AVENUE CHAMPS-ELYSEES—PARIS
The Bank of France has outstanding nearly $900,000,000 in notes, which is the paper money of the country. The bank has the option of redeeming these notes either in gold or silver, and it exercises that option by refusing to pay gold when gold becomes scarce, or when it seems undesirable to furnish gold for export.
It has recently refused gold, and those desiring to export that metal have had to purchase it at a slight premium.
The "gold contract," which has become so common in the United States, and which was used to terrorize the public in 1896, seems to be unknown in France; or at least I could find no one who knew anything about such contracts. They are regarded as contrary to public policy.
The president of the Bank of France is appointed by the government, so that the bank stands in a different attitude toward the government from the national banks of our country.
I had the pleasure of meeting a number of prominent Frenchmen during my visit to Paris, among them Senator Combes, the prime minister, who is just now a most conspicuous figure in the contest between the government and the various religious orders; Senator Clemenceau, one of the ablest editors in Paris, and a brilliant conversationalist; Baron d'Estonelles de Constant, a man of high ideals and leader of the peace movement in France; the Rev. Albert Kohler, author of "The Religion of Effort," and the Rev. Charles Wagner, whose book, "The Simple Life," has had such a large circulation in the United States.
The Rev. Mr. Wagner is just such a looking man as you would expect to write such a book—strong, rugged and earnest. He impresses one as a man with a mission, and although young in years, he has already made an impress upon the thought of the world. His book is a protest against the materialism which is making man the slave of his possessions.
The influence which Mr. Wagner has already exerted shows the power of a great thought, even when it must cross the boundaries of nations and pass through translation into many different tongues. I shall remember my communion with this apostle of simplicity as one remembers a visit to a refreshing spring.