New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-01

! missed the weight III my ihs'"'
and have started in fear before ! real
ized that I was on the high seas, bound
for n land where passports are not nee
esaory. The habit becomes an instinct.
Getting back from Paris to London
Ia rather more trouble than travelling
the other way. In Paris you must see
the American Consul, the British Con
sui and the police. Usually there IS
long line at the British Consulate
Re-entering at Folkstone, there rs
medical examination. ! think that the
health officers are guarding against
smallpox. Az any rate, they look mar
rowly ut ones wrists and forehead
have stood in line for two hours AT
! Folkestone, waiting my turn.
Team Work Imperfect.
Away from the zone Of operations
| neither resident nor alien can tra'ei
! by so much as one station without geV-
/ ting n permit from the police, statlhg
exactly where he is going ana wheh'
| In Paris your travel out OF town WIN
out special permission IS llmlteo 10 the
/ radius of the tram lines. Other"lsc
YOU must go to the police and get
"laisser passer" on your passport anu
I YOUR annex" This is usually inspect
1 ed DX the sentry NJ AiN NiN'''
when YOU embark and by the sentry on
the platform when you leave the train
Vsually this is only a formalty.
Usually. but not always. The team
work is not yet perfect, and the oihclals
at this end do not always know what
is happening at the other end. Con-
seouently, they are always giving
masses 10 places which no one is al
lowed to enter. For example, last DC
tober | was in the port OF Havre.t
was then open to civilians. | wanted TO
20 to Rouen. | got my "lalsser passer
and went. | had hardly stepped out oil
the station before a British oihcer
stopped me and asked for my papers.
These proved me guilty OF the crime
of writing for the press. Rouen, 1t APP
pears, had suddenly become an impor-
tant point of concentration for the BRIT
sh army-this was just before the
Battle of Ypres. Consequently was
arrested on the spot. Since | had only
just arrived, | was released upon prom
| ising to take the next train PACK TO
/ Havre. Last Easter, being IN Paris,
/ thought of going to see Easter services
! in some cathedral damaged by the Ger
mans in their advance of last August
Most cathedras which have undergone
like those of Rheims and SCISSORS. But
Soignies. nearer Paris, is many league
from shellfre. | went to the local
police and got my pass without trouble
As il happened | stayed in Paris over
Easter, after all. But found out later
that | should have been arrested,
charged with being correspondent, as
soon as stepped into Soignies.
An Arrest in Boulogne.
Then, too, officials make their mis-
takes, and it is the traveller who sur
! fers BIZ them. Last May an American,
conducting an industrial investigation
for the government, started from Paris
TO London via Boulogne. He wanted to
stay for two or three days in Boulogne.
All Of which he explained to the Com
missaire of Police in Paris. The Com
missaire assured him that he needed no
special permission to sop over IN
Boulogne; his regular "laisser passer"
from Paris to London would be enough.
He registered at the Hotel Folkestone,
in BUulogne. lie had not been there
three hours when a Scotland Yard man
had him under arrest. lie was hailed
before the assistant provost marshal.
| myself went down to the British
headquarters to explain that he was
not German spy but an American
official Nevertheless, he had to leave
Boulogne for London on the first boat.
The officials assured him that he
would be very welcome when his papers
were regular. At present his papers
called for one continuous passage from
Paris to London, and he must follow
schedule.
The process of travel has been re-
4 Inead 70 lnu.a- oil tba Con .
tinent. The French have readjusted
I their railroad system, cutting out all
trimmings. all luxur.es and all unnec-
essary trains. The Paris-LyOns express
is running again, since Lyons, as an in
dustrial centre, is as important TO
France as Chicago to the United States.
The famous "Nord-Sud' express be-
tween Paris and Madrid runs no more;
the trip is longer by twelve hours than
in old times. In general. all schedules
are slower; in general, also, they are
pretty well observed, though such luXu-
ries as dining ca. and sleeping cars
are scarce. Troop trains, however, still
take precedence over regular traffic; at
any time a passenger train may be
stopped for from an hour to twelve
hours ito facilitate troop movements"
Motives of Economy.
Travel is very scant. He who cares
10 buy a first class ticket will probably
find himself alone in his compartment
In even the second class compartments
there is usually an oyerplus of space
Most French people who once travelled
first or second class buy third class
tickets now for motives of economy.
Once it was almost impossible to get
a bad meal in French hotel. be that
hotel Partisan or provincial. The
French, being gourmets, held their un-
surpassed and famous cooks up TO the
mark, and this has been especially true
since the advent Of the automobile The
best dinner | ever had at any price
DO Ight y francs, or 20 cents, at
station esting-house in the central
mountains Of France Saint Egreve was
the name of the town if | remember
rightly. But the famous cooks of
France were all, or almost all, men.
And the men, up TO the age of forty
seven, are modified. Their feminine or
foreign substitutes vary greatly in
merit. Moreover, certain essentials of
the best French cookery are growing
scarce and dear. You are no longer
sure Of good dinner in any provincial
French hotel. Rather are you sure of
bad one. Il is the automobile which
kept these provincial French hotels GO
/ ing, and, of course, tourist traffic by
automobile is now thing OF the past.
0 In many small towns the hotel has
closed altogether; the wayfarer must
find rooms where he can, and must de-
pend upon private families for lodging
and upon small "estaminets" for food.
/ France in Her Beauty.
Yet, when all is said and done, Eu-
rope or at least France was never