FRENCH AND GERMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 94, 21 April 1924, Page 7

FRENCH AND GERMAN.

STEEL MAGNATES SHOULD COMBINE. BUSINESS MEN COULD SETTLE RUHR. HEAD OF FRENCH STEEL TRUST INTERVIEWED. (By DREW PEARSON.) PARIS (France). t„rT neh ??* Germai * steel manufacturers could establish a mutually profitable combine which would bring peace to the Ruhr were it not for the meddlesome interference of Governments. Ihis was the verdict given by Eugene Schneider, France's steel king, who conGerma enCh industr y M Stinnes docs Schneider was until recently chairman of the Comite dcs Forges, or Committee ot hteel Manufacturers. His plant at Le Cruesot is the oldest in France, and Has supplied her armies with munitions and ordnance since the days of Napoleon Moreover, the war left him with shipyards at Cherbourg, torpedo works at Havre, a cartridge factory at Bordeaux, an electrical machinery plant at Cham-pagne-sur-Seine; at one time a total of 182 plants were found to be under his control. Within a week after the armistice these factories were being converted to a peace-time basis, and the plant which had been turning out the famous French seventy-fives was making one locomotive per day. . | But post-war prosperity promised even greater possibilities, and Schneider pushed on to Central Europe, where he engaged in a tUanic contest with Hugo Stinnes for no less a prize than the industrial control of tho Continent. Schneider bought the control of one of the greatest steel corporations in Upper Silesia, and Stinnes practically annexed its rival. The same thing happened in Czecho-Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Rouman.a, Jugoslavia, Poland, and even in Turkey. As fast as the French i magnate obtained control of some big industrial plant his German competitor snapped up another. Probably only the two men themselves know the real extent of their holdings, but it can hardly be an exaggeration to jay that they represent a total of industrial equipment such as never before has been controlled by two individuals. The occupation of the Ruhr dealt a smashing -blow to German industry and started a widely-circulated story that Schneider had backed the occupation as a desperate means of crushing his German opponent. In the inner circles of big European business this is not credited. It is pointed out that Schneider resigned as chairman of the I Comite dcs Forges as soon as the French troops began to inarch, and it is declared that at that time Stinnes and Schneider had practically reached an agreement to suspend hostilities and effect a combination. - Now, keeping this in mind, come back to M. Eugene Schneider's.spacious Paris office, where, before an open fire, he answered my question, "Could not French and German steel men get together without Government interference and settle the trouble in the Ruhr?" "Yes," was his frank reply,-"I think they could have done so, and still may be able to do so. I have said that one Frenchmen should get together with one German and work out a business agreement by which there would be mutual profit. Without mutual profit, there could be no lasting agreement. If enough individual business men could get started working together in this way, we should gradually but assuredly obtain international co-operation. "The chief difficulty in the Ruhr has been that our Government has made the mistake of forcing an agreement ensemble. It has lined all the German businessmen on one side and marshalled the Frenchmen on the other, waved the flag over each side, and commanded: 'Come to terms.'" M. Schneider paused significantly and then concluded: "Business and politics don't go together like that." If M. Schneider meant what he said, it takes ,no seer to gather that Premier Poincare is acting without the complete sanction of at least part of the French steel ring. Poincare says the invasion of the Ruhr was necessary to secure coke for French steel plants; The biggest steel man in' France says v tfcat business co-operation beats Government interference. - ' Schneider fouyht Stinnes until he found that co-operation beat competition. When he quit, Poincare took up the fight. Remember that until he became Premier of France, Poincare acted as attorney for the Comite dcs Forges and took orders from Schneider. Now he goes one step further than his former chief. Schneider is a businessman; Poincare is a politician. ' In France to-day, apparently,: politics are stronger than business. "Business and politics don't go to : gether," repeated M. Schneider, as we sat before the open fire in his beautiful office. . — . x "How long will it take Poincare to learn that fact?" I asked in return. But the French steel magnate, as if I had questioned Jlis position as a loyal Frenchman, hastened to give this explanation: ~, . . "On the whole I am heartily in sympathy with • the Government's policy. But to agree with it you must understand the German mentality. Anyone who has had any contact with the Germans will bear mc out that the only argument they respect is force. Give them a concession and they regard it as a sign of weakness. As you Americans say: 'Give them an inch and they take a mile' Therefore, it has been necessary for us to take an exceedingly firm position toward the Germans, although our spirit was much more friendly... in a way this has been for their own interest They have seen that we meant business and have been more ready to come to "terms." '.' ''_••_.• "Can France and Germany ever live together ' the United States and Canada'do?" I interrupted. , "Canada and the United States were young countries," M. Schneider replied, thoughtfuUy. They started without prejudice and grew up together. "France and Germany have followed separate paths through many centuries. France has been invaded three times during a not very long period or years. We can be invaded again so easily. In the old days when a bomb hit one spot and killed only a few people, war meant little. To-day when airplanes can carry gasbombs over Paris in a_few hours, war is another matter. It is absolutely necessary that we be prepared. In my opinion, our force* are not as strong »" the 7 _ ho " ld __ ,e : . -. "You cannot understand that statemen, perhaps, because you do not understand our po.int of view. _________* »j

great dea ln thta matter of the point thoJK Schn «der continued, schoolf F r ay , f T my W * h ° j « « scJjool in EnglanH. A French boy if Ft ZT b J. a whi PP in ß. ™ld consider Ichool a ß d,^ ace he WO uld leave code nf » ■ceordwg-to the English code of lonour, the boy who had done cane and recently when it wae put to meni Cane " their form of V™&French fi"" the En S ,i « h an d but p? % 8 eaCh haVe a detent code, S? view- 1S CWreCt fr ° m his own P oi "t