The proposal to allocate a considerable quantity of the United
States gold reserve at Fort Knox for the purpose of stabilising European currencies is interesting less because of Mr. Bevin's recent proposal, not well received across the Atlantic, for utilising the Fort Knox reserve, than because of the views of a greater financial authority than the Foreign Minister would claim to be. A few weeks ago the Dutch weekly paper, The Haagsche Post, published a most interesting article in which an English writer, captured by the Germans, described a journey he had taken in a prison van in company with Dr. Schacht in the later days of the war to a concentration camp—I think Dachau. The two talked freely of every aspect of the war and of post-war prospects such as they might be. On the financial aspect the former President of the Reichsbank, as might be expected, held definite views. On one point he was particularly emphatic—that it would be essential for America to release a large part of her stored gold and use it as backing for European currencies, which could maintain their stability in no other way. American financiers seem now to have reached precisely the same conclusion.
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