The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-26
HEAVY
 OCEAN TRAVEL
 DURING SUMMER

Heavy ocean travel to Europe, es- pecially England and France, is ex- pected this spring and summer. By the time the bluebirds are fitting northward on their annual trip many persons will be dusting off the old steamer trunk and calling up the Passport Bureau to see what the chances are. Indications are for rush of folks thirsting for look at the old lands, to say nothing of the old brands.
 Passport restrictions of six years standing will be absolutely off, it is said, as far as England and France 1 are concerned, by June 1. As regards American ships available to take ad- vantage of this exodus, the transat- | lantic service is just now in the same shape as it was in 1914, despite the l fact that this Government holds some | fine passen ger vessels, notably the ] Leviathan, George Washington, Mount l Vernon, Agamemnon and Von Steu- 1 ben, former German liners which i once did their share in carrying the cream of the transatlantic traffic.
 None of these vessels is expected i to be seen in the passenger trade this 1 spring or summer Even if they are | definitely allocated or sold to private concerns it would be difficult to re- ] ! months In the case of the Deviathan it is likely that ten months would be 1 required for a thorough refftting.
 In the meantime the American flag | will be carried by the four American and two Red Star liners which flew the Stars and Stripes before the war. These are the St Paul. St. Louis Phil adelphfa and New York, and the Fin land and the Kroonland, vessels which
 have been hopelessfy outbufIt as far
 as attracting modern trade is con-
 cerned- Accidents recently have put both the St. Paul and the St. Louis
 out of the running for some time. Transatlantic trade begins the re- construction period with practically , the same vessels on the whole except for such serious losses as the Lusi-
 tanfa- Arabic. Iaconfa, Franconia and
 practically all the vessels of the An
 chor line fleet which operated be- tween New York and Glasgow. Ot
 these only the veteran Columbia is
 still left
 The great difference in the situa- tom is that the keen competition o1
 the Germans is no longer present ana !, Bremen will not be coming out tr carry crowds to and fro between New
 York, French and British ports. The
 great bulk of the travel must fal
 to the British and French liners, a! . l America is still not a serious com 1 petitor-
 Realizing the significance of th'
 situation the big British lines hay, :, been grooming great ships like tn :, Imperator, Acquitan1a, Olympic, Mau | retania and others for their return
 to peace time traffic. It is said tha
 almost s2.0O0,O00 has been spent o1 '- the Olympic in reconditioning tn a vessel and turning her into an oi e burner
 Many factors will send folks to tn E salt sea waves this year. One of tn T most potent will be the prohibitio R administration now in force. The cal
 of the rickey will be abroad upon tn e waters and thousands of persons wi d spend vacations on shipboard in or - der to get away from the stringer al conditions here.
 Prices will be high as far as saIoo
 accommodations are concerned bJ
 this includes bar and smoke rooI
 service, to say nothing of swimmin is pools and veranda cafes. On tn 'S larger and more luxurious vesse about $200 will=i5e the minimum or
 way saloon fare. Hoping to lure
 goodly share of travel the four Amer
 ican line ships have been placed c
 one class basis, with a minimum A ate of s110 for the crossing.