Manufacturing Outside the United States 267 
FRANCE — THE COUNTRY OF ARTISTIC MANUFACTURE 
France is noted for producing goods of unusually fine quality. The 
people of France have been artistic for centuries; the government and 
other organizations have encouraged art. This artistic taste shows 
itself in delicate and elegant manufactured products, such as expen- 
sive silks and velvets, fine cottons with original designs, exquisite 
laces, fine porcelain ware, beautiful gowns and robes, costly hats and 
dainty gloves. 
Paris is especially noted for the articles of luxury that are in de- 
mand in cities of great wealth. These articles include fancy clothing, 
jewelry, perfumes, costly furniture, and artificial flowers and feathers. 
In spite of the efforts of rival cities like New York, Paris gowns and 
Paris styles are still the favorites. As a great railroad center the 
city has large establishments for repairing cars and engines. The 
chief advantage of industrial Paris is its location in the center of a 
great plain, which allows railroads and canals to be built in almost 
every direction. The Seine has been canalized so that Paris is now a 
port for small vessels. But we must not think of Paris chiefly as an 
industrial center; it is far more noted as a center of art, society, 
politics, and education. 
Marseilles, on a fine Mediterranean harbor near the mouth of the 
Rhone, may be compared with New Orleans, since its southern lo- 
cation causes its raw materials to be largely vegetable products other 
than the staple cereals and cottons. It refines the oil pressed from the 
olives grown not far away, and from great quantities of peanuts, coco- 
nuts, and other oil-seeds brought from the Orient. Soap is made from 
some of the oil, and macaroni from wheat imported from Italy. 
Lyons is the chief silk manufacturing city in the world. The early 
introduction of mulberry trees and silkworms in the Rhone valley 
started the silk industry at Lyons. Its location in the upper Rhone 
valley, near coal mines, has favored its growth. 
In addition to Paris, Marseilles, and Lyons, France has many minor 
manufacturing centers in all parts of the country. In the northeast 
the presence of coal and iron have made Nancy and Verdun great 
steel centers; Lille and Roubaix in the north long ago got a start as 
woolen cities because of the sheep in the surrounding country; while 
Rouen on the Seine is naturally the leading cotton center because of 
its position in relation to America and to moist winds from the ocean. 
For marketing her manufactures, France has the great advantage 
of both Atlantic and Mediterranean ports.