The chief divisions of "general" and "special" trades were, in millions of francs: The chief articles of import and export in the "Special Trade," expressed in millions of francs were as follows: Imports Raw wool... 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. Cheese and butter. Chemical products.... Modes & artific'l flowers Skin and leather goods. Pottery, glass, & cryst'l. Paper & its applicat'ns. Brandy, spirits, lique'rs. Timber, common. Sugar, refined.. Machinery.. Fixed oils other than Iron and steel, cast.. Table fruits... Fish. 233 999 242 232 265 145 172 160 131 119 118 83 103 Tot'l (all other incl'd). 3,850 3,720 3,799 3,956 Cotton wool.. Horses and mules.. Coal and coke. Tot'l (all other inc'd). 3,078 3,374 3,401 3,598 Chief imports for home use and exports of home goods, to and from the following countries, in millions of francs: The principal articles of import from the United States for the year ending June 30, 1897, were: Agricultural implements, $623,956; breadstuffs-corn, $2,113,628; oats, $912,325; copper and manufac FRANCE. tures, $6,272,977; cotton, unmanufactured, $26,110,302: grease and soap stock, $1,045,027; iron and steel and manufactures, $1,380,688; oils, mineral, crude, $4,584,562; refined, $932,938; oil, cottonseed, $2,601,526; provisions-tallow, $675,424; hog products, $1,203,487 other meat products, $579,061; tobacco, unmanufactured, $1,832,903; wood and manufactures, $841,963; total value of domestic merchandise, $56,287,631. The principal articles of export to the United States were: Duty-free-Art works, $2,448,713; chemicals, drugs, dyes, $1,511,636, of which $565,927 was argol; hides and skins other than furs, $1,742,830: silk, raw and waste, $938,689; wool, unmanufactured, $2,507,014; total free of duty, $17,731,574. Dutiable-Brushes, $542.069; chemicals, drugs, dyes, $1,544,627; cotton, manufactures of, $3,637,104; chinaware, etc., $1,593,100; feathers, natural, $601,732; feathers and flowers, artificial, $1,608,201; fish, cured, $811,679: fruits, including nuts, $989,388; furs and manufactures, $917,492; glass and glassware, $969,573; hair and manufactures, $502,041; jewelry, $1,174,887; leather and manufactures, $2,599,373; metals, compositions, etc., $946.909; oil, olive, $532,530; perfumes, cosmetics, etc., $582,290; silk, manufactures, $11,323,087; spirits, distilled, $1,071,244; sugar, $1,421,317; vegetables, preserved, $579,180; wines, $1,109,754, of which $3,132,959 was champagne; wools, etc., manufactures, $6,849,831, of which $5,722,666 was dress goods; total dutiable, $49,798,657. Shipping, Railroads, Post-Office, and Telegraphs. (See Index.) Banking. THE BANK OF FRANCE. Though not a State institution, the Bank of France has the exclusive right to issue circulating notes. The following statements, from "A History of Banking in All Nations," published recently by The Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, show the course of the Bank's circulation and its stock of coin from 1810 to 1896 inclusive. Statistics of coin on hand and the Bank's circulation, in millions and hundred thousands of francs, 1810 to 1896: Year. 1810. 1820. 1830.. 1840.. 1850.. 1860.. 1870.. 1880. 1885. 1886. 1887 1888. 1889.. 1890. 1891 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. * These statistics are carried back to the year 1815 in Volume I of this work, at pages 41 and 42. They are converted from £'s sterling at a value of $5.00 to the £. Classification of the coin on hand in the Bank of France at the end of each year, in millions and hundred thousands of francs, 1870 to 1897: The capital of the Bank of France is estimated at 182,500,000 francs. The commercial discounts of the Bank of France,* in millions and hundred thousands of francs, from 1810 to 1894, were as follows: The condition of the Bank of France is shown below for the weeks ending September 1 and 8, 1893 and the corresponding period of 1897, in thousands of pounds sterling: The following statement, from "A History of Banking in All Nations," Volume III, page 131, shows the amount of paper discounted annually by all the banks of France from 1881 to 1894: The transactions of the Paris Clearing House were as follows for recent years, expressed in milliards of franes, 00,000's omitted: Paper Not Cleared but Paper Settled by Settled by Years. for Clearing. Cleared. Orders. Years. 1892-93. for Clearing. Cleared. Orders. 6,003,9 4,721,8 1,282,0 1893-94.. * From "A History of Banking in All Nations," Volume III, page 81; published by The Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin. The Monetary Union between France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy was formed in 1865, and was joined by Greece in 1868. The convention was renewed in 1878, 1885, and 1890. These countries have their gold and silver coins of the same weight and fineness, and the same system is followed in Finland, Roumania, Servia, Spain, and, partially, in several of the South American republics. [For gold and silver coins see Index.] There is a double standard of value, gold and silver, the ratio being theoretically 15% to 1. Of silver coins, however, only 5-franc pieces are legal tender, and of these the free coinage has been suspended since 1876. issues. NOTE.-For further information see "Year Book," Volume I, pages 61 and 62, and subsequent 1895 1896.. COINAGE. The amount of money coined in France during recent years has been as follows, in francs: |