chlorates and bromides, of which she previously produced only insignificant quantities. The import of sulphuric acid and ammonia salts ceased and the capacity to export salts of sodium greatly increased. Table 16 shows the estimated production and consump- tion of chemicals in 1920.
TABLE 16. Chemical Industry 1920, in tons.
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Productive capacity
Consump- tion
Carbide of Calcium Cyanide of Calcium Ammonia Salts
200,000 300,000 200,000 1,360,000
150,000 1,160,000
Salts of Sodium . . . . . . Chlorine (liquid) Bromine . . . . . . . Commercial Sulphuric Acid ....
800,000 90,000 500 2,250,000
650,000 15,000
200
1,500,000
France is poorly supplied with the raw materials of the chemical industry except as regards salt. In 1914 only one mine of pyrites (on which the production of sulphuric acid largely depends) was being worked. It produced 293,000 tons in 1913. During the war work was resumed in two previously abandoned mines, but the result was insignificant, and the French industry remained dependent on imported pyrites, chiefly from Spain, where about 75 % of the production is controlled by British and 15% by French companies.
The restoration of Alsace should render France independent as regards potash. The Alsatian deposits, which are between the Vosges and the Rhine, extending from near Mulhouse to beyond Colmar, consist of two superimposed layers, the lower being much the larger. Its area is 120 sq. m., and it is estimated to contain 1,472,000,000 tons of crude potash richer in quality than the German deposits. Under German rule the annual output of the Alsatian potash-mines was limited to 5 % of the German production, and in 1913 was 50,000 tons, or slightly more than the whole French consumption then.
Before the war France ranked sixth among the salt-producing countries. The eastern departments, such as Meurthe-et-Moselle, Haute-Sa6ne, Doubs and Jura, supplied 856,000 tons of rock-salt in 1913, and the southwest (Landes, Basses- Pyrenees and Haute- Garonne) 43,000 tons. The evaporation of sea-water gave 382,500 tons. These resources are now increased by about 80,000 tons, from Alsace-Lorraine.
Radium. France, where radium was first experimented with and discovered by M. and Mme. Curie in 1898, has no known deposits of suitable ore. Before the war there were three French factories, at Nogent, St. Denis and Gif, and their total output in 1913 was 435 centigrammes, the gramme being then worth 30,000. A fourth plant for the treatment of radium-bearing ores was established dur- ing the war, but much greater progress was made in the United States and England, and, in view of the cost of importing ore, it is questionable whether the production of radium can be remunerative in France.
Aviation. The position of the French industry at the outbreak of war is shown by Table 17.
TABLE 17. Aviation Manufacturing Firms, 1914.
Paris
District
Other Districts
Motors Aeroplanes Seaplanes Airships Propellers Hangars
22
27 13
6
5
I 7 5 o o I
Totals
80
14
The industry was to a large extent concentrated in Paris, but most of the factories were small and worked independently, so that they were very imperfectly prepared for the demands of the army. The French makers nevertheless succeeded not only in producing con- stantly varying types of military machines for their own country but were able to export to the Allies. England bought 59 French machines in 1915, but was afterwards independent. In this year the French exports totalled 22,427,000 fr., but subsequently decreased as the Allies built up their own aeroplane industries for war purposes. An instance of this development is the fact that in 1918 Italy sup- plied France with 1,762 motors, against 3 in 1917. It was thus evident, long before the close of hostilities, that the countries which had been France's allies in war would be her rivals in the peace-time developments of the aeronautical industry.
Economic Prospects in 1921. The spirit in which the economic leaders of France proposed to deal with the extremely difficult situation remaining after the war was shown in the conclusions of the monumental report drawn up by a committee of experts under the presidency of M. Clementel, Minister of Commerce, and published at the end of 1919. France, it is there pointed out, must both reconstitute and develop. She must live as much
as possible on her own resources so as not to add to her foreign debt. She must increase exports so as to reduce it.
" This plan," the report continues, " can be achieved. The France of to-morrow will have 30% of the world's supply of iron ore and will rank second in the list of producing countries, im- mediately after the United States. This iron ore can be exchanged for the raw materials which France requires. But there is something more to be done. France can no longer rest content with exporting her natural wealth. She must compete in the foreign markets of manufactured goods and export machinery as well as ore. The effort to produce must apply to all industries engaged in the trans- formation of raw materials. Only in this way can we return to a healthy condition of foreign exchange and shake off a crushing burden of debt.
" It is not enough, however, to produce, even at advantageous prices. We must sell. We must find customers, and keep them, and this last result can only be attained if we take a lesson from the results achieved by Germany and make up our minds to modern methods, which means that we must study markets so as to find out what is wanted and then adapt our manufactures to the demand. We must cease to try to make foreign buyers accept our ideas as to what goods are best, and we must make our manufactures conform to the ideas of buyers. Furthermore the French banks must adapt themselves to the system of long credits, to which German com- petition owed its development in foreign markets.
" A revision of our customs tariffs has become indispensable. Our import duties should be reduced as far as possible, so as not to constitute a premium on lack of enterprise and so as not to expose our export trade to reprisals. Though France now holds the second rank among the countries of the world for iron ore, she has not enough coal to transform this ore into iron and steel. Her wealth would be useless to her if a customs barrier stood between her and those who supply her with coal. What is true of coal is equally true of other raw materials, and we must thus come to the conclusion that -the theory of compensating tariffs is out of date and that our legislation must be on a wider basis."
After thus defining the essential principles to be followed in regard to national economic progress, the report draws attention to certain internal obstacles, such as lack of labour, the low birth-rate, the spread of tuberculosis and syphilis, the drink traffic, insanitary housing and other conditions contrary to economic and industrial development. According to an estimate by M. March, Directeur de la Statistique Generale, if the popu- lation of France had gone on increasing at the average rate until 1935, the country would then have had 12,300,000 males between 16 and 65 years of age, but, after allowing for the num- bers of men killed in the war (1,400,000) and the consequent deficit in male births between 1914 and 1919, the figure for 1935 cannot be put at more than 10,300,000. It must also be remem- bered that among the male survivors of the war there were 350,000 who were totally disabled as regards military service, 450,000 who were partially disabled, and an unknown number of men who sustained less serious injuries. These figures indicate a lessening of the available supplies of labour over and above the decrease caused by actual loss of life.
The ravages of tuberculosis in France are shown by the fact that, while the increase in population for the years 1909, 1910, 1912 and 1913 was 15,000, 71,000, 58,000 and 42,000, respectively, the deaths from tuberculosis in those years were 85,085, 84,956, 83,727 and 84,443. I n 1912 the number of deaths from tuber- culosis was 38,083 in England and 85,976 in Germany. In the same year the rates of mortality from this disease were 1-76 per thousand inhabitants in France, 1-30 in Germany, 1-04 in England and 0-93 in Belgium.
The drink danger to France is summed up in figures supplied by the Statistique Generale and the Ligue Nationale centre I' Alcoolisme. It gives the quantity of distilled alcoholic liquor (expressed in litres of proof spirit per head of population) as 5-02 in France, 3-23 in Belgium, 3-10 in Russia before the war, 2-84 in the United States, 2-8 in Germany, 1-88 in Switzerland, 1-82 in Norway, 1-74 in the United Kingdom, and 0-67 in Italy.
The conversion of war-time equipment to the requirements of peace was one of the principal problems of French industry in 1920-1. Aeroplane motor makers were now turning out machine tools, of which 48,000,000 francs' worth was imported in 1913, this quantity being nearly five times as much as the home out- put. Half of these imports came from Germany. Machinery used for making shells and small arms has been adapted to the
