The British and American representatives retired to ponder this rejoinder. It seemed to have merit; yet the fact remained that somehow or other France was evidently going to emerge from the tank discussion with the Châteauroux plant in her possession. The delegates returned and argued with such force that the French Government agreed to pay 20,000,000 francs in settlement, taking over the Châteauroux plant.[14] Since the salvage value of this plant was estimated at 5,000,000 francs, the sum of 15,000,000 francs was considered as the indemnity paid by France. England then asked for five-sixths of the total payment, but the American argument scaled this down to 70 per cent. America thus received 6,000,000 francs out of the settlement. The bargaining Yankees, however, were yet to have the final word in the tank deal. With the settlement complete, sealed and delivered, the British had on their hands 105 sets of tank parts with only junk value, although it had cost the British £5,000 a set to manufacture them. The Americans offered £1,000 a set for these parts, and the British snapped at the offer. This fine bargain enabled us later, at low cost, to assemble these parts with the American-built components and thus place in the war reserves 100 of the largest and most formidable tanks ever built. Another, a minor, tank transaction should be noted. The British Army had supplied, during the action, sixty-four tanks of various sorts to the 301st Tank Battalion of the A. E. F. Fifty of these, some of them more or less damaged, had been returned to the British after the armistice, and the remaining fourteen were shipped to the United States. For the purchase of the fourteen and for the war use of the other fifty, the Liquidation Commission agreed to pay the British Government the sum of £189,233 2s 11d. Outside the claims for payment for materials actually delivered, the British pressed upon the Liquidation Commission collateral claims of several sorts. One of these was for interest upon money invested by the British in stocks of goods destined for American consumption. Our people protested successfully against paying interest upon such investments, but admitted the point that we should pay interest after the goods had been delivered and we had been billed, allowing a reasonable interest-free period for vouchering and checking. Investigation showed that both armies had been dilatory in paying their bills to each other, and that the average time of delaying payment had been five months and a quarter. The British bills against America exceeded the American bills against England by some £51,000,000. One month and a half was allowed as a reasonable interest-free period after billing. Accordingly the commission agreed to pay 5-per-cent interest on the British billing excess, a sum which amounted to £797,854 11s 2d, and this America paid.[15]