Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-29

arms and cannon and shells will con-
vert their factories into the making
Of products to compete with yours IL
ungrounded.
while we French iron and steel
men have been doing surprising work
in our munitions. while we are turn
ing out more than the English fac
q marvellous example, of improvision,
while we have done all this with our
best plants and our mines in the
hands of the Germans. we are not
superhuman. We cannot turn around
SO soon as the war is over and begin
flooding your home markets, because
Of our cheaper labor. or compete with
You in your foreign markets. How
can we? We viii first have the enor-
plants Of reconverting our automobile.
button, cloth, printing, and railroad
shops, all now busy making mum.
tions, back to their old uses. We will
have to try to rspRir the vast material
destruction that has como with the
war. Then we will have to do our
best to satisfy our own home mar
kets. To do these things we Will have
to- continue to buy Of you, as We are
now doing for war supplies: ~
'What chancssJs there. for the
US long after the EwAr Is oyer, to fol-
low up and establish himself in the
business now beguh7i + am not arpro-
phet, and the war is not yet over. But
here is fact to be considered by the
American manufacturer. So far as
concerns France. we iron and steel
mon had begun to do a surprising
business in the few years before the
war. We were not only flling the de-
mands made in this line on the home
market, but we were beginning to go
into the foreign trade. France had
almost ceased to be an agricultural
nation. believe, too, that our pro-
ducts were the most perfectly made
in tho world. They were made to
stand up, to wear. won't say that
we were right In manufacturing this
way: but the American method is not
the better; but our customers demand
ed long wearing articles, and we satis-
fed their demands. An American
locomotive is built to hast seven years.
whereas the railroads we supply want
them to last thirty years. This Is a
condition the American must meet In
future competition with U.S."
In connection with the reconstrue-
tion Of the French factories destroyed
in the north Of France, referred to
by Mr.. Pinot, current report indi-
from the United States and shows that
France is now using more American
cotton than ever before the war. The
totals for the first eight months OF
this year of such imports were 6,000,-
900 metric quintals of 100 kilos each.
Before the war France had 100000
cotton spindles and 100000 looms. At
the end Of 1914 but Is per cent, or
500, 900 were in operation, due to the
German invasion of the VosEes and
Lille districts. Now 20 per cont. or
!, 100000 spindles are In operation
with 100000 still tdie.
There is prospect for large orders
of American railway supplies being
placed in France. The Northern and
Eastern railways suffered severely by
the German invasion, and tho other
four large railway systems are badly
in need of new material Of all kinds.
While the latter four railways have.
during the present year, earned over
70 per cent of their normal receipts
both for freights and passengers, they
delayed placing orders for new mater.
ial until this fall. So tar American
car firms have taken orders for $1,000
freight cars. March delivery. Other
orders amounting to more than $20.-
French roads when tho Balkan situa-
ton interfered with available ocean
freights and now these orders are
either being delayed or being placed
in England. The Southern railway or
Aered t,o08. cars from q Belgian hrm
newly established In Spain. when this
freight situation developed. otherwise
tits order would have gone to- an
American Arin.