Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-05-29

way.
In the meantime Citroen was pro-
tected, The lot of American cars was
not to be thrown on to market .tnat
the French considered to be legitimate
ly Citroen's.
Close to Industrial Paralysis.
Americans in Paris did not apprecl-
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
that vicious circle of industrial mis-
fortune that had already hit Austria
where the whole economic fabric had
degenerated to 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
war basis to peace footing Amer
lea, 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 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 as
only q matter of time before pressure
brought to bear by the French bust.
ness houses who were unfavorably af'
fected BY the embargo against Ameri.
can factory stuff would cause the gov.
eminent to let down the bars in many
instances and permit the flow Of trade
to resume
. French Industries Ruined.
To illustrate: The country around
Lille in the north of France was
great spinning center before the war
It 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 bobbins spinning linen
thread before the war 100000 were
destroyed and 10000 stolen. In the
wool spinning business in this section
100000 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. TIC
complete the job of paralyzing the
French textile industry, the Germans
when they did not steal the machin.
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 replace 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
Sho 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 slim chance of being able to put
the deal, but it was by NO
means 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 ex-
change as favorable as possible to
France.
1t did not occur to the French Off
cia]s that reconstruction problems
could be solved more easily if the Lille
people and others in the same predica-
ment were 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
tiles-which have to be manufactured
before they are shipped-would auto
matically push the French exchange
rate into position favoring France.
Yet >he whole chain of reconstruc-
ton was blocked by the prohibition
VII hhpoi llhS loTelSn SplhuieS anu the
French textile people themselves were
obliged to oppose 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 as a reconstruction measure
pOuld not last long