Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Tamás Magyarics: The (Re) creation of the Relations between the US and the Successor States in Central Europe after the First World War

ceived three million dollars by several American firms with liessman and Co. being the most important contributor.

4

8 In accordance with the general tendency of American firms to prefer new industries, it is worth mentioning that Eastman Kodak Co. played an active role in the Hungarian film industry through its European subsidiary.

49 Nevertheless, the problem was that "among the European countries only the Balkan states displayed a higher perecentage of the population engaged in agriculture (80 %) than did Hungary (55.7 % in 1920) The distribution of the foreign capital was everything but useful and logical. Of the sums received "50 % went into federal and communal investments, made without reference to productivity in a technical sense, and 40 % went to agriculture, where a large proportion was absorbed simply in the division of property rights."

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1 RUMANIA Rumania was the country in East-Central Europe, with which the U.S. had most of the problems even within the limited scope of their relations in the 1920s. The sources of troubles stemmed from the fact that the relationships between the two countries were almost exclusively based on one aspect of economic life, and it was oil producing. In 1929, the ten topranking oil producing countries in the world were the U.S., Venezuela, the U.S.S.R., Mexico, Iran, the Dutch East Indies, Rumania, Columbia, Peru, and Argentina. The U.S. oil-producers were present in each of these countries with the exceptions of the Soviet Union and Iran. It is obvious from the list, the only country in Europe, besides the Soviet Union, was 4

8 Cf. ibid., 225 and Dunn, op. tit., 151—2. 4

9 Frank A. Southard, Jr., American Industry in Europe (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Comp., 1931) 145. ^ Iván T, Berend and György Ránki, Hungary. A Century of Economic Development (New York: David and Charles: Newton Abbott, Barnes and Noble Books, 1974) 150. 5

1 Howard S. Ellis, Exchange Control in Central Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1941) 74. 88