The Broadus independent., 1919-04-10

French textile industry. the Germans,
when they did not steal the machin-f
cry, broke some of the vital parts and
took away all electrical fittings and
every scrap of copper.
| What happened then after the war
had ceased?
| The French government made 1t I'M
possible for the Lille factory owners
| to replate the stolen and destroyed
| spindles by buying them in America
and England, and France could not re-
place them. 1t was pointed out to the
men of Lille who wished to buy, and
who had the money to buy that it was
| illegal to send money out of France.
II the spindle buyer happened to have
| a fund handy in England or America,
with which to pay for his stuff there
| was a slim chance of being able to put
| through the deal, but 1t was by no
| means Il certainty.
| Back of this seemingly suicidal pol
! icy was the French government plan
| to make France as nearly Self-sustain-
ing as possible, to keep French money
at home and to keep the rate of eN-
! change as favorable as possible to
France
1t did not occur to the French Off
cials that reconstruction problems
could be solved more easily if the Lille
people and others in the same predicn
mcnt We're permitted TO buy factory
machinery abroad and thereby hasten
the day when the textile mills would
resume production.
Would Help Labor.
With production started, even
| with factory reconstruction started
the French economic system would be
benefited. because such an outcome
would give employment to French
workmcn. And expectation of tex
ties-which have to be manufactured
before they are ahipped-would auto
matically push The French exchange
rate into Il position favoring France.
Yet the whole chain of reconStruc
tion was blocked by the prohibition
on importing foreign Spindcs and the
French textile people themselves were
obliged To oppose Il government policy
that hurt their business.
American business men in France
during the peace conference shook
their heads when they were asked
about the possibility of immediate
trade between France and America,
and the optimistic ones took the view
that tight government control of trade
as put into effect by the French in
january us L reconstruction measure
! could not last long.
What happened to the textile indus
try during the war was only repe-
tition of the sad fate of the brewing
business and the mining Industry, as
well as the sugar business.
All of this Wreckage cost the French
something like 100000, ,C0C--that's the
first official estimate.
Dream of Prosperity.
In the midst of this desDoliation
France has Il dream of future indus
trial prosperity to be realized only
! by protecting all national industry
against foreign competition. Never
before has she thought seriously of
taking the Germans place in Europe,
and now she believes that with only
Il comparatively stall amount of ia
roritism she can compete for many of
the German markets.
From the deSpairing days of July,
1913, when it seemed certain the Ger
mans would take Paris and that
! French public opinion would not stand
behind Il continuation of the war, to
the eXaltation France feels today in
the joy of victory is far cry, to say
the least.
The tables are completely turned.
Politically and economically the
French have made tremendous gains
and they can only be expected to make
the most of their bettered position in
the world.
If they happened to work at cross
purposes to England and America, we
can expect some compromise measures
and some heated headlines perhaps In
case the censor gets off the job some.
time in 1919, but scarcely anything
more serious.
Picked for Life.