South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-09-17
ABUNDANT WEALTH
WORRIES" SWISS
Gold too Common IN Lucerne
Swiss Scenery Becomes
Drug on Market.

LUCERNE. Sept. 16.-Remember
the fairy story of the little girl
whose porrldge or corn meal mush
or shredded wheat. or whatever ii
was. turned % pure gold2
Somehow or other she was saved
from starving 20 death-sOme fairy
prince or other cooked her an ONE.
lette just in time-but she never
wished for gold after that.
She was just exactly like the Swiss
people this summer.
Common as Goats.
Gold in Switzerland Is as COM
mon as mountain goats. Twenty
franc gold pieccs-the louis" OF
the French Empire. Belgian pieces.
italian pieces some OF them rare
enough coins from before the mid
die OF the last century from
hand 70 hand and are as plentiful
as coffee checks in a cafeteria.
But they won't buy anything
An5 their relation 20 the exchanges
20 other countries Is so high that
nobody. except a few better-to-do
tourists. comes % buy what Switz-
erland has 20 SELF
The chief thing Switzerland has
20 sell is scenery. Scenery. with all
the trimmings. other parts o. the
world have lakes and mountains
We have 'em in our own national
parks-but no place except Switzer-
land has lakes and mountains so
beautifully arranged to be looked at
with no exertion whatever.
Any American family-including
grandpa and grandma-who have
never so much as walked three
blocks without calling upon the
ministrations Of the family fiivver
can rough it, in Switzerland with
out even getting out OF breath.
They can leave hrst-ciass hotel,
whore they are made to feel by
practiccd Swiss hotel people that
they are the express individuals
whose comfort the proprietor had
I'm mind when he established the
house. ride on the swift. even-keeled
boat on a placid lake to the lower
terminus OF a cog-raiiway, ascend a
mountain. sleep there in another
hrst-class hotel, where they are
persuaded they are enjoying an
original adventure; view the sun
rise and descend again to the same
swift boat-all without so much as
one single solitary pant.
This process they boast about
hack in Philadelphia or Omaha or
Salt Lake City as climbing the
Rigi."
Scenery Not WorkingN
But this summer the scenery
isn't working properly. It isn't
scene-shifters' strike. or anything
like that. BIuntly. its that the thrill
OF Rigi climbing and other Swiss
outdoor sports costs too many hard
American dollars or nearly equally
solid British pounds.
Prepared TO receive q horde OF
tourists eager 10 get on the travel
map again as 81 was before the war
Switzerland has received the shock
OF it's life.
In several languages-the Swiss
never express themselves except
multilingually. il you can believe
the signs in the large cities-the
people Of Switzerland sigh for the
good old days when there was less
gold and more guests.
Switzerland gives the impression
OF having more hotels than private
homes. Before the war every sum-
mer found all these hotels crowded
or. at worst. comfortably filled
This year whole hotels stand practi-
cally empty. Many have shut down
Quaint. attractive places around
the Lake Of LuCerne-hOtels with
huge gardens and marvellous views
serve dinner I'm the evening 10
scattered groups OF guests that re-
mind one OF a college class in trigo-
nometry tho afternoon OF big foot
ball game. There Is at least one
waiter 10 q guest. When a new
eNest arrives he is all but carried
10 his room on the shoulders OF the
hotel proprietor and the concierge
The line OF empty omnibuses Mt the
railway station IS as depressing as
a funeral
Great quantities OF the Americans
who came to Europe this summer
pass through Switzerland. But they
pass through They go on into Ger
many or into Austria where dol
lar almost obscures the sun.