The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-09-14
U. S. MANUFACTURERS
SHOULD COOPERATE
nv FOREIGN SELLING
Those Who Are Going to Participate in
Industrial Reconstruction of France
Must Prepare for New
Conditions.

can manufacturers who plan to supply
materials for the industrial reconstruc
ton Of northern France should prepar,
for cooperative selling, for a revolution
airy change in French methods of buyinG
Is to follow the war.
a small number OF central purchasing
agencies, representing groups of French
manufacturers engaged in related indus
tries and assisted by the credit of the
French government, will deal with those
supplying the material.
| Scattered American selling efforts will
not be able to meet the requirements of
the huge buying power Of several thous.
and French consumers, in the opinion of
Pierce Q. Williams, American commercial
attaehe at Paris, who reports that un-
less American manufacturers prepare for
cooperative selling that they will be la
boring under a serious handicap.
The central bureau for industrial pur-
chases for the invaded regions. a French
stock company composed of many man
utacturers, has emphasized in a report
that the task of restoring the DESTROYED
industries is too large for individual
and competitive buying. Its directors
are reported as equally certain that it
will be out of the question for isolated
American firms, no matter how LARGE
or well equipped, to meet the demand.
1t Is with groups of American manufac.
turers-each group being able to supply
a certain industry with all materials and
special equipment for its restoration
that the central bureau wishes to estab
Hsh relations.
Although the French manufacturer in
the past has been regarded as most in.
d1vlduallstic among business men, the
size and completely of the task Of re.
construction has caused him to accept
such a radical change in his business
methods as collective buying. The in.
dustrlal reconstruction in France alone
Is more than one nation can properly
attend to, SO the pooling Of American
involves solution of the cues.
tion of whether American manufact,r-
ers will be able to hold their own in
with other nations.
Although the area occupied bv the
Germans IN France the last four wears
Is small as compared with corresponding
regions in the United States. northern
and eastern France with Belgium were
In 1914 one of the busiest workshops in |
The world. Nearly $4,000 factories and |
industrial establishments were in the |
invaded parts of France, and their out /
put was more than thirty per cent of /
III of France These factories OUTPUT /
n proportion to the country's total pro-
luction follows:
Iron ore, 80 per cent; pig iron, SO
Der cent; steel, rs per cent; coal, 10 per
'ent; combed wool, ga per cent; linen
bread, 30 per cent; sugar 65 per cent.
Owners Of the factories of course have
'een shut off from normal communica
Ion with their properties, but workmen.
Engineers and others caught in north of
rance when the German army rolled
through there have gradually worked
heir way to Paris as their repatriation
as been accomplished by the allied
rms. In many localities and in almost
ountless industries, nothing remains.
Coal mines have been flooded, and
ears will pass before coal will be hoist.
d from them again. Electric-power sta
ions and the transmission lines have
4 many places been dismantled, the
carried off by the Germans. !
nd the copper wire sold at auction.
ractically all of the equipment in the
fetal working plants, all the cotton. lin ]
n and wool spinning machinery, togeth. !
r with wool-eombing and textile looms, 7
ave been systematically pillaged. /
Repatriated workers report that ma l
lines have been skillfully taken apart | /
nd all the copper and alloys in the :
earrings sent into Germany for remelt- '
g. In many instances, after this was =
,ne, the iron frame was broken up and 4
lrned over to German scrap Iron deal o
9. +
By the agreement the bureau buys and a
strlbutes materials and equipment aft q
proposed purchases have been an
owed by the ministry of commerce, and
5 accounts are subject to audit by the
spector general of France. Other pro-
sIons OF the agreement make the bu.
au under strict government control.
Purchases are not now being made
z the bureau for before the work Of
pairing the wars damage can be I'm.
rtaken, the war must first be won. and
image is too valuable for even the i'm
rt of material necessary before indus.
ial reconstruction can begin. Mean
nile the bureau is preparing estimates
materials that will be needed by each
iustry. of equal Importance in the
eparation is the work Of establishing
intact with prospective supply, SO that
will be ready for the signing of con.
lets with the signing Of peace treaty.
The bureau, according to adviees re-
we'd here, is anxious to get in touch
tn American manufacturers, but has
it be known that it would be of lit.
use for individual American firms to
I'd catalogues, or enter into prelimi.
ry correspondence. A report issued by
declares that individual and competi-
g buying is out of the question, and