Word: franc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...with an ivory paper cutter, but there were few occasions to ring the huge brass bell reserved for bigger ructions. A nervous crowd, kept in hand by a line of police, moiled about the Place de la Concorde and over the bridge to the Palais Bourbon, shouting "Save the franc!" Inside, important speeches were going on but few paid attention. Over the backs of benches, from ear to ear a whisper rustled like the echo of a thousand leaves: When was Flandin coming? When would he speak...
...Government asks for power to throttle speculation and stop panic. Today is the time to act rather than to talk. Just at the time when world stabilization of moneys seemed possible, an attack has been launched on the franc...
Across the table from Baron Aloisi were immaculate Capt. Anthony Eden, white hope of the British Foreign Office, and swart Pierre Laval, Foreign Minister of France. Britain's Lord Privy Seal, normally the most suave of diplomats, had just recovered from a heart attack. Word had come from London that important Cabinet changes were imminent (see p. 19). With luck, within a fortnight, Captain Eden might find himself Foreign Minister of Great Britain. Minister Laval had scarcely had a good night's sleep for a month. The clatter of railway wheels rang ceaselessly in his ears...
...take part in the ceremony of relighting the Eternal Flame under the Arc de Triomphe. He was greeted with wild cheers. One passer-by refused to take his hat off. That started a fist fight. Nationalists in the crowd suddenly began to shout: "Put Weygand in Power! Weygand for France!" His admirers nearly tore for the clothes off the little soldier, forced police to hustle him to safety. It was a small but significant sample of France's current temper. Across the river in the Palais Bourbon porters were filling all the inkwells and placing a large brass dinner...
Within the past six weeks more than three billion francs in gold have left the underground bombproof vaults of the Bank of France for foreign countries, chiefly the U. S. If it could be stopped, there was no immediate worry because the bank still has about 80% gold coverage for its sight engagements. But could it be stopped? With exports limp and the franc dropping on foreign exchange, the Bank of France was last week forced to the extraordinary action of raising the discount rate twice within three days, first from 2.5% to 3%, then...