An indication of the development of industrial activity is
furnished by the continued increase of the demand for coal.
Operations for mining ore have been pushed with vigor. Coal
production increased greatly in 1914. On the whole it still
remains less than it was before the war, since the invasion
has deprived us of the valleys in the north and the richest
portion of Pas-de-Calais; but in the regions where mining is
still possible the production exceeds by about forty per
cent the figures for 1913.
This remarkable increase has compensated to a certain extent
for the falling off in the importations of coal from
England; nevertheless it leaves our supply of coal less than
our demand for it.
To remedy this insufficiency and, at the same time, to give
our national industry greater independence, researches and
experiments have been equally intensified with a view to
employing our hydraulic resources. In the Alps, in the
Pyrenees and in the central Massif new installations are
under way, and they have already attracted important
metallurgic and chemical plants.
The development of industrial production has had the result
of an increase in the volume of commercial transactions.
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