The Americans then began to understand that an attempt was being made to eliminate them from the French market. What was the Government at Washington going to do about it ? Without anger, it again tried conciliatory measures.
On 26th June, the Constituent Assembly of the Inter national Chamber of Commerce met at Paris. A hundred and forty delegates from the American Chambers of Com merce met their French, British, Belgian and Italian colleagues. Mr. Thomas A. O'Donnell, President of the American Petroleum Institute, presented his country's official thesis. It has already been seen that the British and French delegations set it aside.
value of the florin (fr. 4.79 instead of fr. 2.31 at the end of November, 1918).
It would be absurd to believe that one of these great trusts is more disinterested than the other.
As far as we are concerned, we have no need to take sides in this quarrel. We believe simply that, since there is rivalry between the two groups, the obvious interest of France is to leave the field open for their competition, so as to have oil cheaply and in abundance then when our immediate needs are thus provided for, we should profit by it to create an independent oil industry in France as quickly as possible.
However, after laborious discussions at Hythe, Boulogne, and other places, the Allied Governments succeeded in reaching an agreement as to their respective shares in the German indemnity. This done, it was only necessary to
fix the amount of the annual payments to be made by the conquered nation, then to arrange a great international loan, which, by capitalising these annuities, would allow each of the beneficiaries—and France in particular—to collect at once the millions necessary for its work of recon struction. But for this the co-operation of American capital was essential.
Did the United States allow it to be understood that owing to the condition of their money market, embarrassed by the loan to the Allies of 3,00o million sterling, during and since the War, it was impossible for them to participate at that moment in an operation of this magnitude ? Prob ably. The fact is that the great International Conference specially convened for this object at Brussels was adjourned site die.' After this, no doubt it seemed to our diplomatists that there was nothing more to trouble about. On 25th July, the official text of the San Remo Agreement was published by Le Temps. . . .
The die was cast. All the oil reserves of France, whether in her colonies or abroad, were handed over to Britain.