The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-04-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu REAU
FREDERIc J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washfngtan. u c
HOLDING DOWN THE AMERICAN
TRAVELLER

| Washington, d. c., April 2o.-Judg-
| ing from the number of persons who
apply for passports to go to Europe.
it is not generally realized that this is
Just as difficult now as it was while
! the war went on Not single restric-
ton has been lifted since the signing
of the armistice.
| All the ships that can be comman-
deered for the purpose are still busy
! carrying supplies to Europe, and car
rying soldiers on the return trip, so
that there are no facilities for sight
seers. Europe, moreover. does not
want to be seen. The allied govern
ments have made unanimous request
| to our government that it please not
| let any unnecessary Americans go
| over there. Hence. your argument as
| to why you should go must be abso-
luteIy flawless and irrefutable if you
| hope to obtain a passport.
Literally hundreds of disgruntled
! persons are turned away every day
| from the offices of the Bureau of Pass
they cannot show a sufficiently good
reason for wanting to go across.
| Many of them, of course, are unac-
Quainted with the rules governing the
| issuance of passports. and innocently
/ inform the passport officials that they
want to see the great battlefields OF
the war. Only the other day, mid
! dle-aged spinster, carrying a suitcase,
| a kodak and a Baedecker. hustled into
| the office and pleasantly demanded
passport 70 France When asked why
she wanted 1t, she said that she was
| anxious to get to Europe and take
some pictures of the devastated re-
| gions before they were reconstructed.
| She simply couldn't believe it when
one of the officials told her that the
| government wasn't issuing passports
| to sightseers.
| II have been studying French for
the past year with this end in view,
| she declared Indignantly, land I have
given up a good position to go. can't
| turn back now"
i '.Sorry, madam" said the passport
official, but those are the rules"
Another class of innocents who want
to go abroad are the women relatives
of members of the American expedi-
tionary forces. At the request of the
war department. no passports are be-
ing issued to the mothers, wives or
daughters of officers or enlisted men
in the armed forces of the United
States, or of men serving in Europe
under the direction of the American
Red Cross, Y. NJ. c. A. or similar or
CARNATIONS. But apparently many
American women are still unfamiliar
with this widely published ruling.
| Not long ago, an extensively dressed
woman swept majestically into the Of
flee and demanded an application
blank for passport. The official who
! waited on her put the usual question
as to why she wanted to go to Europe.
"Oh, I always go over every two or
three years." she explained languidly.
Have you any relatives in the
American expeditionary forces?" in
quired the official
PLENTY OF them" replied the lady
in the same bored tone. "All high
Dfficers." ss.T= la'l
| When the official ventured to sus4
gest that it would be impossible for
her to obtain a passport under those
circumstances. she began a long and
eloquent rehearsal of her high family
connection. When this failed to i'm
press the official, she became belliger-
ent. and departed with the remark
that she>would see her cousin, or sem
| a4pr so-and-so. So far this lady has
not obtained her passport, and there
ara no immediate prospects that she
will.
These cases, where the applicants
| for passports honestly admit their rea-
sons for going to Europe, are the sim
plest ones that the passport officials
! have to- handle. The worst that such
an individual can do is to wax indig-
nant, fiercely criticize the government,
and perhaps childishly threaten to go
to Europe anyWay-without a pass
port. One woman whose eight to a
passport was challenged a few days
ago, wildly asserted that she would
ii hire boat and go over on her own
| account.
The cases that really tax the ingen-
uity of the passport officials are those
In which the applicants are fully aware
OF the current restrictions and cIeverly
try to evade them. Practically the
only two reasons for trips to Europe
accepted by the government are inn
perative business and the serious ILL
ness of a near relative-if the relative
is not in the American expeditionary
rorces A short time ago, a man
rushed into the Washington. bureau
and explained that the revoIutionists
in Rumania had confiscated nine mil
lion dollars worth of properly be-
longing to his firm, and that he had
70 get over there as soon as possible.
AS this man had no difficulty in prov
ing the circumstances, a passport was
issued to him. But on the same day,
at least ten applications for passports
were rejected from individuals whose
alleged business in Europe could not
be substantiated
never knew so many old people
to be dying in Europe as there are
at present" declared one of the pa SIS
port officials the other day. in dis
cussing the MANY cases handled by the
. bureau In which the reason for Eu-
| ropean travel Is obviously framed. -
Almost every third person who has
) come in this office today has had an
old mother or father in England or
France. who is just about to die, and
who must see him at once" Accord
ing to this official, the bureau of pass
port control has an excellent method
OF detecting faxed reasons. but natlr-
ally 1t does not care to take the pub
lie Into its confidence on this point.
Here is an instance which illustrates
the bureaus method. however:
Almost the only way a woman "a n
get over to Europe at present. barring
an III parent or an imperative bust
ness mission. is to go over with her
husband. II he can prove that he is
going to remain for a year. Unless
, he can produce evidence to show thai
EhiS business interests dana nd IL