Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-20
RIVIERA AND MONTE CARLO
ARE ALMOST DESERTED
French Pleasure Resorts Suffer Loss of
Trade Because of High Prices,
Says Gibbs.

unduly. To many English people of
average wealth it was almost economy
to spend a month or two at Cannes or
Mentone, and they could afford to lose
a few pounds il. a casino at Monte
Carlo and throw q few hundred francs
about with an air of splendid patron
| age upon the walters and elevator
| boys. But when the franc began to
lose its value by initiation and political
uncertainty prices rose high in
France. The cost of living doubled.
Peasants and shopkeepers marked up
their goods day by day Hotel pro
prietors went ahead of them in max.
ing foreigners pay for the weakness Of
the franc, and French Journalists
cursed those English and American
tourists who descended. they said, like
iocusts to feed upon the lifeblood of
france and insult the French people
with their disgusting prosperity.
LOcusts Stay at Home.
Well. the English locusts are stay.
ing home this season. Although
Fronch politicians have pulled them
sSsces together and kept the franc
ssts-1y at a hundred and twenty to
the English pound, French shop
keepers. peasant farmers and hotel
proprietors have not reduced their
H.
certain Of the future. They hate re.
ducing prices anyhow.
So it is that hotels de luxe on the
Riviera charge such prices as "a
francs for ones breakfast of Crane.
1rult; SIX francs for a small cup of
cofIee; TWO francs for a single orange:
six francs for bottle of mineral
water. Only millionaires can afford
TO live at this rate, and many Eng
llsh and American people who used
to make life gay on the Riviera were
not millionaires, but just ordinary
well-to-do folk who were careful of
their money and not ready to buy
even blue skies and sunshine at rake
pocket prices. Not only are Riviera
prices twice as high as last year, but
In England people have not so much
money to spend. That coal strike
with its disastrous effects on in
dustry, hit every business and trade
Manufacturers and merchants are
sending their wives and daughters
to English seaside places instead of
to white palaces among the palm
trees between Cannes and Mentone.
Another Sign of Times.
But another sign of the times is
found by listening to the language
of passersby.
Often it is German. There is a
political crisis at this moment in Ger
many. There is a good deal of unem-
ployment. But proof that Germany
has recovered from her industrial col
lapse and is steadily regaining her
wealth is clearly found by the large
number of Germans who are not even J
frightened of French prices along this
coast of pleasure.
1t is probable that those prices
on the Riviera will be reduced rapidly.
They are already beginning to come
down. now that the prospect of a bad
season is beginning to terribly traders.
They are praying for the English
locustS to come back and feed upon
them. Meanwhile they are making
lot of money in a quick time from the
crowds of American tourists who put
in at Monaco on the transatlantic
liners now cruising along the Medi-
terranean.
Two mornings ago I looked out of
my window and saw a big black
smudge on the far horizon. 1t was
the Adriatic on her way to Monaco
before going on to Naples, Athens and
Constantinople. The sight of her gave
me a thrill of emotion. remembering
a voyage in her on the enchanted
seas. On the night of her arrival par
ties left her in tenders and American
tourists in evening clothes, with the
glitter of diamonds in the ladies' hair
tried their luck in the gambling rooms
of Monte Carlo. There was less
wealth on board the Adriatic when
they returned to their staterooms
What was left behind will pay the
wages of the gardeners who water the
flower beds below the palm trees, pro-
vide new uniforms for the magnificent
policemen who guard the royal palace
and meet the bill for repainting the
Casino