The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-04-22
MANY STAYED DURING WAR
Remained in Old Haunts Without
MeIeetation From PeIice-Many -
q
Drift in Through Swiss From
:~.,, tier Since Armistiee. Il
I BY BURR PRICE.
In the New York Herald.

armed camp of war. In greater num-
Der, in holder manner, they are living
in the outlying districts. just beyond
the Notifications.
They are resuming the proprietor
ship of small cafes-as3 by magic they
are popping up with smiles behind the
little zinc bars from which they disap.
peared so precipitately in 1914,
Whence came they? Have they been
hiding in their own wine cellars
throughout the last four years? q;
r. They are renewing the direction of
small restaurants, where sauerkraut
once was the specialize de la maison"
go into the kitchens now and there
you will find The perspiring Teutons.
Have they been hiding behind their
stoves during the war?
- Re-Ensaoins in Trade.
= They are reopening corner grocery
,stores-only that's not the name for
them In France-and little businesses
OF all sorts. They are now freely en-,
gsging in the supply trade-lt has
been found that throughout the long
hostilities many Germans who had sue
ceeded In remaining in French terri
tory had piled their business Of fur
nishing war material to the army.
SScorn for such traitorous swine who
would sell death-producing stuff for
use against their own couEtrymen is
minimized by establishment at the
laxity of the French government in.
permitting them such practice, "
For the last few weeks Paris city
officials. have been investigating the
presence of so many Germans, and 1t
has been found that while q few have
been in their old haunts without mo-
lestation from the police during the
war period the. greater number have
been drifting in through the Swiss
frontier since the signing of the
.armistice.
AT present the hands of the police
are completely tied by the fact that
80 per. cent Of the Germans who re
manned or have been drifting back are
naturalized as Frenchmen, and the
chamber, with characteristic procras-
tination. keeps putting Off passage Of
the proper measures to take this nat.
uraliZation from the Germans and per.
NIT the police to GUST them.
An Illuminating article was pub,
lished in La Liberte the other eve
ming signed by 81. CALI.
zone wonders at finding in the midst
OF the entrenched camp of Paris so
many enemy subjects" he says. There
j has never been at any time SO many
foreigners In Paris. do not mean Wis
itors here temporarily, but people
stopping permanently, doing business,
exploiting enterprises and all too often
taking the jobs Of modified French
men. Nothing has been done to keep
these undesirable citizens out
"In December, 1914, MIR. Laurent,
who was then project Of police, stated
that 10000 aliens were settled in the
capital. Today, according to the Of
fetal figures, there are III 600. The
great majority stay here without au-
thorization. The special commission
named to investigate foreigners and
issue permits for residence has been
unable to pass upon more than $4,000
cases. Three thousand permissions
were granted and the same number Of
refuSals were made. ia d.. 't%.
Stayed In Spite Of All.
'aThose who did not get the proper
permits succeeded In staying anyway,
despite all measures taken to put them
out Of the country. This they accom-
plished by disappearing for a short
time and returning to the same ad-
dress, or changing their residence and
failing to register. About one hum
dred who practiced these receptions
were caught and sent to concentration
camps and another hundred were es-
corted to the frontiers. ~ -
''The most undesirable often avoided
detection and investigation. What risk
did they run? None at all"
These figures on the number Of for
'eigners living in Paris during the war
and the number of them officially ap-
proved will be interesting for Ameri.
CANS who have been through the Or
deal of getting matriculation papers,
permits to live temporarily, permits
to live permanently, certificates OF
domicile and other little scraps of pa
per. It strikes me that the French
police were a bit overzealous in cata-
loguing good, honest Americans
people from home, know, were most
scrupulouy in appearing before the
proper authorities-while thousands
Of real undesirables were roaming
around untfcketed, unmolested.
At the time the Bertha was firing
there was much speculation on -wheth'
er or not the Germans got quick indi.
j cation of the accuracy Of their aim,
and 1t doesn't seem at all improbable
that with such large number of their
brother Germans here they had q good
working information bureau.