EUROPE--THE MEDITERRANEAN STATES AND SWITZERLAND
The Mediterranean states are peopled mainly by races whose social and
economic development was moulded largely by the Roman occupation of the
Mediterranean basin for a period of more than one thousand years. The
occupations of the people have been shaped to a great extent by the
slope of the land and by the mountain-ranges that long isolated them
from the Germanic peoples north of the Alps.
=France.=--The position of France with respect to industrial development
is fortunate. The North Sea coast faces the ports of Great Britain; the
Atlantic ports are easily accessible to American centres of commerce;
the Mediterranean ports command a very large part of the trade of that
sea.
The easily travelled overland routes between the Mediterranean and North
Seas in very early times gave the country a commercial prominence that
ever since has been retained. Even before the time of Cæsar it was a
famous trading-ground for Mediterranean merchants, and the conquest of
the country was not so much for the spoils of war as for the extension
of Roman commercial influence.
The greater part of France is an agricultural region, and nowhere is the
soil cultivated with greater skill. Although the state is not quite as
large as Texas, there are more farms than in all the United States,
their small size making thorough cultivation a necessity. Much of the
land is too valuable for wheat-farming, and so the eastern
manufacturing districts depend upon the Russian wheat-farms for their
supply. Northwestern France, however, has a surplus of wheat, and this
is sold to Great Britain.
[Illustration: FRANCE]
The sugar-beet is the most profitable crop, and its cultivation is aided
indirectly by the government, which gives a bounty on all exported
sugar. The area of sugar-beet cultivation will probably increase to its
limit for this reason.
The French farmer is an artist in the cultivation of small fruits, and
the latter form an important source of revenue. Of the fruit-crop, the
grape is by far the most important commercially. French wines,
especially the champagnes, are exported to a greater extent than the
wines of any other country.[72] Most of the wine is sold in Great
Britain and the countries north of the grape belt; a considerable part
is sold in the United States and the eastern countries. Champagne,
Bordeaux, the Loire, and the Rhone Valleys are famous wine districts.
Wine is also imported, to be refined or to be made into brandy.
Cattle-breeding, both for meat and for dairy purposes, is extensively
carried on. The meat is consumed at home. Butter is an important export,
especially in the northwest, where a large amount is made for London
consumers. This region produces Camembert and Neufchatel cheese, both of
which are largely exported; Brie cheese is made chiefly along the German
border. The Roquefort product, made of ewe's milk, is fermented in
limestone caves and cellars. All these varieties have a large sale, the
United States and Great Britain being heavy purchasers.
The Percheron draught-horse is raised for export as well as for home
use; mules are extensively raised for the army wagon-trains of Great
Britain and Germany. Sheep are grown for the finer grades of wool, but
so much of the sheep pasture has been given to the cultivation of the
sugar-beet, that a considerable part of the woollen textiles are now
made of wool imported from Argentina. A large part of the eggs and table
poultry consumed in London are products of northwestern France.
The coal-fields of the north produce nearly two-thirds of the total
amount consumed. Iron ores are found near the German border; they are
sent to coal-fields in the neighborhood of St. Étienne and Le Creuzôt to
be manufactured into steel. Both coal and iron ore are deficient. To
meet the requirements of consumption, the former is imported from Great
Britain, Germany, and Belgium; the latter, mainly from Germany and
Spain.
The manufactures of France have a wide influence. From the coal and iron
are derived the intricate machinery that has made the country famous,
the railways, the powerful navy, and the merchant marine that has made
the country a great commercial nation. Because of the great creative
skill and taste of the people, French textiles are standards of good
taste, and they find a ready market in all parts of the world. In
textile manufactures more than one million people and upward of one
hundred thousand looms are employed.
The United States is a heavy buyer of the woollen cloths and the finer
qualities of dress goods. Inasmuch as these goods have not been
successfully imitated elsewhere, the French trade does not suffer from
competition. The best goods are made from the fleeces of French merino
sheep, and are manufactured mainly in the northern towns. The Gobelin
tapestries of Paris are famous the world over.
The cotton manufactures depend mainly on American cotton. About
two-thirds of the cotton is purchased in the United States, a part of
which returns in the form of fine goods that may be classed as muslins,
tulles, and art textiles. The market for such goods is also general. In
the manufacture of fine laces, such as the Point d'Alençon fabrics, the
French have few equals and no superiors. The flax is imported mainly
from Belgium.
Silk culture is aided by the government, and is carried on mainly in
the south. The amount grown, however, is insufficient to keep the
factories busy, and more than four-fifths of the raw silk and cocoons
are imported from Italy and other southern countries.
The chief imports to France are coal, raw textile fibres, wine, wheat,
and lumber. The last two products excepted, they are again exported in
the form of manufactured products. The great bulk of the imports comes
from Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and
Argentina. In 1900 the import trade from these countries aggregated
about five hundred million dollars. The total export trade during the
same year was about eight hundred million dollars; it consisted mainly
of high-priced articles of luxury.
The foreign trade is supported by a navy, which ranks second among the
world's navies, and a merchant marine of more than fifteen thousand
vessels. Aside from the subsidies given to mail steamships, government
encouragement is given for the construction and equipment of home-built
vessels. It is a settled policy that French vessels shall carry French
traffic.
Of the 24,000 miles of railway, about 2,000 miles are owned by the
state. The rivers are connected by canals, and these furnish about 7,000
miles of navigable waters. As in Germany, the water-routes supplement
the railway lines. Practically all lines of transportation converge at
Paris.
_Paris_, the capital, is a great centre of finance, art, science, and
literature, whose influence in these features has been felt all over the
world. The character of fine textiles, and also the fashions in the
United States and Europe, are regulated largely in this city.
_Marseille_ is the chief seaport, and practically all the trade between
France and the Mediterranean countries is landed at this port; it is
also the focal point of the trade between France and her African
colonies, and a landing-place for the cotton brought from Egypt and
Brazil.
_Havre_, the port receiving most of the trade from the United States, is
the port of Paris. _Rouen_ is the chief seat of cotton manufacture.
_Paris_ and _Rheims_ are noted for shawls. _Lille_ and _Roubaix_ are
centres of woollen manufacture. _Lyons_ is the great seat of silk
manufacture.
=Italy.=--Italy is a spur of the Alps extending into the Mediterranean
Sea. From its earliest history it has been an agricultural state, and,
excepting the periods when it has been rent by wars, it has been one of
the most productive countries in the world.
Wheat is extensively grown, but the crop is insufficient for home
consumption, and the deficit is imported from Russia and Hungary. A
large part of the wheat-crop is grown in the valley of the Po River.
Flax and hemp are grown for export in this region; and corn for home
consumption is a general product. Cotton is a good crop in Sicily and
the south, but the amount is insufficient for use and must be made up by
imports from the United States and Egypt.
Silk, fruit, and vegetables are the staple products that connect Italy
commercially with the rest of the world. About a million people are
concerned in the silk industry, and Italy is one of the foremost
countries in the world in the production of raw silk. Most of the crop
is produced in northern Italy; western Europe and the United States are
the chief buyers. The silk of the Piedmont region is the best in
quality.
Fruit is the crop next in value to raw silk. Sicilian oranges and
lemons, from about twenty millions of trees, find a ready market in
Europe; the oranges come into competition with the California and
Florida oranges of the United States, in spite of the tariff imposed
against them by the latter country. Olives are probably the most
important fruit-crop. Both the preserved fruit and the oil are exported
to nearly every civilized people. Much of the oil is consumed at home,
very largely taking the place of meat and butter. Lucca-oil is regarded
as the best.
[Illustration: ITALY]
The grape-crop is enormous, and the fruit itself is exported. Some of
the fruit sold as "Malaga" grapes throughout the United States during
winter months comes from Italy. Chianti wine, from the vineyards around
Florence, has hitherto been regarded as an inferior product, but the
foreign demand for it is steadily increasing. The Marsala wines of
Sicily are largely exported.
Among mineral products the iron deposits in the island of Elba are
undoubtedly the most valuable, but they are yet undeveloped to any great
extent. The quarries at Carrara produce a fine marble that has made
Italy famous in sculpture and architecture. Much of the boracic acid
used in the arts comes from Tuscany, and the world's chief supply of
sulphur comes from the neighborhood of Mount Etna in Sicily. Of this
Americans buy about one-third.
On account of the lack of coal, the manufactures are restricted mainly
to art wares, such as jewelry, silk textiles, and fine glassware. The
Venetian glassware, the Florentine and mosaic jewelry, and the pink
coral ornaments are famous the world over. Within recent years, however,
imported coal, together with native lignite, have given steel
manufacture an impetus. Steel ships and rails made at home are meeting
the demands of commerce. Goods of American cotton are made for export to
Turkey and South American countries.
Raw silk, wine, olive-oil, straw goods, sulphur, and art goods are
exported. Cotton, wheat, tobacco, and farm machinery from the United
States, and coal, woollen textiles, and steel goods from Great Britain
are the chief imports. Most of the foreign trade is with the nearby
states. The raw silk goes to France.
Since the unification of Italy the railways have been readjusted to the
needs of commerce. Before that time the lines were wholly local in
character; with the readjustment they were organized into trunk lines.
They enter France through the Mont Cenis tunnel; they reach Switzerland
and Germany by way of St. Gotthard Pass; they cross the Austrian border
through Brenner Pass.
_Rome_, the capital, is a political rather than an industrial centre.
_Milan_, the Chicago of the kingdom, is the chief market for the crops
of northern Italy and a great railway centre. It is also the market for
raw silk. _Genoa_, the principal port, is the one at which most of the
trade of the United States is landed. _Naples_ monopolizes most of the
marine traffic between Italy and Great Britain. _Leghorn_ is famous for
its manufacture and trade in straw goods. A considerable part of the
grain harvested in the Po Valley is stored for shipment at _Venice_--not
in elevators, but in pits. _Palermo_ is the trading centre of Sicily.
Most of the sulphur is shipped from _Catania_. _Brindisi_ and _Ancona_
are shipping-points for the Suez Canal route.
=Spain and Portugal.=--The surface of these states is too rugged and the
climate too arid for any great agricultural development. Less than half
the area is under cultivation; nevertheless, they are famous for several
agricultural products--merino wool, wine, and fruit. The merino wool of
the Iberian peninsula has no equal for fine dress goods; it is imported
into almost every other country having woollen manufactures. A
considerable amount of ordinary wool is grown, but not enough for home
needs.
The fruit industry is an important source of income. Oranges, limes, and
lemons are extensively grown for exports; among these products is the
bitter orange, from which the famous liqueur curaçao, a Dutch
manufacture, is made. The heavy, sweet port wine, now famous the world
over, was first made prominent in the vineyards of Spain and Portugal.
Malaga raisins are sold in nearly every part of England and America. The
olive is more extensively cultivated than in any other state, but both
the fruit and the oil are mainly consumed at home--the latter taking the
place of butter. Raw silk is grown for export to France.
Although a larger part of the peninsula must depend on the American and
Scandinavian forests for lumber, there is one tree product that is in
demand wherever bottles are used--namely, cork. The cork is prepared
from the bark of a tree (_Quercus suber_) commonly known as the cork
oak,[73] which grows freely in the Iberian peninsula and northern
Africa.
[Illustration: SPAIN AND PORTUGAL]
Metals and minerals of economic use are abundant. Iron ore is sold to
Great Britain, France, and Germany. Since the Spanish-American War,
however, there have been extensive developments in utilizing the coal
and the ore which before that time had been sold to other countries.
The undeveloped coal and iron resources are very great, and must figure
in the payment of a national debt that is near the limit of bankruptcy.
The state, however, is entering a period of industrial prosperity.
The most available metal resource is quicksilver. Of this metal the
mines in Almaden produce about one-half the world's supply. The working
of these mines is practically a government monopoly, and the income was
mortgaged for many years ahead when Spain was at war with her rebellious
colonies.
Both Spain and Portugal are poorly equipped with means for
transportation. The railways lack organization, and freight rates are
excessive. Not a little of the transportation still depends on the
ox-cart and the pack-train. The merchant marine has scarcely more than a
name; the foreign commerce is carried almost wholly in British or French
bottoms. The imports are mainly cotton, coal, lumber, and
food-stuffs--these in spite of the fact that every one save lumber might
be produced at home.
Wine and fruit products, iron ore, and quicksilver are leading exports.
Of these the United States purchases wine and raisins for home
consumption and lace and filigree work for the trade with Mexico. Spain
has a considerable trade in cotton goods with her colonies, the Canary
Islands, and the African provinces of Rio de Oro and Adrar.
Portugal likewise supplies her foreign possessions--Goa (India), Macao
(China), and the Cape Verde and Azores Islands--with home products. The
chief Portuguese trade, however, is with Great Britain and Brazil.
_Madrid_ is the capital of Spain. _Barcelona_ is the chief commercial
centre. _Valencia_, _Alicante_, _Cartagena_, and _Malaga_, are all ports
of fruit and wine trade. _Oporto_ has been made famous for the port wine
that bears its name. Probably not one per cent. of the port now used,
however, comes from Oporto, and not many Malaga raisins come from
Malaga.
=Switzerland.=--This state is situated in the heart of the highest Alps.
The southeastern half is above the altitude in which food-stuffs can be
produced, and probably no other inhabited country has a greater
proportion of its area above the limits of perpetual snow. A
considerable area of the mountain-slopes affords grazing. The
valley-lands of the lake-region produce a limited amount of food-stuffs,
but not enough for the sparse population.
Politically, Switzerland is a republic, having the position of a
"buffer" state between Germany, Italy, France, and Austria-Hungary.
Racially, the state is divided among Italians, French, and Germans; as a
matter of fact, however, the old Helvetian spirit, which not even Cæsar
could destroy, is still a great factor in dominating the people; this,
with their montane environment, gives the Swiss a very positive
nationality.
The agricultural interests of the state are developed to their utmost;
two-thirds of the bread-stuffs, however, are purchased from the United
States, the plains of Bohemia, and Russia. Cherries, apples, grapes, and
other fruit are cultivated in every possible place, and as these can be
delivered to any part of western and central Europe within a day, the
fruit industry is a profitable one.
Cattle are bred for dairy purposes, but those for beef must be very
largely imported, Austria-Hungary and Italy selling the needed supply.
Goats are raised for their hides, and the latter are converted into
Morocco leather. Of the dairy products, cheese is in many respects the
most important; Gruyère cheese is exported to nearly every country. On
account of the long distance from populous centres milk cannot be
transported; much of it is, therefore, condensed, and in that form
exported.
A peculiar feature of the dairy industry is the fact that it is
constantly moving. The dairy herds begin to pasture in the lowlands as
soon as the snow melts, and as fast as the snow line recedes up the
mountains the cattle follow. The milk is converted into butter and
cheese wherever the herds may be, and the second crop of grass below
them is cut and cured for winter forage.
In spite of the fact that Switzerland has no available coal,[74]
manufacture is pre-eminently the industry of the state. During the long
winters the Alpine herdsman and his family whittle out wooden toys from
the stock of rough lumber laid by for the purpose. Farther down in the
valley-lands the exquisite brocades and muslins are made on hand-looms,
or by the aid of the abundant water-power. Each industrial district has
its special line of manufacture, so that there is scarcely an idle day
in the year.
In the cities and towns of the lowland district, watches, clocks,
music-boxes, and fine machinery are manufactured. For many years Swiss
watches were about the only ones used in the United States, but on
account of the competition of American watches this trade has fallen
off. The mechanical music-player, operated by perforated paper, has also
interfered with the trade in music-boxes.
Switzerland is provided with excellent facilities for transportation,
and this has done about as much for the commercial welfare of the state
as all other industrial enterprises. In proportion to its area, the
railway mileage is greater than that of the surrounding states. The
roads are well built and the rates of transportation are low.
In addition to the ordinary trip-tickets, monthly time-tickets are
issued to travellers, allowing the holders to travel when and where they
please within the limits of the state on all roads and lake-steamers.
These are sold to the traveller for about two-thirds the price of the
1,000-mile book of the American railway. The carriage roads have no
superiors, and they penetrate about every part of the state below the
snow line; they also cross the main passes of the Alps.
Through one or another of these passes most of the foreign traffic of
the state must be carried. To Genoa and Milan it crosses the Alps via
the St. Gotthard tunnel, or the Simplon Pass;[75] to Paris it goes by
the Rhone Valley; between Vienna and Switzerland, by the Arlberg tunnel;
and to Germany or to Amsterdam through the valley of the Main.
As a result of this most excellent system of transportation, Switzerland
is thronged with visiting tourists at all times of the year; moreover,
it has always been the policy of the Swiss Government not only to
provide for them, but also to make the country attractive to them. The
result has shown the wisdom of the policy. Indeed, the foreign tourist
has become one of the chief sources of income of the Swiss people, and
the latter profit by the transaction to the amount of about forty
million dollars a year.
About all the raw material used in manufacture must be imported. The
cotton is purchased mainly from the United States, and enters by way of
Marseille. The raw silk is purchased from Italy, China, and Japan. Coal,
sugar, food-stuffs, and steel are purchased from Germany, and this state
supplies about half the imports. From the United States are purchased
wheat, cotton, and coal-oil.
The manufactures are intended for export. The fine cotton textiles sold
to the United States are worth far more than the raw cotton purchased
therefrom. Silk textiles, straw wares, toys, watches, jewelry, and dairy
products are leading exports. The surrounding states are the chief
buyers, and none of them competes with Switzerland to any extent in the
character of the exports.
_Geneva_, situated at the head of the Rhone Valley, is the chief trade
depot; it is noted especially for the manufacture of watches, of which
many hundred thousand are made yearly. _Zurich_ is the centre of
manufactures of textiles and fine machinery. The silk-brocade industry
is centred chiefly in this city and _Basel_.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Why did not France prosper commercially prior to the time of the
revolution of 1793?
What are the chief natural advantages of the state in favor of
commercial development?
In what ways have the natural disadvantages of Switzerland been
overcome?
How has the loss of her colonies affected the industrial development of
Spain?
Comparing Spain and Italy, which has the better situation with reference
to the Suez Canal traffic?
From the Statesman's Year-Book find the amount of foreign trade of each
state.
From the Abstract of Statistics find the trade of each one with the
United States.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
Adams's New Empire, pp. 160-168.
Fiske's Discovery of America, Vol. II, Chapter XI.
Procure for inspection specimens of raw silk and also of the choice
textile goods made in these states.