Neue Freie Presse
- Coalition Considerations.
- The Rehabilitation of the Belgian Currency.
- The Nymph in the Blue Phaeton.
The Neue Freie Presse of 26 October 1926 carried an editorial asking whether Austria's great parties could achieve a domestic 'Locarno': not soon, it conceded, but eventually a lasting community built on tolerance, respect and recognition of the opponent's strength, held together by the economic forces that shape parliament. A financial report listed nine foreign central banks, the Austrian National Bank among them, joining credits for the Belgian National Bank, and said a Swiss bank was expected to join. In the feuilleton Franz Farga told how Casanova's horoscope in Grenoble, and his loan of travel money, set Anne Coupiers de Romans on the path to becoming Louis XV's lover.
Translation
Coalition Considerations.
Will the wish for a domestic Locarno come true? Will our great parties honestly and sincerely grasp that the will to agreement is just as necessary in our sphere as in the mighty sphere of world affairs? Will a community be possible — not now and not today, not tomorrow and not the day after — resting on tolerance and respect, firmly forged by the recognition of the opponent's strength, made lasting by the factors that permanently influence our economy and thus also our parliament?
The Rehabilitation of the Belgian Currency.
The following nine foreign banks of issue are taking part in opening credits for the Belgian National Bank: the Bank of England, the Bank of France, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of Japan, the German Reichsbank, the Netherlands Bank, the Bank of Sweden, the Austrian National Bank and the Hungarian National Bank. These institutions, it is believed, will also be joined by the Swiss Federal Bank.
The Nymph in the Blue Phaeton.
By Franz Farga.
Prophecies have very often played a decisive part in the lives of great courtesans. It was Casanova who, in Grenoble, cast a charming girl's horoscope and assured her in all seriousness that the beautiful Anne was destined to become the mistress of King Louis XV. He was also generous enough to advance the money for the journey, and Demoiselle Anne Coupiers de Romans did in fact become the King's lover shortly afterward.
Context
The Social Democrats' Linz programme of 3 November 1926
The editorial asks whether Austria's 'great parties' can reach a domestic Locarno, a lasting community founded on tolerance and on recognising the opponent's strength, and it openly concedes that this will not happen today or tomorrow. Eight days after this issue, on 3 November 1926, the Social Democratic Workers' Party adopted a new programme in Linz. In practice that programme insisted on carrying out the party's demands by democratic means, through elections and a majority in parliament. Yet it also declared that, should the bourgeoisie resist, the working class would be forced to break that resistance by means of dictatorship. The House of Austrian History judges that this sentence, although framed as a defence, worsened the climate of domestic politics in the First Republic. The paper's hope for a coalition built on mutual respect was therefore printed just as one of the great parties was about to adopt wording that sharpened the conflict the editorial wanted to ease.
Belgium's franc stabilisation of October 1926
The credit report appeared on the very day the Belgian franc was stabilised. According to a Dutch chronicle of the century, on 26 October 1926 the franc was fixed at 175 to the pound sterling, ending a monetary crisis that had lasted for years. The franc had sunk to a low of 217 to the pound on 13 July 1926, and the Belgian parliament, with the spectre of German inflation before its eyes, granted the government full powers to carry out its rehabilitation plan. The Neue Freie Presse presents the central-bank credits under the heading of the currency's 'Sanierung', so its list of lenders belongs alongside this stabilisation. The roster of nine banks and the expected Swiss participation are the paper's own report, and its 'it is believed' marks the Swiss part as unconfirmed when the page went to press.
A central bank created under League of Nations conditions among the lenders
The Austrian National Bank's place among the lenders stands out because the institution was less than four years old and itself the product of an international rescue. It had been established under the conditions of the stabilisation loan coordinated by the League of Nations' Economic and Financial Organization in 1922–23, and it began operating on 1 January 1923. By October 1926 this young central bank appeared in the paper beside the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Reichsbank as a lender to another country's bank of issue. The article gives neither a reason for Austria's participation nor the size of its share. What the excerpt does show is that the Viennese bank was already taking part in cooperation among the central banks.
Casanova's horoscope and Anne Couppier de Romans
Franz Farga's feuilleton rests on a documented episode. Anne Couppier de Romans was the daughter of an office clerk in Grenoble, and in 1760 she became acquainted with Giacomo Casanova, who made her a horoscope claiming she would be the king's lover. She did become an unofficial mistress, a petite maîtresse, of Louis XV from 1760 to 1765. The paper spells her name 'Coupiers' rather than the usual 'Couppier', and its detail that Casanova advanced the travel money is the author's telling, not something the encyclopedia record confirms. The core sequence of Grenoble, horoscope and royal liaison matches the established account.
Why the Neue Freie Presse feuilleton carried weight in Vienna
Historical sketches like Farga's appeared in a section that Viennese readers had long treated with great respect. Stefan Zweig, himself a feuilletonist for the paper, recalled that in fin-de-siècle Vienna its bourgeois readers felt anything published in the feuilleton was vouched for by the highest authority. A light essay on prophecy and courtesans thus reached the same readers, in the same issue, as an editorial on coalition politics and a report on central-bank credits.
Original
Koalitionserwägungen.
Wird der Wunsch nach einem innerpolitischen Locarno zur Wahrheit? Werden unsere großen Parteien ehrlich und aufrichtig begreifen, daß der Wille zur Einigung in unserem Bereiche ebenso notwendig ist wie in der gewaltigen Sphäre des Weltgeschehens? Wird eine Gemeinschaft möglich sein, nicht jetzt und nicht heute, nicht morgen und nicht übermorgen, beruhend auf Duldsamkeit und Achtung, festgeschmiedet durch die Erkenntnis der Stärke des Gegners, dauerhaft gemacht durch die Faktoren, die bleibend unsere Wirtschaft und damit auch unser Parlament beeinflußen?
Die Sanierung der belgischen Währung.
An der Eröffnung von Krediten für die Belgische Nationalbank sind folgende neun ausländische Noteninstitute beteiligt: die Bank von England, die Bank von Frankreich, die Federal Reserve Bank, die Bank von Japan, die Deutsche Reichsbank, die Niederländische Bank, die Bank von Schweden, die Oesterreichische Nationalbank und die Ungarische Nationalbank. Diesen Instituten wird sich, wie man glaubt, auch die Schweizerische Bundesbank anschließen.
Die Nymphe im blauen Phaethon.
Wahrsagungen haben im Leben großer Kurtisanen sehr oft eine ausschlaggebende Rolle gespielt. Es war Casanova, der in Grenoble einem reizenden Mädchen das Horoskop stellte und mit größtem Ernst versicherte, die schöne Anne sei zur Mätresse des Königs Louis XV. ausersehen. Er war auch so großmütig, das Reisegeld vorzustrecken, und die Demoiselle Anne Coupiers de Romans wurde in der Tat kurz darauf die Geliebte des Königs.