Jackson County journal., 1919-05-16
''S view oeas Undreamed of 191+Fute of the Country
turned From Agriculture to Industraism-
distant Future Is Bright, Problems to Be
Solved Are Mighty

Keep the exchange rate from mount
ing higher against France.
Mere huctuation Of exchange was
not the primary reason for barring out
the American automobiles.
AS 1t happened, q weil-knOwn
french concern operated by Andre
Cltroeh, whose name is as well known
IN france as the name of the leading
manufacturer of cheap automobiles is
known i'll America, had turned his fac
tory over to munitiOn production dur
lnS the war. While the peace con-
terence was starting. Citroen was
converting his works into Il plant for
manufacturing a small and fairly
cheap car which w1,lld take it's place
as the cheapest car in France as soon
as production could be gotten under
way.
In the meantime Citroen was pro-
tected. The lot Of American ears was
not to be thrown en- to a market that
the French considered to be legitimate
ly Citroen's.
Close to- Industrial PARALYSIS.
Americans in Paris did not appreci-
ate the French situation as revealed
in cold figures Of the statisticians,
namely, that France was on the very
verge Of absolute industrial paralysis
that the country With only one or
TWO false moves. might easily go into
llat vicious circle of industrial mis-
fortune that had already hit Austria
where the Whole economic fabric had
! degenerated to a point that brought
rank ruin to the greater portion of the
population.
While France was enacting laws that
prohibited the importation of Ameri-
can manufactured articles and thereby
hoped to protect her own disrupted
factories while they got back from u
war basis to a peace footing Amer
. ica. as she had every right to do, shut
cut one Of the principal commodities
The French have to sell abroad: wines,
brandies and liquors. Our national
prohibition amendment cut off at one
stroke one of the leading products
the French had hoped to sell in the
United States. There was of course
, no spirit of retaliation on the part of
, America in thiS-it was simply the
working out of a strictly national prob.
. lem.
american officials here in Paris who
! were watching the strained relations
between the Americans and certain
cliqueS of the French used to point
out that America must make due al
lOwanceS for the critical problems of
reconstruction days in France and re-
member that any unjust commercial
discrimination ordered by the French
government would right itself quickly
enough because of the Inequalities
such rulings made in France itself.
In other words. it was regarded rs
only matter of time before pressure
! brought to bear by the French bust
ness houses who were unfavOrahly af.
fected by the embargo against Ameri-
can factory stuff would cause the gov
! ernment to let down the bars in many
| instances and permit the flow of trade
| TO resume.
French Industries Ruined.
! To iliustrate The country arc. nd
lille in the north of France was Q
! great spinning center before the war
1t was also the center of some of the
worst fighting. And the spinning mills
. were destroyed by shell fire and by
willful robbery by the Germans OF
the $4,000 bobb1ns spinning lfien
! thread before the war 2SO,OOO were
destroyed and $4,000 stolen. In the
wool spinning business in this section
1,OOO,OOO bobbins out Of 100000 were
destroyed or stolen, according to the
| French minister of reconstruction
| Something like five hundred cotton
| bobbinS were put out of business. TC
complete the job of paralyzing the