simply this: England is trying to keep out everything that competes with
anything that is made in England or that can be made in England!

For some time after the war began our motor cars went in free. Then
followed an ad-valorem duty of thirty-three and a third per cent.
Despite this handicap, agents were able to sell American machines, which
were both popular and serviceable. The tariff was imposed ostensibly to
cut down imports, but mainly to please the British motor manufacturers,
who claimed that the surrender of their factories to the government for
making munitions left the automobile market at the mercy of the American
product, which meant loss of goodwill.

Subsequently a complete embargo was placed on the entry of American
pleasure cars and the business practically came to a standstill. What is
the result? Let the agent of a well-known popular-priced American car
tell his story.

"Before the war and up to the time of the embargo," he said, "I was
selling a good many American automobiles. With the embargo on cars also
came a prohibition of spare parts. It was absolutely impossible to get
any into the country. Many of my customers wanted replacements, and,
when I could not furnish them, they abandoned the cars I sold them and
bought English-made machines whose parts could be replaced."

All through the motor business in England I found a strong disposition
on the part of the British manufacturer and dealer to create a market
for his own car as soon as the war is over. Some even talked of a large
output of low-priced machines to meet the competition of the familiar
car that put the automobile joke on the map. The only American comeback
to this growing prejudice is to build factories or assembling plants