February 23, 1973

 

article on improvements in relations between US and People's Republic of China notes forthcoming China tour of Phila Orch

sources in Dem party rept on Feb 22 that NYC Controller Beame has decided to run for Dem mayoral nomination, increasing party's candidates to 8 so far; prospects of Beame, who is considered frontrunner in race, discussed; Beame, who has close ties with Bklyn Dem orgn, is also likely to obtain support of Bronx Dem Chmn Cunningham orgn; Beame por

gold rises to $90 an ounce on Feb 22 before falling back to between $86 and $87 in major bullion mkts; dollar weakens considerably in Eur foreign exch mkts against such currencies as Swiss franc and W Ger mark; vol of gold transactions in Zurich is estimated at around $30-million and in all Eur centers at between $50-million and $100-million; bankers rept that there is still little confidence that US can redress its balance-of-payments deficit; key element behind speculation is excess of dollars circulating around world as result of past US deficits; those who are buying gold are said to believe there is too much unconvertible paper money circulating and think there must be final reckoning in which gold can only rise in value; instability is expected to continue, with possibility of further monetary crises until dollar-overhang problem is resolved; reformers from 20 countries meet on Feb 22 to tackle problem in negotiations aimed at patching up monetary system, but wide differences of opinion exist and there is yet little evidence to indicate that solutions can be found soon; Deputy Under Sec J Bennett says in Paris that US expects rapid return to equilibrium in its balance of payments, speech, OECD's Working Party Number 3; OECD sources point out that dollar appears to be fairly solid for medium term but cite concern over immediate future when perverse effects of parity changes will probably show intensification of disequilibrium; rise in gold and decline in dollar also linked to rept that Japan will start importing bullion for first time ever at end of Apr and to sharp decline of dollar against Swiss franc; other factor is said to be statement by head of gold trading dept of large Swiss bank that price of gold would be higher than $100 an ounce were it not for supplies coming in from USSR; graph showing trend of gold price in London

Italian police rept on Feb 22 that they have identified grave robber who delivered vase to Hecht; say Hecht also lied to chief of carabinieri art squad when he denied knowing anything about vase; if it is proved that krater was smuggled recently out of Italy, it belongs under Italian law to Italian Govt; efforts by police to trace source of vase continue, while Hecht has disappeared; unofficial rept in Rome claims that 3 of gang of 6 'tombarolos,' or archeological poachers, were infuriated to learn that Hecht had received $1-million for vase; they reptdly had gotten only $8,500 each for entire haul of objects, including museum's Greek vase, taken from Etruscan tomb near Rome in '71; museum dir Hoving calls charges 'nonsense'; apparent contradictions in museum's version of krater's origin noted; exact price of vase is $1,024,000; brief sketch of Hecht; por