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416 <^ ^> ^> The Motion Picture Industry
any plan involving the import duty, no matter how stiff a duty might be accepted, might well rest in the precedent of subsidizing an industry from import revenue and in the difficulty of determining a satisfactory distribution of such a subsidy in the trade. The indirect subsidy effected by the quota plan presented fewer difficulties in administration and in many ways permitted a greater control by the government of the operation of the industry. It was the belief of the officials of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Incorporated, that the French government would never grant a subsidy to the native motion picture industry. Although there were exceptions, such as Austria and Hungary, the governments of European countries as a rule felt financially unable to provide a subsidy and were unwilling to do for one industry what could not be done for other industries.
The willingness of the French producer to accept a plan which did not involve reciprocal distribution of French films in the United States indicated the importance to the French producer of assistance in raising capital regardless of the source, together with a recognition of the difficulties in the production of feature pictures which could compete effectively with American product in the United States. Any future plan of protection, therefore, would be satisfactory to the French producer in the degree to which, through the sale of permits and more facile distribution in the home market, it provided him with capital. There were those, however, who were of the opinion that the failure of certain producing interests in France to obtain capital was the result of their unsatisfactory ventures in the past rather than because of any shortage of capital for worthwhile productions.
During the 1929 negotiations the interests of the French distributors and exhibitors were apparently not wholly in agreement. Distributors were interested mainly in protection through limitation of the number of films imported, thus restricting the competition with domestic product. The