Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1921-03-17
EXCHANGE RATE
CAUSES WORRY
Guests in Switzerland Hotels Are
Kept Guessing.
REPORTS LOSING PATRONAGE

h3b SsubS
Sojourners In Some Cases Find That
Their Bills Are Considerably Higher
Than They Had Fisured-War Has
Made Many Sufferers Without Means
to Seek Health in Alps-United
States, Japan and Argentina Only
Exchange Not at Discount.
If you want to study the exchange
question at close quarters, Switzer-
land is the place. Sojourning there
fol pleasure are to be found persons
of all natiOnalities, and among these
the condition of their respective ex-
changes Is the constant topic OF con-
versation. An exchange can be very
vital matter, indeed, when fall In
the value of your country's currency
may make a difference Of 20 to % per
cent in your hotel bill. This, In fact,
was the unfortunate experience OF
many Greeks living In Switzerland
when their country threw over Venice
los and declared for Constantine.
In the days before the war one civil
lied country's money was as good as
another's for all practical purposes
The Engishman, Frenchman and Ger
man in Switzerland got just as good
value for their respective currencies
as the American got for his dollar.
Now the table of quotations from
Geneva or Zurich tells a very differ
ent story. In table representing %
countries the exchange of all but three
Is at q discount.
Americas Above Par.
These three countries are the United
States, Japan and the Argentine Re-
public. The Argentine exchange Is at
par, while those Of the United States
and Japan are at q premium.
All these. unfavOrable exchanges
mean so many countries unable to
trade with Switzerland. Who now In
France and Italy, to say nothing OF
countries with worse exchanges, can
buy the famous watches Of Geneva or
the well-known brands of Swiss choco-
late? No wonder that Swiss industries
are in a bad way and that there is I'M
employment Not a single industry is
fourishing, except the electrical, and
this last Is prospecting only because
the state railways are in process Of
electrification
The industry which has been affect
ed above all u.s. of course, the hotel in
dustry, which In some respects Is the
leading trade of Switzerland. MI
merous though Switzerland's foreign
visitors are these days, they are only
fraction Of those of former times.
Last summer, with one or two excep-
lions, the usual tourist centers were
virtually empty the whole season. Be
fore the war the most numerous visit
ors were Germans. How many Ger
mans are likely to visit Switzerland
now either for pleasure or for bust
ness with the mark worth about one
thirteenth of Its pre-war value? One
meets Germans certainly, but they are
very few. They must be either ex-
ceedingly well off or else persons who
were farseeing enough to deposit
funds in Switzerland before the big
depreciation in German values began.
Russians Pitled.
For the Russians who are, or rather
were, numerous body there, the ex-
change has been a terrible tragedy.
For most of them 1t has meant abso-
lutte restitution. Some are supported
wholly or In part by various charitable
bodies. One meets with cases Of Rus
SLAMS of noble family who had never
done an hours work in their lives
earning small sums by teaching Ian
guage or music or by needlework.
II Is at the mountain health resorts.
such as Davos and Leysin, that the ex-
change tragedy Is at its grimmest.
Leysin, for example, used to be the
place chiefly favored by the French for
the cure Of tuberculosis in all its
forms. Nowadays the French colony
there Is mere remnant of what II
once was. The disastrous fall In ex-
change last winter nearly emptied the
place OF French people, and the bitter
ness of 1t is that so many of these
returned to their homes half cured,
probably to die. For those who re-
main 1t is often a terrible financial
struggle.
II am spending all my dot on my
cure" French girl will tell you with
a sad smile. What that means those
who know French life will appreciate.
Before the war II was difficult enough
for a French girl without "dot" to
get a husband. Now, with the enor-
nous surplus of women, the -dowerless
girl is condemned to lifelong spinster-
hood.
The exchange has its humorous side
also. An Engllshwoman or, to be pre-
else, an Irishwoman, who came out to
Switzerland recently, was much puz-
zled by the fact that while In pre-war
days she got Is francs at least for her
FL sterling. she now got only % francs.
"Who gets the difference?" she asked
at the bank where she was changing
her money. It would have taken
cleverer man than this stolid Swiss
bank clerk to answer the question.