The State of France.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3802, 5 March 1881, Page 3

The State of France.

Ten years have passed since one of the severest and most costly struggles which Praaoe ever had to fight, and the country and its people seem now more prosperous than they ever were before. The heavy burden of" the war debt, the immense amounts spent to repair the ravages sustained, have been borne with an ease only paralleled in America, and the greatly increased taxes have been paid without ap-parently-depressing industry and commerce. The increase in revenue has been such, indeed that this year 120,000,000f. of taxes have been taken off without endangering the equilibrium of the Budget. Indeed, it may be fairly said that France has never been so prosperous, and that no real poverty exists in the country. The workhouse is unknown; public and private charity largely relieves the wants of those who, mostly by their own fault, have to seek for help. And yet France has had to face severe losses in different branches of her industry. The deficiency in the wine crops due to the phylloxera may be estimated at hundreds of millions .of francs a year, and the silkworm has nearly dissppeared from the southern departments. France, as well as England, has had to face the competition of America. What is the explanation of this superiority orer other countries P It seems to have three fundamental causes: the geographical frontier of Prance and its more evenly-distributed resources from agriculture and industry, the extreme thriftiness of her people, and her deiaocratisation of credit. There is no doubt that in the organisation of her transport system, in the development of her

industry, France has been more systematic than other countries. Morn pains have been taken to protect existing interests and avoid overproduction ; the principle of Free Trade, even when introduced, lias been handled with extreme care; and fiscal laws have been made when it was thought necessary to nurse industries after the severe shock of 1870. The consequence is that iron ard coal have been able to hold their own. All the great manufacturers have their hands full, and the French railways are obliged to go abroad for their immediate wants. There is no over population and therefore no emigration. Thus production and consumption are more evenly balanced, and when one source of revenue momentarily fails it is replaced by another.