Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-07-30
OFFICIAL fOOuSHNESS
ABOUT PASSPORTS
ISN'T OVER YET
ARTICLE XLIII.
Dlepe, France, July 13. 1872,

Dlepe, france, July 13, 1920.
/ am writing amid the changing of
bells and the booming of guns. for to-
morrow. July IA, is the French equiv
alent of the Fourth of July-Bastile
Day. 1t is typical of the difference
between the French race and the
Anglo-SaXon that their great nat
ional holiday is the anniversary of
the action of mob. however justi-
fable, while ours is that of the sol
emn signing of great public docu-
ment. But Bastile Day doesn't
come till tomorrow, and / must get
this Latter Al topisht since our
trip ovsr here haa delayed n ~ long.
already. x..s n 'sf Fl. I, I,
learned yesterday. to my SORROW
'that all this official sfoolishness about
passports isn't over yet, tive sAots
iced that most people who travel are
lin favor q. the League q Naticns,,
Eand i done attrlbnte Il To- any ,ofty
lidealisnl, They hope shat thsrs
will be government Of the world"
some day, so they won't have to
have their passports vised. l knew
mine had to be done at the French
consulate in London, but supposed
it would be the work of few min
utes. 1t took me just that long to
run into the first snag, for found
that everyone going to France must
make the French government pres
ent of his photograph. l had none.
studio around the corner. But my
wife and l share the same passport,
and she was not there to have her
picture taken. All right, the studio
would copy the photo on the pass
port. This took an hour.
/ returned, and got as far as the
man who wields the rubber stamp.
He pointed out, courteously. but with
considerable emphasis, that my pass
port was good for Great Britain only.
must go to the American consulate
and get it extended for France. That
took almost another hour. Then all
had to do was fork over twelve
shillings (three dollars) and we were
ready to start. OF course we all
know the French government is in
need OF money. But they shouldn't
be for long. judging by the number
of people from Kansas City and Kala-
mazoo I saw paying their entrance
fees yesterday.
The longed-for rush Of American
tourists seem to have begun in earn
est. London swarmed with them
yesterday. with their fraternity pins
and tortoise-shell glasses, their chic
hats and neat shoes. 1t did my heart
good to hear them talk, for in spite
of all that is said about. our drawl-
ing and our speaking through our
noses. we speak much better English
than most of the people Of Oxford or
London.
At Victoria Station this morning
we ndU TWO ple0SdiIh SUI ia i'N7' ~ y
found that we could register (check)
our trunk, instead of having to keep
an eye on it during the whole trip,
(of course there was an extra fee);
and we found a copy of Life on
news stand. True, il was the issue
of May %, and we had to pay nine
pence eighteen cents) for it. But
with our trunk checked and Life"
to read we felt as though we We're
going on a civilized journey at home.
There are many routes by which
one may cross the Channel. We
chose the one from Newhaven to
Dieppe, which takes three hours.
Some of the shorter ones take only
an hour but they are supposed to be