men, 4,719; women, 2,663; persons without professions, including married women who have their own private bank account-men, 18, 244; women, 56,978; school children-boys, 19,795; girls, 16, 186.

Since 1882, 526,596 new accounts have been opened by minors, viz: Boys, 231,262; girls, 295, 334. The excess among the latter is attributed to the larger number of girls employed as domestics, living in a family and not subjected to so many temptations for spending their money. It is very common for French children to have a bank account, and they will always tell you, in a somewhat boastful way, how many francs or hundreds of francs they have in the bank.

In the common schools, the children deposit with their teachers from I sou (I cent) upward, and a representative of the savings bank comes around once a month to collect these little hoards. If a child deposits but I sou, he receives in return a very small livret, or bank book. When his deposits reach the sum of 1 franc (19.3 cents), his importance entitles him to a “grand livret." Many children, or parents for them, deposit in an endowment fund, which is to provide them with a capital of 5,000 or 10,000 francs on reaching their majority.

Our washerwoman has six children, each of whom deposits from I to 10 sous every week. She thinks her four girls will have enough money saved to buy them a trousseau when they get married.

Nearly every father and mother endeavors to make provision for starting their children in the world, to provide the girls with a marriage portion or with a good outfit in the way of clothing and furniture for an apartment, the boys with an education, knowledge of a trade, and means of earning a livelihood.

The amount owned by the savings banks in 1897 was 118,500,000 francs ($22,870,500), which was invested in Government bonds, real estate, and mortgages.

LYONS, September 4, 1899.

JOHN C. COVert,

Consul.

GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING IN FRANCE.

France, whose national debt has been growing every day since it paid its milliards of redemption money to Germany, after exhausting apparently every conceivable means of taxation, has lately taken. to advertising as a means of money making. This method had already been seized upon by numerous municipalities, which have. sold the space on certain public buildings to advertisers, as the panels of city railway cars are disposed of in the United States. As the railway stations, gendarmeries, custom-houses, entrepôts, barracks, and numerous other public buildings, as well as the packages in which several kinds of monopoly goods are sold, are entirely under the control of the Government, it is evident that it has advertising facilities at its command which entirely eclipse in extent and value anything that private advertisers can offer. The value of these may be greatly enhanced by legal restrictions upon the owners of private property, preventing the sale of space for similar purposes.

The latest device of this sort-or perhaps one should say the first governmental enterprise in this field-is the "lettre annonces," or advertising post-paid letter sheet, of which I send a sample inclosed.* One-half the sheet, of ordinary letter-size paper and rather poor quality, is devoted to advertising, except a space about 44 by 5%1⁄2 inches, reserved for the address, on which is printed a 15-centime postage stamp. The letter is written on the other half of the sheet, which is then ingeniously folded and held by a gummed flap. whole thing is sold for 10 centimes; that is, two-thirds of the price. of single-letter postage or exactly the same as a postal card.

By this means, the purchaser saves one-third the postage and gets his paper and envelope for nothing. Nominally, the scheme is worked by a corporation, "Société Anonyme;" but as it sells

* Filed for reference in the Bureau of Foreign Commerce.

postage stamps at one-third off and has its wares for sale at the postoffices and Government tobacco shops, it is practically a Government enterprise. The new system will evidently take the place of the postal card; it will decrease the sale of postage stamps, but the receipts from the advertising will enable the Government to make a substantial profit out of the project.

BORDEAUX, September 2, 1899.

ALBION W. TOURGÉE,

Consul.

COST OF RUNNING AUTOMOBILES.

The following article from the London Daily Mail gives costs of operation of automobiles:

Now that at last the automobile movement may be said to have begun in earnest in this country, some amount of interest naturally centers in the question of heavy motor vehicles.

These are undoubtedly destined to replace horse-drawn wagons in the near future, and, if they had nothing else to recommend them, motor-driven wagons, etc., would appeal to firms who at present use horses solely on account of the difference in working expenses.

Mr. E. H. Bayley, of Bayley's Wagon Building Works, gave a Daily Mail representative some interesting particulars on this point yesterday. He is entitled to speak with some amount of authority, as he was chairman of the London Road Car Company, and now, in addition to employing 1,000 or so horses in his own business, is chairman of the Daimler Motor Company, and takes a keen interest in all that tends to lessen the cost of heavy traffic.

"Of course," he said, "no matter how excellent motor-driven vehicles may be, no one would look at them seriously if their use were more expensive than that of horses. That is exactly where the ultimate success of motor vehicles lies, for the tests by the Automobile Club at Richmond and, more recently, those held by the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Association have shown that not only can motors do general carrying work more quickly and more efficiently than horses, but-most telling point of all-do it at less than one-seventh of the cost.

"For instance, we have a car which has been proved, under the tests already mentioned, to be capable of carrying a load of 3 tons 12 cwts. at a cost for fuel which works out a half-penny per ton mile. The total upkeep of such a vehicle, when all expenses for working, wages, fuel, repairs, insurance, etc., are taken into consideration, comes to a sum of £407 os. 3d. ($1,980.73), and this, with a carrying capacity for two hundred and sixty working-days, gives an average cost of a fraction under 3 half-pence (3 cents) per net ton per mile.

"When that is compared with the cost of horses-my experience teaches me that it varies from 9d. to Is. (18 cents to 24 cents) per ton per mile—it can be seen what a future such vehicles have before them. In this branch of automobiles England has the lead, and presently she will not be so far behind with light carriages, for the Daimler Company is taking up the question of building racing cars to compete with those of French manufacture.

"Already, three orders for cars costing £1,000 ($4,866.50) each have been placed, which shows that English enthusiasts are prepared to support home industries if given the opportunity."