M. E. Garden, Secretaire Francais.
[Illustration: Photograph of Commissioners Taken on Train Leaving Paris for Limoges.]
This roster is taken from the previously mentioned booklet, "The Commission Industrielle Americaine en France." The object of the Commission is carefully set forth in the opening, in French, and for the benefit of readers who speak English only, a translation follows:
The American Industrial Commission in France, organized under the auspices of the American Manufacturers' Export Association, with the cordial approval of France and of the United States, principally for a sympathetic study of industrial and commercial conditions in France.
At the time of the visit to America by the French Commercial Commission in the winter of 1915-1916, the idea was proposed to different American industrial and commercial associations, to organize a similar mission for the purpose of returning this visit to France.
This idea was taken up by the American Manufacturers' Export Association, which, incorporated in 1911, numbers among its membership more than five hundred organizations of great importance in the American industrial world. This organization is co-operative in character, with the general idea of developing and maintaining commercial relations between the United States and foreign countries.
The importance of the proposed mission becomes more apparent through a detailed analysis of its program, which comprises a study of the most practical means of utilizing the resources and experience of America for the reconstruction which France desires to make of its communities and of its industries, during and after the war.
The Association has succeeded in organizing a commission made up of men well qualified to render the service desired.
The American Industrial Commission in France will strive to establish an active co-operation with its French associates, with a view of developing the commercial and industrial relation already existing between the two nations and to make them more cordial and more satisfactory on both sides.
The Association hopes to succeed through the work of the Commission in contributing in some measure to this happy result, and at the same time strengthen the friendship and sympathy which has existed between these two nations for more than a century.