Evening star., 1922-10-25
FRANCS FALL DUE
T0BR|T|SH SCHEME
England Pays U. S. Interest
With French Money. Pro-
7 tecting Pound.
BY the Associated rress

By the Associated Fress
PARIS. October 25-The buying of
dollars by British banks with French
francs in their possession is said by
French financiers to be the principal
cause Of the present weakness of the
franc The dollars were used by the
British % pay the i:.rerest on their
war del TO the United States.
Bankers and government financial
authorities appear undisturhed by the
rise of the dollar and the pound.
at is rarely possible to put ones
finger on the actual circumstances
cial of the Bank Of France to the AS
sociated Press today. Then, attempt
ing TO express himself by using an
American colloQulul:sm, he said: But
tn tim We II locate the 'colored
gentleman in the woodpile.
- - .,.~.. - -" - IL I'r! is"
treasury which long aave been ac-
CInlulatiuC t'renCh francs haze ustd
the. aS WAS thg.r r. ut, L s.E the
dollars they needed. iuStcat. e ISing
pUuil,s he con, nued. The cUusc-
qu"ncc was that thv payment OF tae
BIZ, I'm Of Interest 10 the United
States had no bad erect on the
p"Gnd. DH the contrary. British eN-
change proflted by the subsequent
0epi cciat tl"t s4 the frame.
Cannot Repeat Operations.
The British banks. having disposed
an opera a-ion easily again, it was
pointed ut. There are other factors
In the situation which also are re-
garded as temporary, such as the
large purchases of wool and cotton
in The United States by French man
ufacturerS
They are not alone temporary. but
they are immensely encUurd gin <.
said the head of The economic re-
scare d.-'.art: c"- 4 '-:tji.rc
French bank They show signs of
reNs.... - r.c!3cn ..-uua,-S I...t.s'- u
tionS OF Such raw material means
the expectation of the manuiact tIred
product"
1t has been reported in France re-
Gently that this country has .,ous.:t
large quantities of copper in the
United States. While the copper came
from the United States. it was the
property of Germans. vino had con-
tracted for over 120.000.o00 pounds
on a credit operation. The value OF
such It large quantity at the present
rate of exchange is said to be worth
more than lu0.O00.UvU.0u0 paper marks.
Industry Slow to Recover.
The French iron and steel industry,
according to information gathered
by tins research head, now is the
slowest of all French industries, but
is showing signs of u rapid recovery.
Speculation has had little to do
with the present movement" said an
important banker today. "Specula-
tion simply followed the movement,
which was started by the Skillful
British operations. Even the Situa-
tion Ia Germany had more to do with
it than speculation. The tribulations
barrassnent to the principal creditor.
If We could count on the payment of
even half of those sums which are
owed us by Germany the effect on
our exchange would be conSide rable."
France Is taking precautions to as
sure deliveries of wheat needed to
supply the deficit of this years crop.
which. according to the present rate
of exchange, Will need about a billion
francs.
Another factor, in some quarters
said to have influenced exchange. is
the report by Deputy Maurice Boka-
novski on the deficit in the French
budget The report shows that the
total Indebtedness of France in 1925
will be about $4,000 0Oo 900 francs
which Will have annual interest
charge OF 10000 900 900 francs Bank
ers say, however. that there is moth
ing in the report that was not al
ready known in financial circles.