Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-12-10
BUSINESS WILL
CONTINUE AFTER
WARP PREDICTION
Big Steel Manufacturer of
France Believes Prosperity
Will Not Cease

EaflS, Decem Der correspondence OF
the Associated Press) That the vol
ume of business between the United
states and Europe will not cease with
the war. that the United States will not
Tor several years have to fear Euro
pean competition in manufactured
products, is the opinion expressed here
Dy Robert Pinot, general secretary of
the Comite des Forges de France. This
organization is the official representa-
tive of the Creusot Works and all the
other iron and steel manufacturers of
france and the medium through which
the French government is now secur-
ing large quantities of war munitions
for the use of the French and Russian
armies.
In an interview MIR. Pinot said:
1T is unfortunately. true that we
must look to the United States for sew
eral years TO supply us with money or
cfedltS and with raw and manufac-
tured materials. / say this is unfor-
tunately true because L realize that we
Will be working for the next twenty
years to pay what we owe. Not before
that time can be begin to put any
profits in our own pockets. The fear
that so soon as the war is ended the
manufacturers now busy making arms
and cannon and shells will convert
their factories into the making of
W SOlipSlO Will yours lS
grounded.
Must Have Help
While we French iron and steel
men have been doing surprising work
III our munitions. while we are turning
out more than the English factories,
While our people have shown q mar
Velous example of improvision, while
we have done all this with our best
plants and our mines in the hands of
the Germans, we 2re 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
Will first have the enormous task of
rebuilding our old steel plants, of re-
converting our automobile, button,
cloth, printing and railroad shops, all
now busy making munitions, back to
their old uses. We will have to try to
repair the vast material destruction
that has come with the war. Then we
VIII have to do our best to satisfy our
own home markets. To do these
things we will have to continue to buy
OF you, as we are now doing for war
supplies.
What chance is there for the
American to do a steady business with
us long after the war is over. to fol-
low up and establish himself in the
business now begun? | am not a
prophet. and the war is not yet over.
But here is fact to be considered by
the American manufacturers: So far
as concerns France, we iron and steel
men had begun to do a surprising
business in the few years before the
war. We were not only filling the de-
mands made in this line on the home
market, but we were beginning to go
into the foreign trade. France had
I ~ st e.A1 - \, II.
nation. | believe. too, that our prod
ucts were the most perfectly made in
the world. They were made to stand
up to wear. | won't say that we were
right in manufacturing this way, that
The American method is not the bet
ter; but our customers demanded long
wearing articles, and we satisfied their
demands. An American locomotive is
built to last seven years. whereas the
railroads we supply want them to last
thirty years. This is a condition the
American must meet in future compe-
tition with u.s."
Imports Increase
In connection with the reconstruct
ton OF the French factories destroyed
in the north of France, referred to by
MIR. Pinot, a current report indicates
increasing imports of cotton 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 100000 quin-
tails Cf 100 kilos each. Before the war
France had 100000 cotton spindles
and 1870. 900 looms. At the end of 1915
but % per cent, or 100000, were in
operation, due to the German invasion
of the Vosges and Lille districts. Now
10 per cent, or 100000 spindles, are
in operation with 4,200. 900 still idle.
There is a prospect for large orders
of American railway supplies being
placed in France. The northern and
eastern railways suffered severely by
the German invasion and the other
four large railways systems are badly
in need of new material of all kinds.
While the latter four railways have,
during the present year, earned over
both for freight and passengers. they
delayed placing orders for new ma
terial until Fall. So far American car
firms have taken orders for 10000
freight cars, March delivery. Other
orders amounting to more than twenty
million dollars were being placed by
the French roads when the Balkan
situation interfered with available
ocean freights and now these orders
are being delayed or being placed in
England. The Southern Railway or
dered 1000 cars from a Belgian firm
newly established in Spain when this
freight situation developed. otherwise
this order would have gone to an
American firm.