of the American trade papers. I have begun the study of Spanish
because I believe we are going to have our part in the Latin-American
trade." Here was a young Frenchman risking his life every moment in one
of the greatest battles the world has ever known: yet in the midst of
death he was looking forward to a new business life.

The whole attitude of the Frenchman toward life has undergone a change,
first under the stress of ruthless war, and under the spur of his
kindling desire for rehabilitation. Formerly, for example, the French
loathed to travel. When he knew he was going away on a journey, he spent
a month telling his relatives good-bye. Now he packs his bag and is off
in an hour to Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, or any other place where
business might dictate.

The new and efficient French industrial machine is not the only factor
that American business in France must reckon with after the war. The
French woman is fast becoming a force, thus setting up an altogether
unequal and almost unfair competition, because to shrewd wit and
resource is added the power of sex and beauty.

In France, as most people know, the woman exerts an enormous influence,
regardless of her social class. In all regulated bourgeois families the
wife holds the purse strings; in the small shops she keeps the cash and
runs things generally. No average Frenchman would think of embarking on
any sort of enterprise without first talking it over with his _femme_,
who is also his partner. This team work lies at the root of all French
thrift.

The woman of the lower class has met the grim emergency of war with
sacrifice and courage. Not only has she faced the loss of those most
dear with uncomplaining lips, but she has taken her man's place
everywhere. You can see her standing Amazon-like in leather apron
pouring molten metal in the shell factory; she drives you in a cab or a
taxi; she runs the train and takes the tickets in the Underground: in
short, she has become a whole new asset in the human wealth of the
nation and as such she will help to make up for the inevitable shortage
of men.

Her sister of the upper class, at once the most practical and most
feminine of her sex, is also doing her bit. She is the lovely thorn in
the path of the American business promoter in France.

Before the war, it was rare to find this type of woman competing with
men in outside business affairs, although her influence has always
counted immensely in official lif