LIECHTENSTEIN: Serene

Contented subjects of His Serene Highness Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein, beamed last week at news that he had purchased for $1,000,000 a private estate in Austria approximately half the size of Liechtenstein (area: 65 sq. mi.).

Strictly speaking, His Serene Highness’ action was to accept the estate in payment of a $1,000,000 loan he extended some years ago to his Cousin Baron Rudolf von Guttmann, then “Austria’s Coal King,” later ruined by the crash of Kreditanstalt (TIME, June 8, 1931). Ivar Kreuger and other scamps have incorporated many a wildcat company under the lenient laws of Liechtenstein, kept lenient by shrewd, rich Prince Franz I.