Undoubtedly in the coming years France will make extraordinary strides in industrial progress. She is planning--indeed has already under way, many projects of manufacture, transportation, housing, labor-conservation and municipal life; projects of deep interest and importance to every American business man and citizen. It may be our special privilege to be taken behind the scenes of this tremendous expansion, see some of the beginnings and, if we are fortunate, to make such contribution as France may desire from the good will, experience and certain peculiar knowledge we can offer for her use in any way that may enable her to attain the end she seeks. In this commission we represent something more than a body of men who have been selected because of special distinction in fields of their own. Each commissioner touches large circles of interest and capacity. If the opportunity comes to us to indicate to French business up-builders how to come into sympathetic working relations with the enterprise and progressive affairs of our own country, we shall achieve the high purpose of our Commission. (Signed) W. W. NICHOLS, Chairman of the Commission. * * * Before leaving New York a handsome booklet had been prepared and printed. The brochure contained the names of the commissioners, their public records, halftone portraits and a carefully prepared statement of the objects of the expedition. Twenty-five hundred copies were printed and were to be delivered on board the Lafayette by the printer. After sailing, it was discovered by a thorough search that the much needed booklets were not on board. These documents were for distribution after our arrival in France and were sorely missed. Subsequently the booklet was produced in Paris, but in somewhat different form, and it was near the end of the journey before the duplicate copies were ready for distribution. The loss of the American made edition was a serious handicap. A word or two about the personnel of the Commission. Mr. Nichols, the chairman, is a man about sixty with a grave, clerical appearance, formerly a professor or teacher and at one time superintendent of the Chicago Telephone Company. A man of various business experiences, at present connected with the Allis Chalmers Company in its New York office. He is excessively cautious and delivered a daily lecture on neutrality, fearing evidently that some of the members might break away from his idea of being strictly neutral and thus thwart or defeat the objects of the Commission. Mr. Nichols is thoroughly honest and conscientious; he had the success of the venture very much at heart and labored from his viewpoint to that end, priding himself in his broken French. Mr. John R. MacArthur was a member of the Philippine Commission, is a fine French scholar, a ready conversationalist in both English and French, and has a keen sense of humor. He was a constant help to the non-French speaking members of the Commission.