Tobacco in France

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 41.

Tobacco in France.

SOME interesting particulars are published by M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu in the Economiste Français with regard to the manufacture and consumption of tobacco in France. He quotes official figures, which show that while the quantity of tobacco grown in France itself was about 19,200 tons in 1850 it has been gradually increasing until it is now nearly double that quantity, while the revenue which the State derives from it has increased from £3,555,000 to nearly £13,000,000. In other words, while the quantity of tobacco grown has only doubled, the profits of the State, or, in other words, of the manufacturers, have nearly quadrupled. The great increase in profit is explained by M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu upon the ground that the expense of manufacturing an additional quantity of tobacco is not anything like that of the first establishment of plant and material. The cultivation and manufacture of tobacco has been a Government monopoly since 1674, and, with the exception of a brief interval during the Revolution, has remained so ever since. In this connection M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu gives the following figures showing the quantity of tobacco consumed in the different countries of Europe, and the rate per 100 inhabitants is, according to him, as follows: Spain, 110 pounds; Italy, 128 pounds; Great Britain, 138 pounds; Russia, 182 pounds; Hungary, 207 pounds; France, 210 pounds; Denmark, 224 pounds; Norway, 229 pounds; Austria, 273 pounds; Germany, 336 pounds; Holland, 448 pounds; and Belgium, 560 pounds. In other words, while in Spain little more than one pound per head is consumed, nearly double that quantity is consumed in France, three times as much in Germany, four times as much in Holland, and five times as much in Belgium.—S. F. Bulletin.