CONDITIONS IN PARTICULAR INDUSTRIES. 293
FRANCE.

One of the most important companies in France, on account of
the number of industries over which it exercises control, is the Compagnie
 de Saint-Gobain. It was founded in 1665 as a plate-glass
manufactory and now holds first rank in the world for the production
 of this material? It has also extended its operations into other
fields, and is a dominant figure in six lines of the chemical industry:
Chemical fertilizers (superphosphates), soda, chloride and hypochloride
 of lime, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid.
In the chemical industry it stands first in France.®
The Saint-Gobain Company has 30 establishments, of which 22 are
in France, 3 in Germany, 2 in Belgium,and 1 each in Italy, Spain, and
Bohemia. Two of the concerns in Germany are plate-glass factories
and are the largest in that country, one being located at Stalberg and
the other at Waldhof’ In all its plants this concern employs more
than 16,000 workmen.®
The company was incorporated in 1858 and has shown profits of
more than 7,700,000 francs. It holds investments in foreign industrials
 to the amount of 10,032,206 franecs.*
The Saint-Gobain concern has constantly sought to extend its
activities into various branches of industry and at the same time has
endeavored to gain a monopoly wherever possible. In 1806 it set up
its own soda works in order to be independent of importations from
Spain in manufacturing its plate glass, etc. In 1819, it bought up
forest reserves in order to have its own fuel; in 1872 it acquired large
chemical-producing interests at Lyons. During those years it was also
acquiring plate-glass and chemical concerns so as to perfect its monopoly
 along these lines. In 1885 the three establishments of the great
soda works at Chauny were absorbed, and since that time the consolidation
 has been known as the “Trust de St.-Gobain.” Where it
has been unable to absorb its competitors, it has formed agreements
with them, in which it generally dominates. As stated above, it is a
leading member of the international plate-glass syndicate which covers
France, Holland, Germany, and Austria.’
The production of sulphuric acid and superphosphates in France is
also largely in the hands of the St.-Gobain company. It owns the
richest pyrite mines in the country and holds important deposits of
phosphate rock in France, Belgium, and Italy? In 1900, it supplied
Tir. Laur, De 1’ Accaparement, vol- TIX, ,p. 229.
3], Chastin, Les Trusts et les Syndicats de Producteurs, Paris, 1909, p- 84.
3P. Passama, L’intégration du Travail. Formes Nouvelles de Concentration Industrielle (Paris),
1910, pp. 43 and 44; Chastin, op. cit., pp. 84 and 85.
J Passama, op. cit., p. 44.
5 P. de Rousiers, Les Syndicats Industriels de Producteurs (Paris), 1812, p. 168
¢Chastin, op. cit., p. 84.
| Pagsama, op. cit., pp. 43 and 44.
1 Ibid., p. 43.