The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-04-27
French Export Plan
 Boon To U. 5. Industry
Trade Commissioner at Paris to Report in Hartford on
 SzOO, ,OOO, ,OOO Development Program

Hartford, Conn, April 27--Accord- ingSto advance information received in the Hartford office of the. United Statess department of *cornmerce from Thomas L. Butts, American trade commissioner at Paris. France enormous sales opportunities for American Ynanufactufers. and par ticulariy for industrial equipment manufacturers in Connecticut. will he found In the development of a $2O0, 100000 national industrial plan known as "Outillage National" to be put into effect by the French government and also in the fact that the worldwide economic de- pression has not affected France and her colonies as much as the rest of
 Trade Commissioner Butts Is scheduled to arrive in Hartford to- morrow to interview Connecticut manufacturers of machinery, hard ware. and electrical equipment, in the sales promotion of which prod- ucts he has specialized, regarding the many phases of export tech- nique that are peculiar. to the French market, He will make his headquarters in the commerce de- partment,s. Hartford office at 50 Lewis street. <
 Actuated by the desire for na- tional self -sufIiciency France )s considering the expenditure of at least $200.000.000 in the immediate future as the first step in q more complete development of hei.-natural resources. Mir Butts states. Just how much money and time the complete project will necessitate is not yet known, but the plans are rapidly maturing which look toward the construction of highways, harbors, canals, hydro-electric plans. electri- fication of railroads. and a more in- tensive exploitation of minerals, especially coal, which France at present must import in considerable quantities. In order to guarantee continued activity in various indus tries which the worldwide depres- sion has affected only within the past four or i've months this pro- jects in all likelihood will be started shortly. fS
 with which the French are working extent to which. the country has been ''electrified. Tn 1913, only 46 per cent of the 27.0O0 communes 1the smallest administrative unitsJ of the country had been supplied with electricity. At, the, present rate of construction 9b per cent of the rural districts will be electrified. The same energy toward self sufii- ciency is manifest in other industrial activities of the country @t
 One of the important projects of the French government Is the plan. which calls for completion in 1885, of the construction of 100000 low priced dwellings, and 60.0 900 low priced apartments, under govern. ment subsidy, Mir Butts states.
 In the matter of steel mill equip- Ynent large opportunities will be opened to United States manufac- turers because up to now only very few French plants have been mod ernized. In the steel industry French thrift in utilizing equipment beyond the point where obgoiescence would normally require replacement stands the industry in good stead. Unlike Belgium and particularly, Germany, her largest competitors In the steel trade, France has not dissipated re- serves and resorted to Borrowing for the purpose of building modern efiicient steel mills. Her plants on the other hand have. been annortized excellent competitive position be- cause her steel industry does not carry theaburden of high overhead cost. FuTthermore, unlike the most modern furnace and steel mill equipment, which is designated to operate at high capacity, her plants. by virtue of their very age can be partially, operated at a time when production must Do restricted. Fu- fure plans, however, call for the snodefnizing of plant. For instance. nne of the largest steel prod dueerp Is about to expend approximately