The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-18
SOME AMERICANS IN FRANCE ARE BECOMING RICH Tanks Enter All Kinds of Business In Quest of
 Fortune SPEED AND NEW IDEAS ARE VALUABLE ASSETS Country Has Room for Am bilious Men-No Hope
 For Plodders

Paris, Nov. 1S.-(By The Associated Press) Several thousand discharged American soldiers who remained in France to try their fortunes, are faring as must fare all pioneers. A few have become reasonably wealthy. Some are reporting progress" The majority, however, like their fath- States, are trudg;ng on life's way, ever or around obsta cIes, with their carts hitched to stars that are flying frather lower than they were when 1.-the young men set out to American liize France
 l! Most Of the men really are pioneers Iibecause they are striking out for Iithemselves. along new lines. As yet iithere is no organization to put these lIInen in contact with their fellows for 1.-the exchange Of ideas and ex- Experiences.
 Il Nearly nine thousand American Expeditionary Force men were re- Iileased here and it is estimated a !Fwork here. The others are visiting, lIsight-seeins or have gone home after Ia digcouraging look at business pros fipects.
 Of the thousand or so who are hard after French francs, according to American business men here who know most about the new ventures. several hundred found employment with large concerns, chiefly Aneri- can firms preparing to do business in the devastated regions. Another group took various small places to pay their way while studying. The majority of the men. it was said, started to make good by capitahz1ng A aF them saw what they considered de- fects in French life and made ready to furnish the supply, and, if neces- gary, create the demand.
 Most of them agree that easy money is not one of the natural re- sources of France but a few have proved that 1t is. A negro made 125,- 900 francs buying and selling army and navy supplies at Brest. His case is vouched for by weH-known American commercial executive.
 The most striking success reported is that of '"The Fox Trot Kings of Pa ;ris,' as they term themselves, Gerald Riley, who drove the Chicago Press . Club ambulance, and Harold Fitch of St. Paul, who was at the wheel of one of Mrs. ". K. VanderbiIt's ambu- 1ances and later went to the front.
 Riley and Fitch, the former said, got their start over here when the wife of an American banker in busi- ness here pressed 500 francs on us'' when they played in a three-man jazz band at a dance she gave. They organized a Wilson Welcome ball at a leading hotel when the President arrived in Paris and netted more than 10000 francs on the affair. This success. they said, they often dup1i- cated at '"The Dixie Club" dances they organized with an admission charge of 20 francs a person.
 Knowing that "good things" must not be overworked, the men took over the ice cream making equipm ent of the Y M. c. A., which has a ca pacity of a thousand gallons an hour and late in October began wholesal- ing Dixie Ice Cream cutting the market price fifty to hundred per- cent. They said they invested 1o0,- 900 francs in the venture.
 Some of the most interesting of the American business experiences here are those of men who married French girls. Three of these are farming east of Paris, making more money than they ever thought possible in the United States their business advisor said. One man married into a dairy shop. Another returned to his trade of tailoring in the same way. Scores of American boys are in business with their French fathers-in-law.
 Rebuilt" typewriters, familiar to Americans, have been introduced to the French by Lieutenant J. L. Mo Cam, of Tuscaloosa, Ala, and George E. Howard, of Pasadena, Cal. Their difficulty is too much business. With typical aggressiveness they are buying American used machines from French dealers to sell to other French deaI- CTS. Meantime, Howard said, they are preparing to open "The American Stenographic Bureau because, he said, an American business man is up a blind alley trying to find a public stenographer or to get out his cor respondence when an English Spoken variety can be located.
 Isadore Court who was paper hanger boldly set himself up in the decorating business. in a fashionable suburb.zs> 5S t;ss.
 Lieutenant Stevens L. Tyler, of Memphis began as an import and export broker but became a merchan- disc broker while awaiting better shipping facilities and more fami1i- arity with the mysteries of French trading.
 Harry L. Drucker, a newspaper photographer, returned to his trade, adding commercial work.
 Importing and exporting, accord ing to an American executive in that line, attracted scores of the men but most of them gave it up as bad job when they ran into the mess of in- tricacies, delays and financial diff nculties for the beginner.
 70 One man who wanted to bring in carloads of automobiles and bicycle tires turned defeat into success by opening a tire sale and repair shop. Another one with the same idea is awaiting arrival of real quick repair and steam vulcanizing plant to give Paris a taste of fast work. He said virtually all tube repairs here now are 1saade with cement patches instead of vulcanizing and take week instead of an hour
 Many men, an American officer still in service said. fare working temporary good things while seeking real openings. The favorite method is getting hold of army canteen goods and reselIing them to the French al several times cost Many men make as much as 200 francs week.
 Newspapermen seem to have land