Evening star., 1920-06-20

can goods and wants to trade direct.
but the extremely
Exchanoe Kafa unfavorable rate of
=, exchange has been
against direct importations of Amer
lean goods, as French purchases of
American merchandise are quoted In
dollars and the French Importer is
obliged te bay heavy premium In
exchange for his francs in dollars
The great increase In wages has ex
panded the purchasing power of the
labering classes, resulting In an In
creased demand for large supply of
a wide variety of articles. while the
supply still remains below normal.
Many American products are to be
found in the stores Of the principal
cities In France, Consul W. ".
Brunswick at La Rochelle reports.
all kinds of canned goods, soaps, sta
tionery and novelties, alarm clocks,
shoes and underwear find a ready
sale.
Apart from the stores dealing In
American goods, the large supplies of
government by the American .expedi
tienary forces are now being sold d.
rect to the people In limited quanti-
ties by the French military authori-
ties and also through the co-opera-
tive military and the cooperative func-
tlonary stores,
AA
Consul Brunswick has furnished
numerous La Rochelle firms with
addresses Of business
Addresses houses IN the. United
States. and Inquiries at
o1Ven. the consulate show that
a large demand has been created for
all kinds Of American wares in that
district. III this demand Is to be a
permanent one" he advises American
business interests. ut will be neces.
sary for manufacturers to follow UP
the market by seeing that merchants
are well supplied with goods
Similarly encouraging reports have
been made on the market for American
goods in the Limoges district by Vice
Consul R. H. Williams. That consulate
covers widely scattered district,
comprising many cities. towns and viii
lagos situated in nine departments or
political divisions of France, produc-
ing very large variety Of articles,
both manufactured and agricultural
Prior to 1919 there had been prac-
tically no direct importations from
the United States into the Limoges
district. although a large amount of
American goods were sold in that
market. The dealers bought such
wares as needed from importing
houses or agencies located in Paris
or in some of the more important sea-
port cities. They gave as reasons fo1
this course:
I)-The American credit system. t.
which they objected, as it required
them to put UP their money in dollar.
in advance.
(2)-The fact that they found IL
easier to arrange disputes with
house located in France than with
one located in the United States.
(3)-The fact that in many cases
the individual dealer would not i'm.
rant his own importing, while he die
not wish to pool his iscues with other
dealers similarly situated so as t.
import enough for all of them and
then divide among themselves ac-
cording to their individual needs.
During 1919, however, there were
signs of an approaching change
in this indisposition of
A Chance Limoges dealers toward
importing directly, and
AN~ss"' a number of them mani
tested willingness to receive and
consider American propositions with
view to direct importations, a con-
dition resulting largely from the in
creased necessity for raw materials
and the difficulties Of obtaining them,
In this connection good work has
been done by local agents, Vice Con-
sui Williams says. These agents had
previously confined their activities tc
internal trade. but recently they were
interested by the American con-
sulate in an effort to promote direct