Part II: Expect the Unexpected
As the mud clung to his boots he tried to keep Zog's promise in mind.
A new country… a permanent diplomatic posting in Vienna…
Who could say no to Vienna?
Apparently Ahmed Zog, the new "king" of Albania, could.
Rolling the word around in his mind, Sarachi still struggled to take in the change that the coronation had wrought in the man. Prior to it, Sarachi had seen it as just a natural extension of Zogu's career to that point. Though he questioned the wisdom of such a move, Zog had led a charmed life to this point and there was no hope in finding another patron so Sarachi had gone along with it, understanding to a degree. Both Zogu and him had spent a considerable amount of time in Vienna and had inherited a taste for all things Austrian. For Sarachi that meant art, but for Zogu it had apparently meant all the pomp and ceremony that went along with monarchy.
Or at least that's what Sarachi had thought until things began to change. A grandiose week log coronation festival was commandeered to celebrate not only Zog's coronation but no fewer than 5 "royal" marriages tying Albania together one of which was Zog's marriage to none other than Behije Verlaci honouring their 1923 engagement. Having known Zog and discussed Behije numerous times, Sarachi could hardly believe it. Yet when he arrived to speak with his friend he could see that something was obviously different.
"It is for the good of the nation…sometimes we must do what we must to keep … some close and some… closer."
"And Franzi?" (2)
"Many have sacrificed far more for the nation. It is time that I do the same."
Franzi was understandably distraught at the sudden news that she had been cut off save for passage back to Vienna. No longer was she a royal mistress, to be plied with jewels, dresses, and expensive champagne. Now she was nothing more than the gardener's daughter who's dance moves had entranced a young, impressionable Albanian in Belgrade. Naturally, she sought comfort in Sarachi, the only friend she had managed to develop in her life of isolation as Zog's mistress.(3)
Had he the means, Sarachi might have married her and continued the string of pleasant evenings, but apparently Zog had other ideas. Though the man's paranoia had decreased exponentially, he rightly remained suspicious of most. As one of his few confidants fluent in English, Zog entrusted Sarachi with his most important mission and mere weeks after the coronation celebration ended, had him sailing to America. First to Washington to meet with the ambassador and then to Rusk county to meet some oil man.
The trip to Washington and the city itself were pleasant enough. Sarachi had been once before in an attempt to negotiate American investment in Albanian oil fields. Even the ship to New Orleans and the riverboat north had been enjoyable if a substantial change from what he was used to. The ride to Rusk county and Daisy Bradford's farm was entirely different though. Had he not been flanked by a pair of bodyguards who undoubtedly reported directly to Musa Juka (4), Sarachi might have entertained the possibility of stopping in New Orleans and simply lying about his journey to meet Mr. Joiner.
So much money for this?
From what he'd seen in the fields near Fier, oil drilling was a hard life. From the looks of Joiner and his crews, this was the case even in America. Their equipment looked even more ramshackle than the Italians. Albania was not a rich country…surely there were better places this money could be spent.
This is going to be the end of us…
Between this investment and Zog's decision to become a stock trader and industrialist. What did he know of such things? While Zog had built up an impressive fortune over the past fifteen years, his recent bout of spending was even more concerning than his past behaviour. Uniforms, mistresses, and cigarrettes were all understandable expenses for a man of his station with the added benefit of being expected for a man of Zog's station. Though the monarch had cut back on all those sumptuous expenses, his new vices of stocks, factories, and now oil investments were incredibly concerning. There was no way that Zog could sustain this kind of behaviour and everyone seemed to recognize it.
The fact that the Italians were so supportive of Zog's spending was the most concerning. With each passing day it became more apparent that the vaunted SVEA (5) loan was far from benevolent. For the Italians, every franc Zog frittered away on factories or investments, couldn't be used on actually improving the Albanian economy. The fact that Zog had leveraged himself so heavily also likely made most officials in Rome ecstatic. They would bail Zog out once he inevitably went bankrupt and extract even more concessions to make Albanian independence even more fictitious. Though Sarachi would have preferred to not sell out his country, Zog's offer would stand regardless and he was far too committed to the man to break away now.
Then again who exactly knew what lay in the mind of the new King? What exactly had he learned in Istanbul? How much more was he withholding? For so many years Sarachi had thought Zogu to be relatively uneducated, almost illiterate in fact. (6) All an act apparently designed to lull his enemies into a false sense of security. Had Sarachi not heard with his own ears and seen with his own eyes Zog speak and write fluent English, French, and German he would not have believed it. Nor would he have accepted this mission. The revelation of some of Zog's detailed knowledge certainly didn't hurt either, though Sarachi wondered where this knowledge of oil bearing geological deposits was when the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was trying to find their next big strike…
Still if the oil Zogu averred was in East Texas was actually there, then this mission would go down in Albanian history. Buying in at this point would exponentially increase Zog's wealth and by extension the wealth of not only his civil list but the entire country. Even more money would come flowing in if Zog proved to be as adept in maneuvering through the stock market and the vagaries of industrialization.
Sarachi recognized that all of these were big ifs, but he had precious little else to hold onto as the mud from Daisy Bradford's farm squelched beneath his boots as he made his way towards the ramshackle drilling rig.
"Mr. Joiner, my name is Chatin Sarachi and I have a business proposition for you."
Dad-Joiner-East-Texas-AOGHS.jpg
Charles Marion (Dad) Joiner (1860-1950) Partner and Ultimately Friend of King Zog
Korça, Albania. April 19, 1929.
He had heard the rumors, but until he had the money in his own hands Koçi Xoxe (7) had struggled with doubt.
What does Zog want scrap metal for?
Truth be told, he still didn't know. Was he planning to sell it to the Italians as a way to finance all of the spending since his coronation? That seemed to be the most likely explanation according to many here in Korça. Yet few complained. The country was a dictatorship in all but name, with a legislative assembly that did little more than rubber stamp all of Zog's frivolous decisions. At least with this program people who were not fortunate enough to have a direct tie to the new "monarch" or gullible enough to apply for a job in one of the new "Royal Albanian Factories" had a chance to get something from the government purse.
His parents had reprimanded him when he'd first told them about the advertisements and his face still burned from their withering tirade. "What are they going to make in these 'factories?'" "Who's going to buy from them?" "How long can the King pay his workers like this?" Rather than stranding one's self in a foreign city with a long journey home likely to follow, better to stay in Korça and stay the course. Koçi had to admit that so far the advice seemed to have worked. Not only had he been able to make a tidy sum selling scrap but enough young workers had taken the King's offer to cause something of a shortage. Even though he was far from the most skilled tinsmith in the city, the disappearance of several of his more talented competitors had resulted in a notable uptick in business. Yet this was Albania after all, such booms were to be inevitably followed by a bust just like the influx of foreign gold during the war was followed by years of hardship. In a year or two the Italian loan money would run out and things would return to normal.
Until then, small victories such as the sum he held in his hands needed to be celebrated. All other things being equal, the first six months of Zog's reign had been far better than he'd anticipated. Not only had his more religious neighbour's fears of Muslim domination failed to materialize, but now they begrudgingly respected his wisdom in completing the work of Fan Noli and negotiating the formation of the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church. Several had even called his selection of Kissi to serve as Archbishop "brilliant," a rare occurrence for those in this city not directly aligned with Koço Kotta. (8) Not being particularly religious, Koçi was far more interested in the opportunity to make a bit of extra money in his spare time. Of course, the Italians had continued to dominate the country, but at this point who was going to stand up against them? Anyone taking Zog's place would either be their stooge or the Serbs'. All regular Albanians could do was to keep their head down and try to survive as best they could. His family had been doing the same for centuries, why would his generation's lot be any different?
As he walked down the streets towards his family's flat, Koçi felt the cool mud begin to nip at his toes.
Perhaps a new pair of shoes…
That would be a good use of the money, if he bought well they would last him for years, far longer than Zog's new monarchy would…
(Excerpt from the Texas State Historical Association Online Handbook) (9)
EAST TEXAS OILFIELD. The East Texas oilfield, located in central Gregg, western Rusk, southern Upshur, southeastern Smith, and northeastern Cherokee counties in the east central part of the state, is the largest and most prolific oil reservoir in the contiguous United States. Since its discovery on October 5, 1930, some 30,340 wells have been drilled within its 140,000 acres to yield nearly 5.2 billion barrels of oil from a stratigraphic trap in the Eagle Ford-Woodbine group of the Cretaceous. The source of its primary recovery was a strong water drive. Because the field is so large geographically the first wells, located several miles apart, were originally regarded as discovery wells in separate fields. After the spaces between the first wells were drilled, it was revealed that all sectors drew oil from the same Woodbine sands. The giant field was named for its geographic region. The first discovery in the East Texas field came in Rusk County. It was there in the summer of 1927 that Columbus Marion (Dad) Joiner, a sixty-seven-year-old promoter from Ardmore, Oklahoma, took mineral leases on several thousand acres of land with the intention of selling certificates of interest in a syndicate. Joiner presented a kind and gentle appearance, which belied his shrewd ability to use the labor, property, and money of others in his ventures. Joiner transferred 500 acres of mineral leases into the syndicate and offered a one-acre interest in the lease block and a pro-rata share in a drilling test for twenty-five dollars. He mailed copies of a misleading report, prepared by a nonprofessional geologist, to hundreds of names on his sucker list. The duplicitous report promised the existence of oil-productive geological structures in Rusk County and incorrectly claimed that major oil companies were actively leasing there. Joiner's real motivation, as evidenced by a later lawsuit, was the sale of his syndicate shares. Because he needed a drilling test to serve as a prop for impressing potential investors, Joiner commenced a lackadaisical poor-boy drilling operation with rusty, mismatched, and worn-out equipment. But, Joiner's unstable rig and his oil-rich promises appealed to the generosity and dreams of the hard-scrabble farmers and townspeople who donated their labor and traded supplies for syndicate certificates.
Joiner and driller Tom M. Jones spudded the Bradford No. 1 on an eighty-acre tract belonging to Daisy Bradford in the Juan Ximines Survey of Rusk County. After drilling for six months without finding a show of oil, the hole was lost to a stuck pipe. Joiner abandoned the well at a depth of 1,098 feet. By April 14, 1928, he formed a second syndicate from another lease block of 500 acres and sold certificates of interest through another mail promotion. A second well, the Bradford No. 2, was spudded by Joiner and driller Bill Osborne at a site 100 feet northwest of the original well. Joiner's certificates again were bartered for supplies and labor for the well, becoming an accepted medium of exchange in the poor economy of Rusk County. After eleven months of intermittent drilling, the Bradford No. 2 reached a depth of 2,518 feet, where the drill pipe twisted off and blocked the hole. Faced with certain disaster, Joiner and Osborne considered testing a shallower horizon or forming a third syndicate and securing funding through selling new shares of interest.
Fortunately for Joiner, who was already in difficult financial straits due to overselling shares, salvation appeared in the form of Chatin Sarachi, the young, dashing, representative of the enigmatic newly crowned King Zog of Albania. Exactly how Zog found out about Joiner's operation remains lost to history outside some vague remarks from the King himself about attempts at self-study after the failure of initial exploratory drilling in Albania. Regardless of how Zog secured his knowledge, Sarachi's arrival on Daisy Bradford's farm on March 4, 1929 bearing a letter from the King and a considerable sum of hard currency dramatically changed the futures of not only East Texas but Sarachi's home country and perhaps the world. After an evening of haggling with Sarachi, Joiner laid the foundation for a business partnership with the Albanian monarch and proceeded to put the newly available cash to good use. Though his first inclination was to commence drilling at a new site, Zog had given explicit instructions regarding the resolution of issues regarding the oversold shares. Additional Albanian money was also simultaneously put to use purchasing a number of other leases in the surrounding counties before Joiner and driller Ed Laster skidded their rachitic rig to a new location 375 feet from the second site and and spudded the Bradford No. 3 on April 10, 1929. (10) After two days of drilling, the well reached a depth of 1,200 feet, but work continued slowly from that point on.
Despite these setbacks, Albanian money continued to flow into East Texas capturing both local and worldwide attention as Sarachi toured the area purchasing additional leases. While this activity prompted similar activity by other wildcatters, a general lack of success kept prices low and caused many to mock the Albanian monarch's investments. For months papers both in East Texas and around the world mocked the "King" and began forecasting his demise either at the hands of domestic opponents or from the impending Italian economic domination of his country. The Great Wall Street Crash in September and October 1929 seemed to signal an end to not only Albanian investment in the region but investment in general as the Albanian monarch had also invested heavily in the Stock Market following his coronation, but to the surprise of many observers, Zog not only managed to preserve his wealth but see it grow substantially through a number of savvy investments. Thus money continued to flow into East Texas allowing Joiner and his men to keep drilling until on November 21, 1929, a drill steam test on Bradford No. 3 resulted in the flow of live oil and gas.
October-3-Daisy-well-AOGHS-e1317655330853.jpg
Locals rushing to see the drill steam test on November 21, 1929
Though the Bradford No. 3 well only produced 300 barrels of oil per day, its success prompted a rush of both major oil companies and independent oil men into the region. Though both groups experienced notable success, Joiner and his Albanian partners continued to dominate the region as they seemingly found oil where ever they set up their rigs. In January 1930 they began to diversify, as they, in partnership with H.L. Hunt formed a gathering system in the Panola Pipeline Company. Bradford No.3 as well as the more productive wells Lou Della Crim No. 1 (22,000 Barrels per day) and Ashby No.1 (3000 Barrels per day) were linked to Hunt's small well (100 Barrels per day) and pumped to the Sinclair Oil and Refining Company loading rack at the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. The first oil leaving the field went in thirteen tank cars of 10,000 gallons each to the Sinclair refinery in Houston.
By early spring of 1930 the widely-spaced discoveries revealed the vastness of the field as hundreds of small operators began its unconventional development. (10) Unlike earlier fields, such as Big Lake or Yates, which were controlled by one or a few operators who developed them by an orderly plan, East Texas field had no plan and no governor. Many landowners carved their holdings into small mineral leases that could be measured in feet, offering them to the highest bidder and realizing from $1,800 to $3,000 per acre. As the leasing frenzy seized the five counties of the field, Kilgore became the center of the boom. In that small town, wells were drilled in the yards of homes and derrick legs touched those of the next drilling unit. One city block in Kilgore contained forty-four wells. Whether in town or on farms, independent operators were compelled to drill wells as quickly as possible to prevent neighboring producers from sucking up their oil. This principle, known as the rule of capture, guided the development of oilfields since the 1889 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision gave ownership of oil to the one who captured it, even if part of that oil migrated from an adjoining lease. However, rapid development of a field signaled its early decline, because it decreased field pressure and damaged its gas or water drive mechanism. As a result, wells in such fields stopped flowing and were placed on pump. Adequate depletion of a field after its drive and pressure were damaged was nearly impossible, but as the East Texas field faced this peril in the spring of 1930, its operators gave little attention to that fact.
Another ignored fact in East Texas field was the economic law of supply and demand. Crude sold for ninety-nine cents per barrel when the Bradford No. 3 began production, but the price was cut to forty-six cents in 1930. Oilmen responded to the lower price by increasing production, which sent prices even lower. No help came from the weak state regulatory agency, the Railroad Commission, because it had no authority to restrict production to the market demand. Rather, it was charged with the task of prohibiting physical waste and conserving oil and gas, making no connection in the early field between overproduction and field destruction. Although the commission established Rule Number 37, which dealt with well spacing, neither operators nor the commission worried about enforcement of that regulation. On April 14, 1930, the commission issued its first proration order for the field, restricting production to 50,000 barrels of oil per day from its current yield of over 200,000 barrels. Although the commission revised the allowable upward on April 28, and again on May 10, in consideration of newly-completed wells, it went into effect on June 1, 1930, to control the physical effects of overproduction. In spite of the proration order, many operators disregarded well allowables and continued to produce their leases as they chose. By mid-summer of 1930 operators were producing approximately 900,000 barrels of oil per day from about 1,200 wells. Most of the 1930 production left the field through the seventeen pipelines or by the five railroads that served it. However, part of the crude was processed in the field, where six refineries worked. Although ninety-five refineries were eventually built, only seventy-six endured. They were profitable investments, costing only $10,000 to $25,000 to build and bringing in a profit of nearly $6,000 per month…
(Excerpted from "King Zog: Self-Made Monarch of Albania")
…The discovery of oil in East Texas in November 1929 couldn't have come at a better time for Zog. All at once the growing crowd decrying royal profligracy fell silent. Fears that the King's megolomanical delusions of being a venture capitalist and industrialist were going to cause an economic collapse that would effectively spell an end to Albanian independence vanished. However, they were quickly replaced with fears that the King's true aim was to enrich himself at the nation's expense. Again, though Zog had the power to clamp down on these accusations through the new constitution he refrained. (12) Instead he published a decree in which he averred that these fears would also be proven baseless in due time.
Zog's decree of November 28, 1929,(13) while notable, remained silent on the issue of the country's relationship with Italy. The released portions of the king's journals reveal a preoccupation with the results of the changing power dynamics and fears of an invasion. His grand con had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Italian funding intended to reduce Albania to an effective colony had been effectively repurposed to serve as the foundation of what would later become known as "The First Albanian Economic Miracle." Unsurprisingly, all of their support for Zog's industrial ventures and investments immediately dried up when it became apparent that these were not in the interests of Italian imperialism. From this point on, every factory and economic initiative of Zog's was no longer viewed by the Italians as a nail in the coffin of Albanian independence but as a direct threat to their dominance of the country. As concerns mounted in Rome, even Mussolini was forced to acknowledge that there was far more to the "delusional mountain chief" than met the eye and allocate more funds to Italian intelligence operations in the country.
Fortunately, at long last Zog was beginning to come into a position where he could realistically counter such operations. Prior to this point the majority of his funds had been tied up in not only East Texas, but the patent filing processes and start up costs for FMSh (14). As lease after lease was validated by Joiner's drilling teams, Zog finally began to see returns on his investments. Similarly, he also made several smaller windfalls through an adept navigation of the market forces guiding the Great Depression. Despite several notable failures, Zog not only avoided the potential disaster caused by overleveraging himself at such a dangerous period but utilized that credit and the opportunities presented to him to become the richest man in Albania and an increasingly noteworthy character on the world stage. Though Zog did use a certain amount of his newfound wealth to cultivate an image aimed at impressing his political rivals, it quickly became apparent that he was reinvesting the majority of it into not only the Kingdom of Albania but the Albanian people.
Though Zog's subsequent continued support of KIMSh (15) and FMSh would eventually cause his intervention in the 1930 SVEA loan crisis to pale in comparison, at the time it stood out as the most dynamic example of his reinvestment in the Albanian people. Almost no one in the Italian foreign ministry expected Zog to liquidate his own personal assets to pay off the Kingdom's outstanding balance of payments servicing the gargantuan Italian loan. By forcing the issue in January 1930, Mussolini hoped to secure even more concessions as the monarch tried to secure his own assets. Yet to Mussolinis dismay, a few signatures and telegrams was all that it took to sell off some stock certificates, an oil well, and the surrounding leases to the Yount-Lee Oil Company of Beaumont Texas. The resulting windfall of over three million US dollars proved to be more than enough to cover the outstanding 10 million Albanian Francs as it not only eliminated the Kingdom's debt but provided Italy with increasingly vital American dollars. (16)
From this point forward, the SVEA loan's utility to Italy's imperialist aims in Albania dramatically fell. To be fair to its creators, Zog's sudden acquisition of wealth and willingness to deploy it was unforeseeable, yet it effectively transformed the predatory nature of the 50 million Albanian Franc loan into an extremely advantageous one as the interest rate was locked in at an extremely reasonable 7.5%. Zog's wealth similarly transformed the nature of the loan in Italy as it shifted from one which was primarily politically driven to an increasingly economically driven as more payments came in and Albanians began to purchase more goods from Italy. Mussolini similarly adapted to the sudden change in Italo-Albanian financial relations as he used it to demonstrate Italian benevolence on the world stage. No longer could an Albanian failure to make payments on the loan be used to extract further concessions. Instead Mussolini and others in the Italian government began to take an increasingly long view towards the Albanian question putting more and more hope in an eventual customs union and an end to Zog's streak of "good luck." In the meantime they would use all the means at their disposal, including the fundamental nature of the loan itself to further their domination of the country. (17)
Notes:
1) Chatin Sarachi was one of Zog's messengers/agents in OTL who was involved in numerous trips abroad. Stationed in London at the time of the Italian invasion he later became a painter.
2) Franciska De Janko's nickname.
3) According to Sarachi's memoir, De Janko and him bonded over their shared love of Vienna but never took things further in OTL. Her sudden dismissal and Zog's refusal to give her as lavish a "severance" package as OTL leads her to seek comfort wherever she can.
4) Musa Juka is an OTL figure and ran the Ministry of the Interior for Zogu. One of Zog's most staunch supporter, Musa Juka also ran a secret police system which effectively clamped down on almost all political opposition to Zog. Following the assassination attempt in 1931, he effectively ran the country and prevented anyone from taking advantage of the chaos.
5) SVEA = Società per lo Sviluppo Economico dell'Albania. Both the amount (50 million Albanian Francs) and the interest rate (7.5%) are from OTL. It is interesting to note that the interest rate for loans from Britain to Commonwealth countries was 8% in OTL. That being said, I do actually agree with communist era Albanian historians who regard the loan as predatory, only I would argue that the size of the loan and not the interest rate makes it so.
6) In Sarachi's unpublished memoir he makes several remarks about Zog's supposed lack of intelligence and lack of literacy. Though some of it is political vitriol and personal scorn, Zog did show a consistent reluctance to write letters, something which severely impeded his ability to secure a marriage in OTL. That being said we have numerous other accounts of Zog speaking several other languages but not English. My hunch is that he had adequate grasp of several languages in a spoken/colloquial sense but his writing skills were quite poor.
7) OTL figure, Born 1911, died 1949. Xoxe eventually became a major figure in the Albanian Communist Party and was head of the Sigurimi or Secret Police until his arrest and subsequent execution following the Stalin-Tito split which saw Albania align itself with the USSR.
8) In OTL, Zog's initial selection for Archbishop occurred in 1929 was a fellow Istanbul found quite unsavoury named Vassan. In 1937 he nominated Kissi and finally secured the approval of the Patriarchate which secured the official Autocephaly of the Albanian Orthodox Church. In TTL the SI selects Kissi from the start and accelerates the church's development.
9) This excerpt is adapted from the excellent original found at: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/doe01
10) Zog's investment allows Joiner to avert forming a third syndicate and start drilling earlier. As a result all the dates from OTL are moved up substantially.
11) Though the SI's deployment of future knowledge allows Joiner/Zog to take a dominant position in the East Texas Oil Field, Albanian resources are too limited and too far away to secure rights to all of it. As a result it's development continues along the same lines as OTL just with Joiner/Zog grabbing a much bigger slice of the pie.
12) A new constitution was inaugurated in OTL immediately after Zog's coronation which gave him broad dictatorial powers. As it all happened so quickly afterwards it was undoubtedly written ahead of time and thus the SI is unable to "reverse course" on the more dictatorial portions immediately.
13) November 28 was the Albanian celebration of the anniversary of the signing of the Albanian declaration of Independence on November 28 1912. It is celebrated today as Dita e Flamurit. Under the Hoxhaist regime it was abandoned in favor of celebrating Dita e Chlirimit (Liberation day) on November 29 in which the Liberation of Albania from retreating German forces was celebrated. Whether to celebrate on the 28th or 29th is a political battleline even today. In reality both days are effectively holidays in the capital (I can't speak to the rest of the country, I've only been in Tirana on the 28th/29th). My friends tell me that this is the case everywhere though (with appropriate amounts of vitriol depending on their political orientation.)
14) FMSh = Fabrikat Mbretnore të Shqipnis Or Royal Albanian Industries (lit: Royal factories of Albania). If it wasn't clear this will be explained in the subsequent update and it has something to do with the scrap metal drive… For the true nerds, you'll notice that I wrote it in Gheg instead of standard Albanian as Standard Albanian didn't exist until the 1950s/60s.
15)KIMSh = Këshilli i Inovacionit të Mbretnis Shqiptare (Literal English Translation: Innovation Council of the Kingdom of Albania.) Again more on this next time.
16) Here we get to exchange rates. It's a tough question because it fluctuated so much from 1928-1939. For 1928-30 the exchange rate was around 1 Albanian Franc = roughly 4 Lira. The Albanian Franc strictly adhered to the Gold Standard and was actually one of the strongest currencies during the depression due to the continual influx of Italian money bolstering a faltering economy. I haven't been able to find the official exchange rates between the US dollar and the Albanian Franc but for this update I used the official Lira to USD exchange rate of 1 USD = 19 Lira. Given those two exchange rates every USD = 4.75 Albanian Francs according to my math. Even if I'm off by a bit I don't think that changes too much about this update.
17)As mentioned before, the SVEA loan came with a boatload of conditions, including basically surrendering control over Albanian fiscal policy to the Italians. You better believe that the Italians are going to use every means at their disposal to hamstring their development in TTL and keep Albania within its sphere of influence if not on the quickest track to annexation.
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OK, so here's the part where I confess my ignorance. I've tried to do as much research as I could, but I'll admit that I'm far from infallible. If I've missed some laws which prevent this from happening, I'd really like to know. If you have better numbers or think anything else is fishy please let me know. I'm more than willing to accept constructive criticism on the whole thing, but especially on the non-Albanian parts of this story where I wouldn't consider myself as well read. I've re-written large parts of other TLs due to such criticism so I really would like some input/help.
To repeat myself in case people don't want to read the discussion, the main impetus behind these changes is primarily due to the change in worldview from the SI. In OTL Zog had a worldview steeped in feudalistic tribalism. He simply didn't grasp economics in the way that someone from the 21st century would. The SI also has specific knowledge about East Texas because he comes from the region. (I don't want to write too many updates from his perspective because I think that's been overdone.) So in TTL this specific future knowledge and worldview is used to mobilize Zog's not unsubstantial wealth to secure the resources he needs. It's also worth keeping in mind that Zog was certainly one of if not the richest person in Albania at the time, with the easiest access to capital as the effective dictator. In OTL he amassed enough wealth for his family to live a comfortable aristocratic life to this day.
I'd also welcome any thoughts either here or in PMs if you have ideas on where Zog could secure more resources (investments, inventions etc.) or what he could spend it on (though we've discussed a lot already!)