France Asks U. S. Secrets.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 14, 1913:
Wants War Department to Help Perfect Her Smokeless Powder.
    WASHINGTON, July 13— War Department officials have been placed in an embarrassing position, it became known to-day, by a request from agents of the French Government for assistance from the department's Ordnance Bureau in perfecting the smokeless powder now used by the French Army and Navy. A series of unexplained disastrous explosions in the French magazines aboard ship and ashore is said to have led to this request, which is unusual in view of the efforts made by most nations to protect the secret of their powder preparations.
    The War Department buys all of its powder under contract from an American company, and this corporation has protested vigorously against the disclosure of its trade secrets to a foreign Government, asserting that from patriotic motives it had previously rejected overtures from this foreign Government to sell it powder or to establish a powder factory in France.