"
On top of their resentment over our lack of confidence in their credit
is the added feeling which has cropped up since the beginning of the war
over the way American manufacturers have ignored many of their French
contracts. A French manufacturer summed it up in this way:
"There is no doubt that some American manufacturers who had signed
contracts for the delivery of machinery in France, deliberately sold
these machines at home at higher prices. It has created a very bad
impression and I am afraid that henceforth your salesmen will find it
much harder to operate in my country.
"The trouble is that Americans have been spoiled by too many orders.
Before the war they were all crying out for business. Now that they have
everything their own way, they have become independent and arrogant.
With the ending of the war, all this will change, for the French are not
likely to forget some of the bitter lessons they have learned.
Henceforth they will profit by them."
One reason for our laxity all up and down the French business line is
that the American has never taken the French export business any too
seriously. On the other hand, stern necessity has been the driving force
behind the English and German manufacturer. The American, too, has made
the great mistake of assuming that the foreigner, and especially the
Frenchman, is not always serious-minded and to be depended upon. If he
wants his mind disabused in this matter, let me suggest that he see him
at war.
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