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Show Mountain of Cold Nearly Billion Dollars of foetal at Martinique ' on this gold, even under the orli Insl armistice tirms. Tha gnl becoming an auxiliary forra of ny other power, a ort of French foreign rgin at tha service of another nation, they nay The gold, t was told, has heel one of Ihe essential factors tn Marshal Petain's recent re sit ince to excessive German de mm ids. I'. ! I. In Concerned The United States, It Is under. stod, has expressed Its concern thai the gold might be shipped to South America for the pur cha je of war materials or for propaganda purposes,! or back to Europe, and thus aid Germany In her fight. When the Amerlcar delegation led by Admiral John W. tireen-slnile tireen-slnile visited Martinique on No ven ber 1 to discuss! all Marti niqne problems, Oreenslslrle was t-k n to Fort De Saiw and shown the gold. Since theij American representatives havel been al lowd to make periodic checks to be nire the French are living up to i heir word not to! send that gol away. The American naval pati ol keeps its eye open for any one trying 4o get It. Tie gold is likely to atay In Martinique till some final settle, mer t Is made with France per hapi until the end of the war. Its presence probably accounts for the reinforced measures of defi nse taken on the island la reel it weeks. Couldn't Rat Gold S tting on this fortune which Is almnst all that France ran still call Its own money, Martinique aim ist starved in the first few months after the armistice. Tha Brilish blockaded the. island for a month, and then ithe United Stales put on an unofficial blockade, block-ade, The U. S. treasury, by freezing freez-ing some millions of French dollar dol-lar credits in American banks presented food and supplies from beirg bought for Martinique aa wel as France. I F nally a general agreement eon -erning the airp anes, gold and warships in the French West Inrics was reached with tha Vnl ed States. The agreement was reached Just In time, for the Hirst load of Amrlcan flour arrived In Martini Mar-tini )ue four days after bread had run out. A few minor fights and demonstrations, which might easily have developed Into riots, marked those four days when the -e was no bread, j y ore tomorrow. iftlltnr's Note i Peter C. Rhodes, . nlted I'reM veteran nf the Nor--Sinn campaign, has spent the lt two months on Ihe French Island nf Martinique making an exhaustive survey nf conditions there Its people. Its defenses and lis po.slhle future. Following la the first nf several dispatches about what ha found. Sy rrTKR C. RHODES NEW YORK (UP) Martinique t sday, short on food, clothing and ether necessities because French dredlta In the United States are frozen. Is sitting on a "mountain qf gold" $945,232,344 worth. That gold represents a large Mice of the Bank of France gold rjrserves. The French government, govern-ment, anxious to keep It out of Qerman hands during the military mili-tary collapse, sent the gold first tr Camida, and then to Martinique. Mar-tinique. It Is locked away In the fort de Sal.x at Fort de France, Martinique, guarded by all the available power the French have been able to muster. I United States observers regard the gold as a source of danger, because any of the present belligerents bel-ligerents might regard it as mora valuable than a military victory, 'he French are determined to prevent It from falling into foreign for-eign hands. Told of Peace Deal j The gold had a wild odyssey before be-fore coming to rest in Martinique. It was loaded aboard the fast cruiser Emile Berlin at Brest on June 12. As the French armies cracked on the Somme, Commander Com-mander Robert Batet was ordered or-dered to dash to Halifax and turn i( over to French and Canadian Authorities there. He arrived June 18. As he entered the port he received aecret code instructions instruc-tions advising him that Marshal Honrl Petaln had alreaVty begun negotiations for an armistice iith. the German army. He was ordered to Martinique before the Armistice was signed and the gold arized. Canadian authorities came aboard to tell Batet that a spe- tal train, guarded by troops, as waiting on the dock to take tbc gold to Montreal. Batet stalled for nearly two days, finally he Is reported to have threatened to shoot his way out Of the harbor. He got away five days before the armistice was signed. Eluding British warships war-ships which followed him that 3ight. the Berlin docked in Fort e France on June 22. On June 34 the armistice was signed but the gold was stored away under Tort de Saix's guns. 14,000 Sacks of Gold 1 The Bertain brought 14.000 sacks of gold coins and bullion, each weighing exactly 60 kilos. All were marked with the stamp of the Le Puy branch of the Bank Of France, where France's gold reserve had been stored at the dut break of war. 1 That gold, the men in charge Of It say, is almost as important tjo France aa the French fleet 4nd the French colonies. If It Had fallen to British hands In Jlalifax. they say, it might have one into war purchases without lhirther accounting to France. If il were shipped piecemeal on freighters to North Africa either the British blockade patrol or Qerman raiders might seize the ships. Reports went out that the (tuba, carrying 1500 demobilized jnldiers and sailors to Casablanca itlso carried part of the gold. The British seized the ship and broughUt to Freetown, Sierra Leone. T The French In Martinique insisted in-sisted that Germany had no lien 1 |
