Dollars

Within an hour after Fighting Frenchman Georges Catroux arrived in Algiers last week (see col. 1), the Giraud Government announced the dismissal of Jacques Lemaigre-Dubreuil, a French industrialist (peanut oil) who had taken a devious but potent hand in North African affairs.

M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil's pre-surrender associations included an interest in a pro-Fascist Paris newspaper, connections with both French and German industrialists. With the consent of the U.S. State Department--a consent which, according to some apologists, was given reluctantly--Lemaigre-Dubreuil recently had been an inter-Allied economic adviser in Algiers.

A fantastic episode in inter-Allied economics preceded his ouster. French speculators had transferred millions of francs to North Africa when the rate of exchange was 100 to 150 francs to the American dollar. Upon French advice, the U.S. authorities reduced the rate to 50 francs to the dollar--enabling the speculators to turn a profit of 100 to 150%. Before the U.S. Treasury finally awoke and forbade such speculation, several huge fortunes were amassed by this trading in invasion dollars.

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