Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-01-08
TRAVELS STILL
FARFROM NORMAL
Many War Conditions Are Hold
ing Over in Europe.
CLOSE SCRUTINY is kept

Excellent Reasons for Going Abroad
Must Be Given Before Passports Are
Vised-Passport No Good With
out Certificate That Income Tax Has
Been Paid-Joys and Tribuatons
of the Grand Tour Nowadays Are
Described.
Let no misguided tourist imagine
that. because the war is over and the
state department has announced that
1t will issue tourist passports for GER
tain countries, travel will soon be like
what it was in the past. 1t is true
that peace exists, at least in western
Europe; but it is no less true that
many war conditions are holding over,
| and that some surprising new Situa-
lions have arisen, as for instance in
Switzerland, where the influx of Ger
mans has been so serious that a clos
er scrutiny of all travellers has been
instituted, writes Charles Epson Clark
from Paris to the New York Times.
AS regards England, food and la
Dor conditions remain such that Amer
lean women and children had better
stay away for the present; indeed,
they will have to give excellent rea-
sons to the British consulate in or
der to get the requisite wise. Even
our own state department asks your
reasons for going abroad; and they
required me to furnish proof that /
was really going abroad for the pur-
pose of Study"
1t takes time and money for ones
passport even yet. First the state de-
partment absOrbs a couple of dollars
and the time needed for mailing the
application to Washington and return
ing the passport, (here go two photo
graphs, alsO). Then the French con-
sulate takes another of your stock of
prints for your application Ito which,
by the way, you have to swear a half
dollars worthy, and two more dollars;
it has also the right to take several
days for Investigations well-founded
right, as I had a chance to note while
standing in line; man who was
clearly a German, ahead of me- want
ed his passport vised in order to go
over and get an inheritance in what
had been Germany till last fall.
Are Very Exacting.
My next country was Switzerland;
to my surprise I found I had to sub
NIT two letters testifying to my moral
and financial standing, and to the cor
rectness of my purposes in visiting
Switzerland; and these letters have
to be from New Workers within tele-
phonic reach of the consulate! That
means going out and getting the let
tiers from cOmplaiSant friends and
then coming around the next day for
the passport duly vised (and 81 mOre).
All this, mind you, just for transit;
had / wanted to stop in Switzerland,
presume they would not have passed
me so easily. One gem, however, l
did discover while waiting my turn in
the Swiss consulate. / picked up
Berne paper of last summer, and in
the police court news ran across the
item tina several men had been ar
rested in a local hotel for playing
poker They assured the judge that
playing poker was not gambling; but
after he had had the rules explained
to him, he decided promptly that ''das
pokerspieI' was a game Of chance, and
fined the players so francs apiece!
Next come the Italians, who would
also like photograph and couple
of dollars The Jugo-Slavs (Kingdom
Of the Serbs, CrOats and Slovenes) are
! by far the most modest of the crowd
no photograph, and only 70-cent
fee! 1t was interesting, with Fiume
in mind, to observe that the laborer
ahead of me and the clerk were talk
ing Italian and not Slav. Roumania
came last on my list; only 81, and no
delay. These are all allied countries;
one needs the authorization of the
military authorities to visit Germany
or Austria.
Passing the Tax Collector.
But ones passport, duly vised,
avails one nothing without the certif-
cate that one has paid ones income
tax: that means another trip, this
time to the custom house, for an in
come tax clearance paper. Many of
the alien laborers now going home
never paid an income tax; Uncle Sam
| takes it from them as they sail. /
was told that the amount collected
| that way in cash from outgoing for
eigners has amounted in few months
| to several million dollars.
I am. assuming that you have sue
ceeded in getting steamer tickets,
while providing your passports with
| proper vises. If you don't know, you
will be surprised to find out how much
it COSTS During the war it was re-
markable how low, comparatively,
ocean passage was. In fact, l had
year ago. on an italian steamer which
now charges $3.50 and will shortly ask
more, the cheapest ocean passage, all
| things considered, that / ever enjoyed.
| We took five weeks from Genoa to
| New York-five weeks of unsurpassed