Word: franc
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...franc sank to new low records for all time last week. At length it touched 29.82 francs to the dollar. This decline was considered particularly disheartening, since it proceeded from no immediate or striking cause. Statisticians opined that the franc is probably still some distance above the critical point of irretrievable decline. They recalled that the pre-War mark* took two years to fall from 48 to the dollar to 184, one year more to slump to 7,350, six more months to crash to 154,000, and a final five months to become invisible...
...Franc showed no favorable reaction to these developments last week; hovered about 29 francs to the dollar...
...first time in two years it could be said last week that the French budget balanced. It balanced ("on paper") with a surplus of 30 million francs. This surprisingly hopeful turn of events was brought about by fear. The Deputies of France saw the franc tumble down to 3.39½¢ at Manhattan, a world record for all time, and were at last stricken with the fear that if they refused again to vote adequate taxes, as they have refused for months (TIME, March 15, et ante), the franc might go the way of the pre-Dawes mark...
...Recovery. While the Deputies' ballots arrested the fall of the franc last week, they failed to give it an upward trend because: One. The "sales tax" passed the Chamber by a vote of only 227 to 103?that is, with 190 abstentions, thereby indicating that the Depu- ties are not sincerely behind it. Two. These "benevalent absten- tions" were due only in part to the fear which the Deputies felt for the franc. The Radicals, especially the Socialists, who abstained did so at a price: the reluctant inclusion by the Government in the budget bill as finally passed of clauses...
While the French franc trembles and fluctuates with every breath of political rumor, the Belgian franc has been stable at 4.54 cents since October of last year. Last week it crashed inexplicably to 4.01. Fiscal experts croaked that this was the most serious break in a European currency since the Dawes plan stabilized the German mark. At Brussels, Finance Minister Janssen was flayed by the Opposition for having allegedly withdrawn in part the support of the Government in "pegging" the franc. While the true cause of the break remained obscure, it was rumored that a slight devaluation of the franc...