“Somebody tampered with the safe a week later—which was the day before yesterday. Bollinger found himself in a most difficult dilemma. If somebody had deliberately taken illegal steps to get hold of the plan and maliciously leaked its contents, the result would probably be the biggest monetary explosion the world has ever seen. Even if the Americans now changed the plan, documentary evidence that it existed would produce such mass exodus from the dollar, and flight into anything else, ranging from marks to yen to lire, from Swiss common shares to South African gold mines, that possibly every bank in the free world, as well as all securities and commodities exchanges, might have to close their doors for weeks, maybe months. It would mean total chaos. I think that should be obvious. The German government leaked their exact thoughts about letting the mark float in May, 1971. The ultimate result was that in the final thirty-five minutes before they stopped accepting dollars, they took in over one billion! Just imagine what would happen under these circumstances.”
The room remained completely silent.
“One possibility is that somebody is out to sabotage the dollar, once and for all. The other possibility is that this is the start of a highly organized criminal effort. You can imagine what this information could be worth to a speculator, or a group of speculators. An absolutely staggering amount. Then there is still the chance that a freak coincidence is involved. Perhaps some petty thief took a crack at this safe hoping for the best and, finding nothing of value, took along what struck him as the most impressive set of papers. For Bollinger claims that no one, absolutely no one, could possibly have known that a dossier of this importance was in his possession. But in any case, it was gone.
“After giving the matter twenty-four hours of thought, Bollinger decided not to tell the Americans. He is Swiss, like you and me. And we all know quite well that for all the good features of our friends in the United States, one talent they are not endowed with is the ability to tackle a problem with finesse, subtlety, a fine hand. This is not a criticism, mind you. Just a well-proven fact. As one of my British colleagues has often repeated, ‘At the United States Treasury, every night is amateur night.’ Had Bollinger told them, they would have come storming into Basel like a bunch of drunken cowboys, if you’ll excuse the expression.”
Bernoulli, who knew Americans well, felt that Gerber was overdoing things somewhat. But the minister of the interior, whose closest contact with America had been an occasional bottle of Coca-Cola amply laced with rum, burped his obvious approval. Also the pipe of the minister of justice seemed to be sending up positive signals. The resulting increased density of alcoholic fumes and smoke in the air did not seem to bother the minister of finance. He had apparently hardened in office. Gerber spoke again.
“The end of the story is quite simple. This morning, very early, Bollinger came to me, quite unofficially, of course, and asked for advice. I have pondered it ever since and reached the following conclusions about an hour ago. They are: First, we as a country very strongly desire that this gold revaluation plan be implemented as foreseen. It is in our national interest. Second, the fact is that the harm has already been done. The dossier is gone. Third, if we take this matter to the Americans, either a disastrous type of investigation will be started, and/or the devaluation will be called off permanently. Everybody, including the Americans, would suffer as a result. Fourth, we do not want any international institution domiciled in Switzerland to get involved in a scandal of such monumental proportions if we can help it. Thus my decision, based upon these conclusions, is the following: We will try to run this thing to the ground immediately. It may very well be a quite simple internal Swiss affair. If so, we will just squelch it. If a foreign government is involved, we will immediately withdraw from the scene, and everybody forgets everything. In any case, we as a government—and I cannot stress this fact more strongly—have no, absolutely no, knowledge of this incident. I hope you all quite clearly understand what I am saying—and especially you, Bernoulli.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the young man, “I understand this most clearly.”
“But I don’t.”
Gerber was startled. Of all people, it was the ex-professor who was speaking.
“As I understand these matters, a massive revaluation of the official gold price would mean, ipso facto, a massive devaluation of the dollar.”
Obviously the man had hidden, well hidden, strengths.
“I suspect, in fact I know, that this will not be acceptable to Western Europe, nor would it be acceptable under any circumstances to Switzerland.”
Gerber stepped in again. “My dear colleague, in theory you are of course correct. But in fact, I am convinced the following will evolve. Most countries in the world will follow the dollar’s devaluation completely. They will devalue, relative to gold, by exactly the same amount. So nothing will actually change, as far as exchange rates are concerned. It will only mean that the dollar is once again convertible into gold, at a much higher gold price. This obviously is in the interest of everyone.”
“Most countries, yes. But most probably not all. And those are the ones that count.”
“Indeed, this will represent a complication. Whether the Japanese, the Germans, or even the British will go all the way is not sure. You know as well as I do that the dollar outflow was not stopped by the 1971 and 1973 devaluations. They simply did not go far enough. So another adjustment in exchange rates, involving a limited number of countries, may be necessary. After all, this time we want to solve the problem once and for all.”
“Are you saying that, for the third time now in less than three years, the Swiss franc will be increased in value, relative to the dollar?”
“I am merely saying that we cannot rule this possibility out.”
“By how much?”
“Fifteen percent.”
“Our industry will not like this.”
“Nor will industry in Germany, Japan, or Britain. But we must end the dollar problem. And the time is now. Remember, this entire affair will bring a tremendous windfall gain to our country.”
“How?”
“We have one of the largest gold reserves of any nation on earth: $3.5 billion worth. This will almost triple in value overnight. It will insure that the Swiss franc will remain as the hardest currency in the world for years, perhaps decades, to come. This, gentlemen, is obviously in our country’s interest.”
The room fell into silence.
Gerber shifted his attention.
“Bernoulli, I have decided to put you in charge of this investigation. You will meet with Bollinger tomorrow morning at eight to get all the details. He is expecting you. The best thing for you to do is to go over to Basel this evening and get some sleep tonight. You have a completely free hand, Bernoulli. But I want you to report to me daily. By telephone, if you please.”
The audience was over almost as abruptly as it began.
Bernoulli took the eight-thirty train to Basel. At ten he checked into the Euler Hotel. Before he went down to the bar for a drink, he called his friend at the local police and asked him to start picking up all of the locally known safecrackers for interrogation. He explained the type of job that was involved and the place, but made no mention of the nature of the stolen goods. Kommissar Heinz Bucher promised to keep in touch.
Bernoulli turned in for the evening shortly before midnight.
At one the phone rang. Bernoulli was awake immediately.
“Is this Herr Doktor Bernoulli?” asked a familiar voice.