Champagne & Chassis

In 1778 Benjamin Franklin, sent to Paris by the Continental Congress, signed with France a Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The treaty not only boomed U. S.-French trade but enabled Franklin to wangle large loans from a hesitant French Finance Minister. Impressed with the possibilities of such treaties for his then tiny and unprosperous country, Franklin brought Sweden and Prussia in on similar pacts.

Last fortnight in Washington Secretary of State Cordell Hull invited Ambassador Andre Lefebvre de Laboulaye of France to his office. There they signed a document "done in duplicate, in the English and French languages, both authentic." The document was the first commercial treaty between the U. S. and France since 1778. It was also the 13th signed under the Trade Agreements Act of 1934.

The treaty, a year in the making, ended a ten-year squabble which at times threatened to lose its diplomatic politeness. The U. S. fixed-rate tariff made concessions to French goods impossible. Consequently France declined to give U. S. goods the benefit of her minimum tariffs. The French reduced their quotas on U. S. goods when Depression hit harder. U. S. dollar devaluation made matters worse. Last year France was the fourth largest U. S. market, whereas the U. S. was only the twelfth largest market for France. But even in 1910 U. S. exports to France were higher than in 1935, and as far back as 1901 France exported more goods to the U. S. than it did in 1935. What both governments earnestly hoped for was a speedy return to old times.

French Concessions-- To help hasten this return, France granted reductions in 19 rates. Duty on grapefruit and automobile chassis was halved. Reductions of smaller and varying percentages were made on sewing-machine heads, canned asparagus, spark plugs, dried prunes, fountain pens, raisins, cash registers and unsweetened pineapple juice (the French obtain their sweetened juice from French West Africa and Guadeloupe). A 75% reduction was made for canned pilchards (sardines), U. S. exports of which in late years have been too negligible for anyone to list. French quotas were enlarged on 44 U. S. products including fresh apples and pears, false teeth, leaf tobacco, canned salmon, logs & lumber, silk hosiery, automobiles, typewriters, radios, electric refrigerators, steam engines, circular saws, farm machinery. France promised to maintain the existing rates on such U. S. products as dried peaches, motion pictures, frozen salmon, etc.

Total value in 1935 of the products affected: $24,500,000, about one-fifth of U. S. exports to France.

U. S, Concessions. Because the U. S. has no quota system, except for human immigration, its side of the bargain was relatively simple on paper. Reductions were made on 71 French imports, among the most important being brandy, champagne, vermouth and still wines. U. S. drinkers will, after June 15,* pay 61-c- less for a bottle of champagne, 14-c- less for vermouth, 10-c- less for wine, 90-c- less for brandy.

Other reductions were on cigaret paper, corsets, canned mushrooms, lace, perfumes, vanilla beans, feather dusters, candied chestnuts, Roquefort cheese, jewelry. Last year $4,270 of the $4,275 worth of maraschino cherries imported by the U. S. came from France. On these Secretary Hull sliced the duty 21%.

Total value in 1935 of the products affected: approximately $19,000,000, one-third of French exports to the U. S.

Result. Unlike the trade treaty with Canada which evoked a frightful roar from U. S. producers (TIME, Nov. 25), the French treaty caused almost no stir at all. Few of the U. S. products on which France lowered the duty have serious competition from French agriculture and industry. U. S. producers of brandy, wines, perfumes, feather dusters and the like were not politically potent enough to make their small squawks heard in Washington. Last week both the U. S. and French publics seemed decidedly ready to exchange champagne for automobiles, Roquefort cheese for fountain pens.

Only one joker may interrupt this swap: If "any exceptionally large change" is made in the relative value of U. S. and French currency, either nation may call off the entire agreement within 30 days.

*Though the Treaty goes provisionally into effect on this date, it is not final until ratified by the French Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

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