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Cooling Crises. The Paris meeting highlighted the vast powers of the international moneymen, whose influence in world affairs has soared in recent years. A thumbs down to Britain's request would very probably have forced a devaluation of the pound, brought down the Labor government and had profound effects on the West's entire monetary system. When the moneymen speak, governments listen carefully. They practically forced the Wilson government to take restrictive measures, pressured the U.S. Government into steps to correct its chronic balance-of-payments deficit and helped cool the sterling crises of 1961 and 1964.
The moneymen are the guardians of the non-Communist world's intricate system of monetary cooperation, created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 and carefully cultivated and expanded ever since. Mostly from Europe and the U.S., they manage the flow of money, pass on the credit of nations, come to the aid of failing currencies and discipline payments debtors. Their work, which is usually marked by anonymity and almost always performed out of public view, has made possible the great surge of the West's economies since World War II.
Misty World. The world of the international moneymen is a misty one, filled with special terminology and nuances and frequently devoted to esoteric concerns. It is peopled by able and articulate men who call each other by their first names, nip off to Paris, Basel or London as a matter of routine and keep in constant touch by telephone, cable and personal visits. On a recent visit to Britain, William McChesney Martin Jr., chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, spent three hours tramping through the fields with Lord Cromer, the governor of the Bank of England, at his country home in Kent. "It makes a big difference," says Martin, "if you feel that you can call on a colleague in another country to get some advice."
A screen of great secrecy once separated the moneymen of each nation from those of others, but it has given way to growing cooperation. Each central bank now maintains a large foreign department to keep in touch with other banks. Last December the Paris Club set up a uniform system of confidential statistics about each country and made its findings available to all participating central banks. Today it is not uncommon for one government to give another government a few hours' notice of a change in the bank discount rate, a practice unheard of only a few years ago. At their international meetings, monetary men dispense with the diplomatic trimmings, close the doors to the public and speak with such remarkable frankness and bluntness.