COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 117
TABLE 10.—France, imports and reexports, 1912.

Imports.

tem’

Nheat..........
Crude olive oil........
Jnbleached silk (woven)..
Spun silk. veeeiaccannnn.
[ron forge pigs. .-Cast
 iron...
Lead......-All
 other. .

Total

Talue (1n
million
‘rancs).

31.¢
16.0
14.7
8.¢
0.8
8.8
9.1
33.2
%,.. 8

Reexports.

tom.

Flour and foodstuffs. .
Refined olive oil. . ae
Noven silk, dyec wine
3pun «tk, dyed... o.oo... iwi
Derivatives of pig and cast iron .........
Machines, ete. ..ovveieniriinnrcncannas
Articles made from iron bars...... aw
AN other...

Total

Value (in
mullion
francs).

72.3
17.4
16.8
11.4
h3.4
4.8
12.1
60.8
259.0

CuaMBERS OF COMMERCE.—The chamber of commerce in France
seems to have a marked influence in the business of the country. According
 to the law of 1898 every department in France must have
at least one chamber of commerce, established by Government decree,
such a body being required to furnish the Government with information
 concerning industrial and commercial matters, to offer suggestions
 as to how industry and commerce may be promoted, etc. There
are now about 155 such institutions in France. They establish and
manage various institutions, such as warehouses, permanent exhibitions,
 departments for export information, associations for the encouragement
 of exports, and for locating young Frenchmen in foreign
 countries. Under the supervision of the chambers of commerce
four transportation offices have been established which supply information
 along business lines and assist in protecting business interasts
 with regard to rail and water transportation.*
In like manner chambers of commerce have been established in
foreign countries and the colonies. The chambers of commerce are
sonsidered as representatives of the Government; they render annual
reports to the Minister of Commerce, they regulate the stock and
produce exchanges, issue certificates of origin for exported goods, etc.”
Combinations.—France has not developed cartels or syndicates
to the extent that Germany and Belgium have, yet of the various
torms of combination for the regulation of production or sales there
are in France perhaps 100 to 150. These combinations embrace coal
and iron mines, iron and steel products, plaster, cement, superphosphates,
 sulphuric acid, petroleum, dynamite, flour, textiles, silk, tiles,
dye works,® and horticultural and floricultural products. Comparatively
 speaking, the number of such combinations in the country is not
1 Archibald J. Wolfe, Commercial Organizations in France, Bureau of Foreign and Deoxmestic
 Commerce, Special Agents Series, No. 98, 1915, pp. 10-11, 28-29, and 46.
2 Ibid., pp. 30 and 47-48.
2 J. Carlioz, Les Comptoirs de Vente en Commun, Paris, 1905, p. 118.
| 0. Longuet, Des Syndicats d'Exportation en France, Paris, 1909, p. 86 fol.