The Omaha guide., 1940-04-06

NEW YORK. - Paul Reynaud.
~ who was asked to form a new
French cabinet, and successor to
Premier Daladier. put through the
n French Brit
British-French and economic
Monetary Union accord OF last
and, even before the start Of the
war was an advocate Of a close
financial union between the two
countries as the first bulwark of
their joint defense. For several
years, he has been studying Eng
lish finance and history. insisting
that both nations must abandon their
old plan of remaining apart in the
matter Of monetary and economic
relationships.
He is a lawyer, financier and
economist, minister of finance
since October, 1888. In the
chamber of deputies, he repre-
sents a big business" section
of Paris and has commended Wig
orously against governmental
meddling in business" In 1885
and 1896 he made a courageous
fight for the devaluation of the
franc, an issue which Is always
loaded in France and always
sidestepped by ore cautious
politicians. His business sagaci-
ty was demonstrated In the sum-
mer of 1929, when he warned all
and sundry that q big smash
was coming, and withdrew all
of his securities from the mar
ket.
He is as direct, decisive and fiery
as Daladier is ponderous and medi-
tative, and for many years has been
making prophecies more gloomy
than cassandra's foredoom of Troy,
as he urged France to prepare for
the worst. He parts his hair in ne
middle. strings with the Alliance
Democratique, a center group, and
has never been classified as either
right or left. He is said to be too
intelligent to be liked" and does
not seem to mind. He is small and
alert. only slightly gray at go. care
fully groomed and the master 81 a
verbal short jab which seldom in
vites a return engagement for any
one inclined to mix with him.
He was a holdont on Lavars deal
to give Mussolini a green light in
Ethiopia and in this CONGESTION
warned France that it had better
be looking to its empire. Ir poll.
tics since 1919, in the chamber since
1928. he was previously mjhister OF
finance in Tardieu's cabinet. He
comes of a family high ip the noun
tains of Barcelonnettei Of a clan
which has extensive holdings In sew
eral foreign countries, including
Mexico.
BUILDING more stately mansions
- for his soul. Fritz Mandl. the
Austrian munitioneer, runner-up for
Zaharoff. was interrupted by Adolf
NetD Arms Plants Naw 49,
Are Being Built municipal
BY Fritz Mandl court. an Aus
TRAN archi-
tect sues Mr.. Mandl for payment.
for designs for a new wing on his
Alpine castle. when he was married
to Hedy Lamar. the screen star,
now the wife of Gene Markey, Holly
wood producer. The castle and the
plans we're a war casualty, but Mr..
Mandl is sitting pretty in Argentina,
the hidalgo of a great estate, and
getting a fast running start with
new steel and munitions plants in
the land of the pampas.
He fooled Hitler. His great
arms plants, including the fIirt-
enberg plant. were suppesed to
be worth about $50, 000, 900. That
was a nice, fat grouse for the
Nazi nimr0d, but when Der
Fuehrer moved In, he found the
great plants just a hollow shell,
the securities long since liqui-
dated and Mr.. Mandi at a safe
nose-thumbing distance with his
former fortune remaining more
or less intact.
Now 40 years old. round-faced and
merry, he was a playboy in his
youth. but stayed on the job in his
later years. The munitions works
were a family holding, founded by
his grandfather, Sigmund. and ex-
banded by his father. Alexander. He
an associate of the fallen
Prince Ernst Ruediger Won STAR
hemberg in the Vienna putsch OF
l934-not at all interested in politi-
cal ideologies. and smarter than the
in both making a getaway
from Hitler and from Germany as
well as being able to save his for
tune.
MOT a refugee fortune, but the.
~ makings of a new one appears
in the operations of Arnold Bern
stein. who also found a hole in the
Nazi line. A freighter Of the Ameri-
canized Arnold Bernstein shipping
burns at Baltimore. but it was
insured and his newly recruited
ships are running cargos to Europe
and his feet is expanding. He came
here last October. from a Nazi jail.
where a tangle over the mysterious
blocked marks had landed him. AT
81. a tall. pale, thoughtful man, he
gets a new start.