New-York tribune., 1921-03-06
Life i'm Monte Carlo
Just One Scrap of
Paper After Another
Everywhere a Traveller Goes,
Says One, He Must Have
a Ticket Which Must BE
Produced Upon Demand

LONDON, Feb. 2o.-Lifo at Monte
Carlo seems to be one scrap Of paper
after another. II am obsessed by
pieces of paper" writes A. E. Manning
Foster in The London Daily Mail.
"You cannot do anything in Monte
Carlo without a ticket. And to lose
one is to involve yourself in endless
troubles. The official mind is grieved
and affronted at any levity in this
matter. The billet must be treasured
as sacred document and produced
promptly on demand.
"You must have a cloakroom ticket
when you leave your hat. You must
have a ticket for the Casino, for the
Sporting Club and for the Cerclc
Prive.
"You must havc passport, an iden-
tifcation card and a permit from the
police to stay more than. fortnight
in tho principality.
"Everywhere you 60 people press
tickets upon you. One night when
turned out my pockets I counted four
teen. 1t is true most Of them were
out Of date. But it Is ticklish mat
ter to destroy a ticket in Monte Carlo.
You may tear up the wrong onel
"As for money, your pockets fairly
bulge with paper. Since my arrival
l have seen only one COMA 10cen-
time piece. keep it with some Eng
lish silver and coppers. The Jingle Of
them is reassuring. The touch of them
is the only substantial thing in q phan-
tom world of paper.
Nothing can make me feel that
these dirty, undignified scraps are
money. / take no pride in their pos
session. My one desire is to get rid
of the tainted things as soon as l can.
II havc had temporary possession Of
undesirable Treasury notes in England,
but never have seen such evil-looking,
dilapidated, filthy lucro as here.
"And the worst Of it is that half Of
it is not current in the place where
you are staying. There are all sorts
of local French issues Of Is and 80
centimc and franc notes, which arc
palmed off on the unwary and arc no
good in Monte Carlo.
"Much as YOU hate touching the
nasty things 1t is we'll to examine your
change. Bank Of France notes are, Of
course, all right, as are the notes Of
the principality. The Chambre de
Commerce de Nice ct Alpes Maritimes
has some quite pictorial small notes il
only you can secure clean specimens.
II much prefer the Casino counters
to this paper money. Others evidently
do SO also, as the Casino has ISSUED q
notice asking members not to use them
for payment outside the rooms and to
exchange them at the end of play.
The counters are pleasant things,
and at any rate they are clean. There
are 1,O0Ofranc plaques (nominally
$1,000, fine, solidlooking fellows; there
are round blue 1O0-franc ($20) count
ers, smaller red ones representing 90
francs, and still smallcr pieces at 8
francs
zone cannot feel for them the same
affection that gold and silver coins in
spire. There is not the same thrill in
playing with them, nor does the sight
of piles Of them on the croupier s
table arouse the same avarice as did
in former days the CLINT OF gold. 1t is
| like the return to childhood, when VIC
were allowed to play games Tor count
ers but not for money.
II am sure the moralist might find a
parable in it all-this scene Of feverish
men and women crowded in stuffy
rooms playing for--counters. 1t is :,
game Of make-believe in an unreal
world.
"But if there is not the same Joy in
winning counters as in winning gold,
the bank scores in another way.
Gone parts with them in handfuis
without sense of loss and without re-
: gret."