named in article 4 as well as the address of his principal office. Article 9. The manager of any foreign commercial company which shall establish a branch or an agency in France shall before the opening of such a branch or agency submit a declaration stating the amounts to be furnished by the shareholders and silent partners; the manager's name, surname, date, and place of birth, original nationality, and in the case of his having acquired another nationality, the mode and date of its acquisition; names, first names, dates and places of birth, as well as the nationalities of the managers appointed during the existence of a company; of the members of the board of directors of limited liability companies, with all other facts prescribed in article 4.24 However, although it is contended that foreigners are to be discriminated against, or at least are to be under strict surveillance, there is to be no restriction on the admission of foreign capital. Indeed, the Economiste Français is opposed to any restrictions on the admission, not only of foreign capital, but even of foreign business men, primarily because there is danger of retaliation, and in addition, because publicity is a more effective and less offensive method.24a 24 Commerce Reports, June 9, 1919. 24 Feb. 17, 1917, quoted in the World Trade Conditions After the War, April, 1919. CHAPTER VI ITALY 1 A. Pre-War Conditions and the Effect of the War During the thirteen years preceding the war the trade of Italy increased 100 per cent, the imports increasing more than the exports. As the result of war conditions the increase in imports from 1913 to 1918 was 400 per cent. The exports increased slightly, being 32 per cent greater in 1917 than in 1913. The figures for the values of exports and imports follow: • Tentative return for the year showing quantity of imports of current year, valued at prices of previous year. These are subsequently revised. Note that the final values of exports and of imports for 1917 are respectively 1.81 and 1.46 times as great as the tentative figures. In other words, the prices of exports rose 81 per cent during 1917 and the prices of imports 46 per cent. At normal rates 1 lire $0.1930. 1Statistica di Importazione et di Esportazione, Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1917-8; Movimento Commerciale Del Regno d'Italia, 1913, 1916. Taking 1913 values as 100, the trade of other years would be: The table indicates a slight increase in exports during the war but a tremendous increase in imports. The net result is that the excess of imports in Italy in 1918 was over ten times as great as in 1913, and almost twice as great as the excess of imports of Great Britain in 1913. (ii) Classification of Foreign Trade by Commodity Groups In considering the various groups of commodities that enter into foreign trade one finds naturally that the increases in value were not the same in all cases. Raw material imports decreased relatively, but imports of food increased greatly. Imports of semi-finished products comprised a larger percentage of the total in 1918 than in 1913. The reverse was true of imports of finished goods. Of the total exports of Italy, food formed a much larger percentage in 1913 than in 1917. Food exports decreased because of home requirements. On the other hand, exports of manufactures made up a much larger share of the total in 1918 than in 1913, as Italy increased her manufacturing facilities during the war. Exports of raw materials declined slightly relatively to the total. Raw materials were needed for home manufactures and shipping space was too high to permit the profitable export of the surplus of bulky raw material. The classification of commodity groups entering into foreign trade follows: ITALY'S FOREIGN TRADE BY COMMODITY GROUPS. Tentative return based on weight of given year and price of year previous; while the value is incorrect the percentage distribution is fairly accurate. The relative importance of commodity groups appears more clearly in the following table showing percentages of the total imports or exports: PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL FOREIGN TRADE REPRESENTED BY COMMODITY GROUPS. Still another way of viewing the distribution of commodity. groups in the total trade of Italy may be presented. The excess of imports or of exports in each of the four groups over a period of years will indicate what the tendency is. Comparing the year before the war, 1913, with two war years, 1917 and 1918, we note that the excess of imports of food grew greatest both actually and relatively. Italy's food supply decreased and her food requirements increased. The group in which the excess of imports rose least was manufactured products. In 1909 and 1913 the greatest excess of imports was in raw materials and in 1918 in food. On the contrary, exports exceeded imports of semi-finished products in 1909 and of food and live animals in 1913. But in 1917 and in 1918 the smallest excess of imports was to be found in the manufactured products group: (iii) Classification of Foreign Trade by Articles The foreign trade of Italy is classified not only by great groups of commodities based on use or destination, but also by articles, as oils, chemicals, cotton, cereals, etc. A four-year comparison of imports and exports of the eighteen official groups of articles offers another perspective of the effects of the war on Italian foreign trade. The table follows: ITALY'S FOREIGN TRADE BY ARTICLES. |