La France

Business was slow the last year of the Civil War but Truckson La France of Elmira, N. Y. had an idea. He put on his best bowler and went to call on the rich Diven family. "I've perfected a rotary fire engine," he announced. "I want money to make it with." With a snort Old Man Diven gave him the money. Inventor La France made his first fire engine in an old brick house, sold it to Elmira. It was enough to scare the horses, but it had two lines of hose and only one weakness. The cams on the pumps wore down, refused to deliver the pressure. Firemen fixed that by pouring molasses over the cams. For years a jug of molasses was regular equipment on the old "La France."

Quick to adopt each new improvement in fire-fighting apparatus, the successors of Truckson La France branched into chemical fire wagons, doubled their business when fire trucks were motorized. They opened a plant in New Jersey to manufacture regular commercial trucks, had to abandon it when Mack Truck and others retaliated by invading the fire apparatus field. Just before Depression American-La France bought out Foamite-Childs Corp. of Utica, makers of "Foamite," a patented powder which mixes with water to produce a fire-fighting gas said to be superior to the old sulphuric acid, soda and water. As the biggest manufacturer of fire engines and apparatus in the U. S., American-La France & Foamite Corp. has for years supplied nearly every important municipality.

But Depression-ridden cities have stopped buying new fire engines. American-La France's 1933 sales sank to an unprecedented low of $2,400,000. about half of 1931 sales. Last week, American-La France's President Charles B. Rose filed a petition in Federal Court in Manhattan to reorganize under the Bankruptcy Act. He explained that although his corporation was still solvent, it could not meet obligations as they matured.

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