Letter from D. N. Filaretos to P. Tsaldaris urging him, on the one hand, to accept the formation of an ecumenical government and, on the other, to promote Greek tobacco abroad, chiefly in England, as a measure for resolving Greece's economic and monetary crisis.

[…]θη ως καπνός ανάμειξης, έστω και σε μικρή αναλογία, όπως είναι ήδη στις Ηνωμ[ένες] Πολιτείες. Αν γίνει αυτό, σώθηκε η Ελλάδα και θα ανακτηθεί και η πίστη μας και ο προϋπολογισμός θα ισοσκελιστεί. Οι αριθμοί το δείχνουν. Για μας είναι κατορθωτό το πράγμα χωρίς δαπάνη και αμέσως: ο καπνός μας μπορεί να τριπλασιαστεί σε ποσότητα από έτος σε έτος, σήμερα περιορίζεται οικειοθελώς λόγω έλλειψης αγορών κατανάλωσης. Πώς θα επιτυγχανόταν η εισαγωγή στην Αγγλία, το λέω στο βιβλίο μου. Πρέπει πάντως να επωφεληθούμε από την παρούσα στιγμή, που η αγγλική Κυβέρνηση ενδιαφέρεται για τους άγγλους κατόχους ελληνικών ομολογιών, και να συνδέσουμε έντεχνα τα δύο ζητήματα, έρχοντας σε επαφή με τους μεγάλους άγγλους καπνοβιομήχανους υπό την αιγίδα της αγγλικής Κυβέρνησης και παρέχοντας βέβαια στους καπνοβιομήχανους που θα αναλάβουν να αναμειγνύουν τον καπνό τους με ελληνικό ανάλογα ανταλλάγματα, ώστε να δημιουργηθεί μόνιμη κοινότητα συμφερόντων μεταξύ αυτών και του ελληνικού καπνού. Οι αγγλικοί καπνοβιομηχανικοί όμιλοι είναι παγκόσμιας ακτινοβολίας. Ο καπνός μας είναι ο καλύτερος του κόσμου. Ένας επιτυχής συνδυασμός συμφερόντων, με την κουμπαριά της Αγγλικής Κυβέρνησης, σώζει την Ελλάδα και τη δραχμή μόνιμα. Οι ιδέες μου, Κύριε Πρόεδρε, είχαν ευρύτατη απήχηση στον οικονομικό και τον καπνικό κόσμο, ανεξάρτητα από λεπτομερειακές αντιρρήσεις. Θα απαιτούνταν, Κύριε Πρόεδρε, με τη σειρά: α) να ερευνήσει το Α.Ο.Σ. το ζήτημα από όλες του τις πλευρές. β) να επέλθει επί των συμπερασμάτων του Α.Ο.Ε. ευρεία συζήτηση και συνεννόηση του πολιτικού κόσμου, ώστε πανελλήνια να διατυπωθεί στους πιστωτές μας η ανάγκη της διά του καπνού σωτηρίας μας και δικής τους. γ) αντί για κάθε περαιτέρω συνεννόηση με τους ξένους ομολογιούχους, η προσεχής στο Λονδίνο αποστολή να έχει ως σκοπό να στρέψει την προσοχή των Συμβουλίων των ομολογιούχων, των τραπεζιτών μας (Χάμπρο και Έρλανγκερ), της Τράπεζας της Αγγλίας, της Κ.Τ.Ε. και της Αγγλικής και Γαλλικής Κυβέρνησης στον καπνό ως μόνη σωτηρία της Δραχμής, και δ) υπό την αιγίδα της Αγγλικής Κυβέρνησης να επερχόταν επαφή των μεγάλων

[…] karışım tütünü olarak, küçük bir oranda olsa bile, tıpkı şimdiden Birleşik Devletler'de olduğu gibi. Bu gerçekleşirse Yunanistan kurtulmuştur, kredi itibarımız da yeniden kazanılacak ve bütçe dengelenecektir. Rakamlar bunu gösteriyor. Bizim için bu iş masrafsız ve derhal yapılabilir: tütünümüz miktar bakımından yıldan yıla üç katına çıkabilir; bugün tüketim pazarlarının eksikliğinden dolayı kendi isteğimizle sınırlandırılmaktadır. İngiltere'ye girişin nasıl sağlanacağını kitabımda söylüyorum. Her halükârda, İngiliz Hükûmetinin Yunan tahvillerini elinde tutan İngilizlerle ilgilendiği şu andan yararlanmalı ve iki konuyu ustalıkla birbirine bağlamalıyız; İngiliz Hükûmetinin himayesi altında büyük İngiliz tütün sanayicileriyle temasa geçmeli ve tütünlerini Yunan tütünüyle karıştırmayı üstlenecek tütün sanayicilerine elbette uygun karşılıklar sağlamalıyız ki, bunlar ile Yunan tütünü arasında kalıcı bir çıkar birliği doğsun. İngiliz tütün sanayi grupları dünya çapında bir etkiye sahiptir. Tütünümüz dünyanın en iyisidir. Çıkarların başarılı bir birleşimi, İngiliz Hükûmetinin kirveliğiyle, Yunanistan'ı ve drahmiyi kalıcı olarak kurtarır. Fikirlerim, Sayın Başkanım, ayrıntıya ilişkin itirazlardan bağımsız olarak, ekonomi ve tütün çevrelerinde en geniş yankıyı buldu. Sayın Başkanım, sırasıyla şunlar gerekirdi: a) A.O.S. konuyu bütün yönleriyle incelemelidir. b) A.O.E.'nin sonuçları üzerinde siyasi dünyanın geniş bir tartışma ve anlaşmaya varması, böylece bütün Yunanistan adına alacaklılarımıza, hem bizim hem kendilerinin tütün yoluyla kurtuluşunun gerekliliğinin bildirilmesi. c) yabancı tahvil sahipleriyle her türlü ileri görüşmenin yerine, yakında Londra'ya gidecek heyetin amacı; tahvil sahipleri konseylerinin, bankerlerimizin (Hambro ve Erlanger), İngiltere Bankası'nın, K.T.E.'nin ve İngiliz ve Fransız Hükûmetlerinin dikkatini, drahminin tek kurtuluşu olarak tütüne çevirmek olmalıdır; ve d) İngiliz Hükûmetinin himayesi altında, büyük

[…] as a blending tobacco, even in a small proportion, as it already is in the United States. If this is done, Greece is saved, our credit will be recovered, and the budget will balance. The figures show it. For us the thing is achievable immediately and at no expense: our tobacco can be tripled in quantity from year to year; today it is voluntarily restricted for lack of consumption markets. How the introduction into England could be achieved, I state in my book. In any case we must take advantage of the present moment, when the English Government is interested in the English holders of Greek bonds, and artfully link the two questions, coming into contact with the great English tobacco manufacturers under the aegis of the English Government. We should of course offer corresponding compensations to the manufacturers who will undertake to blend their tobacco with Greek tobacco, so that a permanent community of interests may be created between them and Greek tobacco. The English tobacco-manufacturing groups are of worldwide standing. Our tobacco is the best in the world. A successful combination of interests, with the English Government acting as koumbaros [sponsor], saves Greece and the drachma permanently. My ideas, Mr. President, have had the widest resonance in the economic and tobacco world, irrespective of objections of detail. It would be necessary, Mr. President, in sequence: a) that the A.O.S. investigate the question in all its aspects; b) that on the conclusions of the A.O.E. there follow wide discussion and understanding among the political world, so that the need of our salvation, and that of our creditors, through tobacco may be set forth to our creditors on an all-Greek basis; c) that, instead of any further negotiation with the foreign bondholders, the forthcoming mission to London should have as its aim to turn the attention of the Councils of the bondholders, of our bankers (Hambro and Erlanger), of the Bank of England, of the K.T.E. [National Mortgage Bank of Greece], and of the English and French Governments to tobacco as the sole salvation of the Drachma; and d) that under the aegis of the English Government there should take place contact of the great