Word: franc
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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...
...France's plight has reached the climatic stage. Premier Flandin's composite cabinet seems about to topple in the midst of its strenuous efforts to win a grant of dictatorial powers in order to continue a losing fight to maintain the present gold parity of the franc. Although the crisis may be staved off for the moment with the formation of a new cabinet granted the desired authority by the legislature, competent observers agree that "devaluation" must come in a very short time. Depleted reserves in the Bank of France, in addition to an increasing flight of capital...
...seekers after monetary stability, this sequence of events may at first seem calamitous. It is true, nevertheless, that general inflation would be a more satisfactory basis for international negotiation than the present hybrid status. Thus although devaluation of the franc may cause temporary panic in France, it need not be disastrous in its ultimate consequences. On the contrary, if it should make possible an adjustment of the existing economic warfare, it would be of tremendous value to the world in general and therefore to France itself...
Full six feet, four inches tall, Premier Flandin fairly towered over the Chamber of Deputies as he announced a step no other country in the world dare take. The stamping machines in the French mint had been started and were striking out gold "Louis," 100-franc gold pieces slightly smaller than a U. S. quarter. Not since the War has a Frenchman been able to poke a 100-franc bill at the Treasury cashier and get a "Louis."* All France tingled with pride as Premier Flandin categorically declared: "The coining is being hurried and gold coins will be put into...
More than this, the Premier would not say, but it was enough to frighten bear raiders who might have attacked the franc this week, after cleaning up on the belga (TIME, April 8). In Paris rumor had it that Premier Flandin will put gold "Louis" into the public's itching palm only when paying interest on French Government bonds. He might, Paris guessed, make the interest optional, say 3% paid in gold or 4½% in paper, whichever the bondholder elected...