The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-07-09

tHe less pungenC american travellers
mainly objected.
And SO competing lines, once the
idea gained currency, raced with each
other in. organizing and popularizing a
new kind of third class, set apart and
dignified, congenial company guaran-
teed, for, the. kind of American trav-
elers who had the desire to tour Eu-
rope but not the price to go via first
or second-class cabins.
Well-placed propaganda put the
idea over, and tourist third" and
lately Student third" Immediately
became popular. 1t is advertised as
intended chiefly for students, teachers,
clergymen and professional people.
The territory covered by the latter
designation, however, is broad enough
to include almost anyone whose APP
pearance and manner indicate that
his company during the voyage is
likely to be tolerable, or, in other
words, that he is an American, used
to the ways of Americans, and not a
returning alien whose customs and
habits might not prove in harmony
with the student crowd
The main idea of student third is
to have good time. Everybody join
in" is the slogan. With the steerage
refined and educated, the college boys
and girls have made it 1.-THE thing to
do.Y Before the end of the voyage
many first-class passengers find them
selves Joining in with the jolly throng
that is third class. One young man
who has been across twice, once, in
dignified first-class with his parents,
and the second in student third alone,
has nothing but wild enthusiasm for
the less expensive mode OF travel.
Tourist Third Now "The Thing"
In its few years of existence tourist
third has become the. most talked
about feature of modern ocean travel,
and has grown rapidly. The United
States line carried 1900 passengers
eastbound in 1924. Last year they
accommodated 10000 in the first six
months, and this year the number is
expected to exceed $4,000. Other lines
have had similar success.
Round-trip passage costs vary from
$160 to 1920 in tourist third, depend
ing on the ship and the ports of en-
barkation and debarkation. This in
cludes transportation, berth and meals.
Tourist third became popular first
in the eastern colleges, but rapidly
the idea spread westward Many uni
versities of the Middle and Far West
have tours now enroute. Several
groups, notably those from schools of
journalism, have taken along their in
structors with view toward absorb
ing a little academic learning along
with their other travel education.
OF course college students are not
the only ones that are touring Europe.
Business men, from bootleggers to
butter-and-egg men from the West,
have temporarily abandoned their
scramble for dollars while they assid-
uously practice the easily learned art
of spending them. They spend them
in Paris, London, Rome, Venice and
along the Rhine, where, it is under
stood, one gets so much more for ones
dollar than when it is spent art home.
What do Europeans think of these
droves of apparently wealthy Ameri-
cans? Let Frenchman tell you
Georges villa, writing in the New
York Times:
"The French people, as whole,
finds no benefit from this tourist inva-
sion. Citizens are, as rule, not even
curious about the hordes of foreigners
in their midst. Only few who stand
to make direct financial protit-such
as the hotel keepers-are at all inter-
ested.
Americans Happy Lot
"a Frenchman is keenly conscious
that with his poor francs he cannot
compete with the dollars and pounds
of the tourists. Many essentials,
amusements and luxuries totally mac
cessible to him prove inexpensive to
foreigners. Then, too, there is the
Frenchman's fundamental patriotism
that prevents his paying any attention