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Show EXPDRW I 1 Britain Pays U. S. Interest to Disadvantage of Her Neighbor PARIS, Oct. 25. fBy the Assoclat-ed Assoclat-ed Press) The buying of dollars by Mritish banks with French francs In their possession Is said by French fl-naneiers fl-naneiers to be the principal cause of the present weakness of tho frane The I dollars were used by the Pritlsh to pav the Interest on their war debt to the 1'nited states. I Bankers and the financial authorities author-ities of the government appear undisturbed undis-turbed by the rise of the dollar and ithc pound It is rarely possible for one to put one's fingers on the actual Influences of exchange." said a high official of the Bank of France to the Assoclat-d Assoclat-d rr.-.s. Then attcmptlnp to cxpross (himself by uslnc an American colloquialism, collo-quialism, he said "But this time we can locate the j 'colored gentleman In the woodpile.'" "The British banks and tho British treasury, which have long been accumulating accu-mulating franc?, have use.l tham as WSa their right to do. to buy the dollars dol-lars they needed Instead of using pounds."' He continued I -The consequence was the payment i I of Uv blK sum of Interest to the Lnit- j led States has had no bad effect on, 'the pound. m the contrary L.ntisli exchange profited by the subsequent! depreciation of the franc." i . k;i: niPnKTS iv.st) The British banks, halng dbpos-ed dbpos-ed of their francs, cannot repeat such 'an operation earily again, it was point-rtd point-rtd out. There are otner factors In. Ithe situation, which also are regard-j ed as temporary, such as the large purchases of wool and cotton in the IKnlted Stales by French manufactur- ers. "They arc not alone temporary, but I 'they are immensely encouraged." said the head of economic research depart-; Iment of a leading French bank. "They ishow signs of revival of French in-, jdustry. The importations of such raw I : material means the exportation of the manufactured product" It has been reported In Fiance re- I Icently that this country has bought j largo quantities of copper in the United Unit-ed States. While the copper came from the United States, It was the property of Germans who have contracted for over 130,000,000 pounds on a credit operation. The value of such a large quantity al tho present ' rale of ex-change ex-change is said to be worth more than 100,0000,000,000 paper marks. s I 1 Ij TK AIM. 1)1 ITj The French iron and stewl induslry (according to Information gathered by I this research head, now Is the slowest I of all French Industries! ttit Is showing show-ing signs of a rapid recovery. "Speculation has hud little to do with tho present movemen'," said a .banker today. "Speculation simply followed tho movement which was ! started by the skilful British opera-; I tlons. Even tho .situation In Germany 'had more to do with It than specula-lion. specula-lion. Tho tribulations of the debtor j are always an embarrassment to lh.j principal creditor. If we count on the p r. ment of even part of theso sums. which aro owed us by Germany, the i i effect on our exchange would be considerable." con-siderable." oo |