What happened to the 40 million gold francs?

We know how, recently, twelve tons of gold left for England and the mystery that was created, at the Ministry of Finance, around this departure... However, two days later, Mr. Poincaré made up his mind to provide the explanation in a speech to the Senate.

This shipment, he said, constitutes England's share of the Russian Treasury which we had in deposit. He added:

England demanded that the share of gold due to it from this sum paid by Russia during the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk be delivered to it. The shipment of these eight million gold dollars was made yesterday at the same time as the appropriation of another eight million dollars was made to France.

Thus our coffers were enriched with a tidy sum and, what's more, in gold. We were delighted. This is an extra boost, we thought, which will increase our metallic balance and consequently the confidence that our franc inspires.

However, the latest balance sheet of the Banque de France does not show any trace of this new revenue. What happened to these forty million gold francs, which represent more than 160 million paper francs?

At the Ministry of Finance, we remain silent, from which Mr. François-Marsal's services have never left in this whole affair.

We can't say anything, they assured us. We add: The government is not forced to pay all the gold it possesses to the Bank of France.

Of course. But the government says to individuals: To defend the franc, pay your gold to the Bank of France. Why doesn't he set an example?

And if Mr. François-Marsal keeps eight million gold dollars in this precious way, what does he want to do with them?

We have the right to know this and even to settle the credit operations of the Morgan bank, the government does not have the right to create slush funds.