L’Écho d’Alger
- After the Thoiry meeting
- The wheat harvest in 1926
- Events in China
The page ties diplomacy to financial pressures through reports on Briand’s cabinet briefing, France’s wheat purchases and a Canton boycott settlement. It rejects rumors of cabinet disagreement on the stated ground that Briand has yet to present the negotiations to his colleagues. Péret’s estimate turns an inadequate harvest into a currency concern. The Canton dispatch describes a proposed balance between ending a boycott, refusing strike compensation and permitting import taxation, retaining its conditional wording.
Translation
After the Thoiry meeting
Paris, September 20. — Tomorrow Aristide Briand will give the Council of Ministers an account of his conversations in Geneva with statesmen from various countries, particularly Stresemann.
RUMORS DENIED
Rumors circulated in some Paris circles today that disagreements existed within the government over the negotiations Briand has thus begun.
These rumors are entirely unfounded: Briand has not yet even given his cabinet colleagues an account of his negotiations.
So far, he has only outlined the Geneva and Thoiry talks to the prime minister in a brief conversation.
The wheat harvest in 1926
Poitiers, September 20. — At the banquet following the agricultural show at Mirebeau-en-Poitou, Raoul Péret considered the shortfall in our wheat harvest and observed that this year we shall have to make purchases abroad amounting to nearly two billion francs, which will adversely affect the franc’s value.
Events in China
Canton, September 20. — The Cantonese political council has decided to end the boycott. The British would pay no strike compensation, but they agree to the Cantonese government introducing a tax of 2.5 percent on imported goods. This tax will rise to 5 percent for luxury articles. It will be paid by the producer.
Context
From personal diplomacy to cabinet responsibility
Briand’s talks with Stresemann formed part of the effort to make Franco-German reconciliation work after Locarno. But conversations between foreign ministers were only one step: Briand still had to explain his negotiating position to the French cabinet. The dispute over whether ministers had already fallen out reflects the political difficulty of turning diplomatic initiative into a shared government policy.
A poor harvest becomes a currency problem
Péret links a wheat shortfall to the cost of buying abroad, rather than discussing food supply alone. France was emerging from a severe financial and exchange-rate crisis in 1926; stabilization of the franc was still a central concern. Large foreign purchases mattered because the country had to pay overseas suppliers. The harvest thus connected everyday bread supplies with confidence in the national currency.
Who would finance the end of the boycott?
Ending the anti-British boycott also meant settling the position of the strikers. A September 19 American consular report described proposed import and export taxes intended to compensate them. This helps explain why the dispatch places compensation and trade taxes together: the issue was not only resuming commerce, but finding revenue for a political settlement after a prolonged confrontation.
Original
APRES L’ENTREVUE DE THOIRY
Paris, 20 septembre. — M. Aristide
Briand fera demain au Conseil des
Ministres l'exposé de ses conversations
à Genève avec les hommes d'Etat des
divers pays et en particulier avec M.
Stresemann.
BRUITS DÉMENTIS
Dans certains milieux parisiens le
bruit a couru aujourd'hui que des dis-
sentiments existaient au sein du gou-
eernement à propos des négociations
ainsi engagées par M. Briand.
Ces bruits sont entièrement dénués
de fondement, M. Briand n'ayant mê-
me pas encore fait à ses collègues du
Cabinet l'historique de ses négocia-
tions.
M. Briand a seulement, jusqu'ici,
rendu compte au président dp Con-
seil, au cours d'une brève conversa-
non, des grandes lignes des pourpar-
lers de Genève et de Thoiry.
La récolte de blé en 1926
Poitiers, 20 septembre. — Au cours
du banquet qui a suivi le Comice
agricole de Mirebeau-en-Poitou M.
Raoul Péret, après avoir envisagé l'in-
suffisance de notre récolte de blé, a
constaté qu'il nous faudra, cette année,
faire à l'étranger des achats se mon-
tant à près de 2 milliards de francs, ce
qui influera fâcheusement sur la va-
leur du franc. -,
Les événements de Chine
Canton, 20 septembre. — Le conseil
politique cantonnais a décidé de mettre
fin au boycottage. Les Anglais ne paie-
raient aucune indemnité de grève;
mais ils sont d'accord pour que le gou-
vernement cantonnais institue une taxe
de 2 1/2 pour cent sur les marchan-
dises importées. Cette taxe sera portée
à 5 pour cent pour les articles de luxe.
Elle sej^jpayée par le producteur.,