Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-10


right. 1927. IN all countries by North Amer
lean Newspaper Alllancel.
PARIS, July 9.-France is looking
forward to your coming this Autumn
Lcgionnaircs, with the easy joy o.
seeing an old comrade.
France remembers you. They still
talk about you in the small towns, II
the villages and in those few and tai
between farmhouses where you once
chucked your pack.
There are a lot of you left here, you
know. You didn't all go home. Some
of YOU married into France. Like the
fellow down at VillaCoublay, only
kilometers from the Place de la Con
corde. who runs garage. He was
an airplane mechanic when. he mar
RED the daughter of French garage
man. He still wears an .. u. shirt
when he comes out to wind couple
OF HterS of essence into your tank.
And there's another up in Fismes.
He's the proprietor of the Franco
American hotel there. not far from
that bridge across the Vesle into
Fismette. Pennsylvanians, remember
that bridge? That eX-doughboy will
be glad to put you up for the night il
you want to so back to see the bridge.
Scene Little Changed.
Talking about going back to the
front The best place to go back, to
see anything. is the Bots de Belleau.
Go up to Chateau Thierry. It's no
distance from Paris, now that you
don't have to hike it. now that the
trains are running. The stations re-
built. the towns rebuilt, the IeS-
taurants are open and there's plenty
of grub.
Go from Chateau hierry out to the
Boie de Belleau, only 5 miles off.
Behind the beautifully kept American
cemetery is an excellent war preserve.
1t looks as if scarcely a stick or a
stone had been turned since the Ma
rines grubbed through it in the Spring
of 1918. The shell holes are there,
the NJ. G. emplacementS, and the
refuse, gas masks, Maxims. machine
gun belts and all the'rest of 1t.
Except for this preserve, and some
the English have kept up north, and
the French down around Verdun,
there isn't much left of the old front.
But the areas of the S. o. S. and
Paris you'll find little changed. The
uniforms are gone from the streets
and cafes. There's nothing left of all
the horizon blue of the French, and
little enough of that now. The lights
go on at night. but they aren't so
very much brighter than the hooded
street lamps of war days. The Seine
mea nderS through the town on it's
way to the sea, and the ladies are in
evidence, as ever.
Franc Greatly Changed.
The biz change is with the franc.
When you were here it was a very
different franc. Then. a hundred.
franc note was something to cherish
for days. Nov. it scarcely takes you
through a morning. If / remember
rightly, in 1913 the exchange was
about SO francs to the dollar. Now
it's 25.5 to the dollar. or just about
one-fifth it's former value. The con-
times as high as in 1918 and as many
francs as you had then will take you
just about one-fifth as far. So don't
figure on buying up the town because
you get lot more francs for your
dollars.
Although many Legionnaires are
expected to come early, stay late and
circulate all over France and Europe,
the ninth annual France convention
of the American Legion will be held
in Paris. opening its sessions Monday
September 10, and closing Saturday,
September "a. The business sessions
will be held in the Palais du Tro-
cadero. The nominal headquarters
for the Legion will be at the Hotel
Crillon, for the Legion Auxiliary. the
Hotel Continental. and the "40 and
g. Hotel Paiais d'Orsay.
The Legion estimates that the
average time required for the entire
journey will be four weeks. The COM
mittee on arrangements expects that
grand total Of about 10000 Legion
naires will journey over. One-third
of this number will be woman mem.
bers of the Legion Auxiliary. wives,
mothers, sisters and daughters of
Legionnaires.
Reservations have been made of
10000 rooms in 1900 hotels in Paris
In some few cases, due to the hos
pitality Of French families, rooms in
private homes will be available. Due
to the chronic Summer shortage Of
hotel accommodations in Paris, ar
rangements call for two Legionnaires
to. every room. The price of rooms
reserved through the convention
committee will range from $40 to
$40 for the week OF the convention.
That. of course. does not include
food.
Travellers SAFE Money.
Eighteen countries of Europe
every country excepting Russia
have granted a visa waiver upon
presentation of the official American
Legion identification certificate. That
means a big saving If you intend to
n; 4f
certificate costs you 81 and 1t serves
as a United States passport, which
costs SO, as we'll as visa for what
ever countries you may visit, which
in most cases costs SO for each
country.
The entire trip, as worked out by
the convention committee, can be
made for a minimum of $500. The
committee bases that estimate on an
expense account OF $8.5S a day for
80 days, plus $42.50 for incidentals.
During the week Of the convention
the Legion will run official tours to
the battlefields. A summary fol-
lows:
Trips into the "a" sector are
divided into two groups. The first
includes the area between Amiens
st. Quentin and Cambria, with the
american cemetery at bOny. FolIts
of interest to be visited are the st
Quentin Tunnel, parts of the ole
Hindenburg line, the Cathedral al
Albert and British battlefelds along
the Somme.
Second Section of Tours.
The second section of the "a
tours will be made from the TIVE
centers Of Ypres and Audenarde
visiting Flanders Field Cemetery a
Waereghem, Messines Ridge. the Clotl
Hall and the cathedral at Ypres ant
British and American battlef1elds il
the district.
Trip A-1-$15, September 20 ant
%. BY motor from Cambria through
lie Cateau, Baseul, MaZinghein
L.