nancial
centre. MARSEILLES (442,000), one of the oldest cities in Europe, is
the great seaport of France. Its trade amounts to over $350,000,000
annually, and it ranks next after Hamburg among the great seaports of
central Europe. Its specialty is its great trade with the
Mediterranean and the East. The opening of the Suez Canal has been of
incalculable advantage to Marseilles. Next as shipping port comes
HAVRE (119,000), at the mouth of the Seine, with a total trade not far
short of that of Marseilles. Havre is in reality the port or "haven"
of Paris. It is the great depot for French imports from North and
South America. These comprise principally cotton, tobacco, wheat,
animal produce, and wool. Its import of South American wool is
enormous, for three fourths of the wool used in France now comes from
the region of the La Plata. Recently the Seine has been deepened and
now both Rouen and Paris may be considered seaports. By this means
Paris has direct water communication with London, and is, indeed, the
third seaport in the country. Next comes BORDEAUX (257,000), the chief
place of export for French wines and brandies. About twenty years ago
the wine industry of France suffered tremendous loss from the ravages
of the insect phylloxera. Over 4,000,000 acres of vineyard,
representing a value of $1,000,000,000, were wholly or partially
ruined by this terrible pest. The plague, however, has now been
stamped out, but nearly 2,000,000 acres of vineyards have been
permanently destroyed and have been devoted to potatoes and the
sugar-beet root. The result is that the production of wine in France
is now less than what is needed for home consumption, and over fifty
per cent. more wine is imported than is exported. The remaining great
shipping ports are DUNKERQUE (40,000) and BOULOGNE (37,500). CALAIS
(57,000) has a great passenger trade with England.

III. THE TRADE FEATURES OF GERMANY

GERMANY THE MOST PROSPEROUS NATION IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

The greatest and most prosperous commercial nation in the old world
after Great Britain is Germany. Its population is 52,000,000, as
against France's 38,500,000; and while France's population is scarcely
increasing at all, Germany's population is increasing the most rapidly
of any in Europe. Since the Franco-Prussian war France has gained in
population only a little over 2,000,000, while Germany in the same
time has gained 12,000,000. In the middle of the present century the
populati