Word: franc
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Issues. Only two real problems faced every Frenchman last week: 1) How to keep out of war; 2) What to do about the franc. About these two great issues most candidates were carefully vague. Bushy-lipped Deputy Henry Franklin-Bouillon, famed for his longtime insistence that the Treaty of Versailles was "not harsh enough," opened his campaign with the snort against such pussyfooting...
...Communists started the confusion off by publishing a pamphlet patriotically bound in red, white & blue, in which the gold franc was vigorously defended. Their daily Humanite blazed away in daily editorials at "the nefarious attack on the franc," in much the same manner as arch-republican newspapers in the U. S. used to denounce President Roosevelt's dollar devaluation...
Because the U. S. dollar has been cut 40% while the Swiss franc has not, $2,000,000 given by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to build the League library has shrunk in Swiss purchasing power to $1,200,000. Last week Leaguophiles wailed, "If Mr. Rockefeller does not make up the difference, our library really may never be finished...
Cried Governor Tannery last week: "The feel of gold is what our good people of France need to restore confidence and halt hoarding. The feel of gold coins! The minting of these has been authorized by Parliament and they should be placed in circulation. . . . France's future depends upon confidence. In 1935 our gold reserves declined from 82 billions of francs to 66 billions of francs but this did not result from intrinsic weakness of the franc. It resulted from speculative at tacks, investment of capital abroad - as when our citizens seized upon the recent rise in Wall Street...
...silver acquired by the Treasury since 1934. And there was a fresh cry for spending the so-called "gold profit," now safely locked up in the $2,000,000,000 Stabilization Fund. Meantime the 59? dollar sank for three weeks straight in international exchange. Last week both the French franc and Dutch guilder were near the gold export point. Metal shipments to Europe were expected to start shortly, reversing a flow which, with one minor interruption, has gone on since the dollar was devalued just two years ago last week...