The sun., 1919-10-27
Eugene Schneider Says Wars
Lessons Will Form Basis
for New Achievements.
PROGRESS is wATCHwORD
Iron Master Tells How Steel
Secrets Were Shared With
U. S. and Other Allies.


solid resource of his nation during
the war. that his countrymen will re-
write all their lessons of suffering into
fresh lessons of achievement and profit,
and that a new France will arise upon
the face of the old.
Every one who has heard of the guns
of France and especially of the French
75s will have heard the name of
Schneider Its industries. with the IA
nous plant at lie Creusot most notable
among them. stretch across the whole
reach of France and ramify into Eng
land, Belgium. Italy, Russia and the
United States. 1t was a mission formed
of engineers of the Schneider Company
which brought the secrets of French
steel making to this country in 1915.
The firms associations with America
have been close ever since that day, and
1t is these affiliations, now that the war
is ended which have brought Mr..
Schneider here.
At the Hotel Vanderbilt yesterday
Eugene Schneider told how his country.
recovered now from the shock of war
and the spell or hamilton which fol-
lowed its visible ending, has taken heart
of grace for the future and assumed It's
manifold tasks.
with the firing OF the last gum" he
said, there was a period when the
fighting men appeared to be wanting in
any spirit of enterprise. They had been
dreaming Of their homes for all the long
years of war and they wanted to see
them. Nothing else seemed to matter.
They had fought and they were tired !:
their sole thought was to see again and
be with their loved ones and to behold
their homes and fields.
Nation Now Closely Welded.
But this inertia passed quickly. The
war had brought infinite suffering. but
had welded the nation very closely. Men
of thousand differept pursuits who
knew nothing OF one another until war
threw them together in the trenches
understood each other better when the
business of war was done. The effect
was most noticeable in the cases Of men
of the indoor pursuits and professions.
They and the artisans and workmen
with whom they had fought had reached
truer understanding Learned and lit
erary men were not as they had been
before. Laborers understood that they
and the classes which had always ranked
above them were all part of France.
THE soldiers returning to the agri-
cultural districts stayed there. Their
prediction for the cities, n manifesto
ton. after all. of the spirit of adventure
had had their fill of a stirring life and
also they found that their farms, under
the stress of war and administered
mostly by their women, had taken on a
productiveness which was a revelation to
them. They are content now to remain
there. but they have learned the lesson
of high production and understand also
its necessity. and the French fashion OF
farming, which has been existent for so
many years, is certain to pass away.
ANY one who has travelled In France
knows the varigated strips Of growing
| things in the fields, a few feet OF one
crop. a few feet of another, field upon
| field broken up into long lines OF different
growing crops 1t is the result OF the
division of land during generations, thou
sands OF fields being owned by as many
descendants Of n common ancestor as
there are crop strips in the field.
Now the people want the newest
methods of farming and farm. machinery
and the ribboned fields will pass. They
will combine of course and make their
| fields produce to the full. They have
| learned from war and its metal machin-
cry and organization. Nothing will be
too modern for them. They have nc
will to bend their backs in useless toll
| as of old.
| Big Increase in Postwar Output.
MY firm is doing what 1t can. There
were 100000 tons of iron ore pro-
duced annually in France before 1914
| Now 100000 tons are brought forth
each year. Before the war the pig iror
output was 100000 tons; now it IL
twice that amount. We produced 5000.
| 900 tons of steel before hostilities began
now we manufacture 100000 tons and
will continue to make more and more.
THE Germans. as every one knows
were great exporters of steel when the
war began. They will be great exporters
again II they can contrive 1t, but France
proposes TO give them tussle in the
fields which were so long their almost
private preserves. Some of the resource.
they stole from France long ago are the
property of France again and Franc,
| will not sleep with the advantage.
| "Of course one must not expect to see
France among the great steel exportint
nations for a number OF years to come
One cannot say for Just how many years
For two and a half years at the leas
reckoning France will have to make VI
and refill the ruin which was hal
wrought. and every ton of steel ant
metal she can produce for the presen
will stay in France and ind use there
I'VE will rebuild our own hearth
stones first. The workmen's and farm
ers' dwellings are the immediate neces
sity They must be housed and nipple
ments for their future manufactured anS
these implements and appurtenance
must be OF the best and most modern
contriving When this task is accom-
plished new agricultural and industrial
France will become familiar to the world
"For several years also we will havt
to import coal, wheat. oil and other es
sentials. Many of the coal mines II
northern France were flooded by the
Germans. Few perhaps understand thai
all this water must be withdrawn after
machinery is made and installed to take
1t away. That alone viii require two
years Of effort. Then the mine galleries
must be rebuilt. But this work, like
the work OF home rebuilding. Is goinl
forward rapidly. I have IN mind one
mine in northern France from which tn,
black water steadily flowing out amount,
to a small river. with banks and g
course Just as the rivers nature herseli
designs.
MAY I use the Schneider steel ant
iron factories as an example of how
France is going forward? During tn,
war we took over a plant at Caen upoI
which work had been begun before tn,
war and suspended. Now there are tive
blast furnaces there. SIX batteries o.
coke ovens capable of producing $40, 00t
tons of coke annually. five open hearth
ovens OF thirty tons each, capable O
producing 10000 tons of ingots annu
ally, three Thomas converters, two roll
ing mills producing rails. channels, an
giles and small sections. Before the wa