The French Government recognized somewhat tardily the mistakes which it had committed, and, when Mr. Bedford came to Paris in the autumn to found the _Standard Franco-Américaine_, it allowed M. Jules Cambon to accept the presidency. To get round the eviction order which has been served upon them in the Near East and the French colonial empire, the United States adopted the ingenious method of founding a French company, which will have just as good a right as the _Société pour l'Exploitation des Pétroles_ to share in any concessions reserved to France. Abandoning the high-handed policy, which played the game of its opponents, the _Standard_, upon the advice of Walter Teagle, decided to employ the insinuating methods of the Anglo-Dutch trust. In France, the _Royal Dutch_ relied upon the _Banque de l'Union Parisienne_, the _Banque Bénard_, the _Banque Rothschild_, and also, it is said, the _Crédit Lyonnais_. The _Anglo-Persian_ had the support of the _Banque Transatlantique_ and the _Banque de la Seine_. The _Standard_ now allied itself with the _Banque de Paris_, the most powerful of the commercial banks in Europe. 51 per cent. of the capital of the _Standard Franco-Américaine_ (20 million francs) was subscribed by the _Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas_, and 49 per cent. by the American Trust. And in the constitution of the Board, the _Standard_ acted much more prudently than the _Royal Dutch_: five out of eight directors were French. Mr. Bedford, the actual head of the _Standard Oil_, went so far as to content himself with the vice-presidency, leaving the first place to a Frenchman. The establishment of the _Standard Franco-Américaine_ at this time was the more hazardous because M. Laurent Eynac, taking up the former Klotz-Bérenger program, was working for a definite State monopoly of the purchase and importation of oil. But the French market is of such importance to the _Standard Oil_ in its struggle with the _Royal Dutch_ that it preferred to take all the risks. "France," Mr. Bedford said, "on account of its geographical situation, is naturally a field for competition among all great companies." The _Standard_ desires to have its place there. It proposes to resuscitate the refining industry, which has almost passed out of existence, and set up great warehouses in the ports to receive the crude oil; and it would even go to the length of installing special reservoirs of petrol for supplying motor vehicles in the neighbourhood of the municipal toll-houses. Events have turned in its favour, for the idea of monopoly is to-day thoroughly discredited in France. M. Laurent Eynac was obliged hurriedly to withdraw his proposal owing to the commotion which it aroused. An extremely violent Press campaign broke out, and the political and diplomatic dangers of the San Remo Agreement became plain to every eye.