40teT! ow

Chungking announced a new exchange rate for foreigners: Chinese dollars, hitherto 20 to one U.S. dollar, hereafter would be 40-to-1.

U.S. officialdom had prodded gently but persistently for this change. The new rate meant that the Army could construct or enlarge airfields, erect new quarters at half the former cost, thus forestall any future criticism of exorbitant expenditures in China. Officially, the Army and other U.S. agencies had been unable to buy Chinese dollars on inflated China's rampant black market (TIME, Dec. 6). Individually, Army personnel can continue to draw pay in U.S. dollars,turn a tidy profit in the black market; where the rate is still more than double the new official exchange.

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