The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-05-11
TITLES CHEAP IN
FOREIGN MARKET
AYERS VISITOR
! Hard To Tell When They
Are Genuine In
~ Europe

Any one who has Travelled much in
Central Europe since the war knows
i that though the title ''graf" is given
in dictionaries as count or baron" it
is far more accurately rendered by the
plain American word CRATER, writes
A Maj. Hugh B. G. Pollard, in the New
York Times. A Continental Euro
pean title is, in fact, prima facie cause
for suspicion, for even if it is a genu-
inc one it means that you are meeting
somebody with a position to keep up,
and the exchanges beng what they
are, it is all Scotland to a China ap-
Il pie that this maintenance has to be
done by alert wits, at your expense,
rather than met out of a secure in
come.
The difficulty of detecting an i'm
1 poster with bogus title is great, for
efficient books of reference are hard to
i obtain, and there are many shady titles
which have endured through several
generations and so acquired sort of
semi-authority. These titles, though
recognized, do not appear in any ref
erence book The Russian debacle and
the economic collapse of the central EN-
pires have thrown a variety of right
fully titled folk on the labor market.
but for every genuine sample there are
a dozen entirely bogus Adventures.
A Self-Defensive Matter
After all, it is bad to be a destitute
exile, and sound middle-class exile
4 probably feels that he is handicapped
/ presence of equally destitute barOns and
4 princelings who have better chance
( at any jobs that are going. In self
defense he gives himself a title. Hence
the plethora of princes and barons,
princesses and harnesses, and the
curious absence of untitled refugees.
Last summer / spent an idle hour
with an old friend, the proprietor of
n well-known French seaside hotel, at
the most expensive watering place in
France. We were checking up his visit
ing lists, which blazed with titles,
against an enormous red book. The
Titled Nobility of Europe" end a va
riety of smaller ones, like the Almanach
de Gotha, Justus Perthe's noble Fam
ilies," and kindred useful volumes of a
social and heraldic nature.
The results were astounding, for we
could not find any mention at all of
about one-third of the ostensibly titled
did find were scheduled as unmarried,
vet had beautiful harnesses, or coun-
tesses' with them, and one baroness.
marked in italics as divorced, was still
using her old title and was accom-
panied by a baron, whom we had fond
ly imagined to be her real husband,
but who ought to have been twenty
years older, if the books were to be be-
lieved. 1t was all most scandalous and
amusing; still, as NJ. lie Proprietaire
observed. his business was to keep his
hotel full, avoid anything embarrassing
to his guests, and so long as they paid
their bills he did not care what they
called themselves.
Nowadays" he said, there is
flourishing business in titles and dis
tinctions, and some of the people may
be using titles they have bought. l can
give you the address of an inter
mediary in that sort of business if you
like. do not guarantee that his wares
are genuine, but, as you see, that does
not appear to be handicap"
A Catalogue POsthaste
= / spent hours phrasing a letter in
French to the purveyor of nobility.
With the aid of several friends l accom-
plished little masterpiece of diffidence
and delicately tentative suggestion. An
explanatory letter and a printed Cata-
logue came by return post. This cata-
logue covered not only titles, but all
sorts of literary and academic distinc-
tions, and gave particulars of the in
sigma worn by the fortunate recipients
of these dignities. From the list my
friends and / learned that several men
we knew-men not unknown in the
contemporary world of British letters
were brazenly sporting these very
bogus orders at academic dinners.
H. Tfnrt hlyf
high-sounding literary affair. The
Academic Latino DIES Sciences, Arts ct
Belles-Lettres de Paris. For modest
$50 ane became an honorary life mem
: Der, and the same money also COW
cred handsome diploma, a metal cross
Of honor and a red and blue button to
to be worn in the buttonhole with
morning dress.
The next attractive offer wos Spa
ish. For $75 one became a correspond
ing member of the Royal Hispano-
American Academy of Letters, Science
and Arts (Cadizl, and received a
diploma and large order or medal sur
mounted by the royal crown. This
elegant trifle is worn at functions on IA
gold chain around the neck and must
, look really imposing on a white shirl
front. 1t is not likely to be OveI
looked, and it is very nearly three
inches long. The diploma, too, photo
graphic copy of which was inclosed,
must look perfectly convincing in a
sober golden frame.
The third item, the International
Academy of Letters and Science of Ma
pies, musters four classes of purely lit
erary dignity. The lowest, just plain
Officer, costs about $52; Grand Of
ficer costs $50, Grand Cross $12O,
while Grand Gordon, the highest of all
in the dAnnunzio and
Mussolini line-costs $3.50. In each
case an additional fee of $50 is pay