Evening star., 1939-10-13
Tears, Tempers Fly
AT Red-Tape Barrier
Of Frances Exits
Americans Cuueht in
Paris by War Wait
Days for Clearance
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Corresnon6Ant-

BY THOMAS Il. HENRY,
Star Stan Correspondent.
PARIS (By MaiD.-On the left
bank of the Seine by the pont st.
Michel stands massive, gloomy,
grey building, built around a stone
paved court, which will linger long
In the memory Of Americans caught
In Paris by the war.
There, day after day, they have
stood in line at the command OF
steel-helmeted policemen, with sink
ing hearts and rising tempers. For
most Of them-businessmen and
their wives, school teachers, clergy
men-it has been the first expert
ence in a police station.
The building is the prefecture de
police of the Department of the
Seine, the headquarters of the Paris
police now acting under the War
Ministry. 1t was necessary to 20
there to obtain, in the first place,
permits to stay in France and, in
the second place, permits to leave
France. The first was relatively
simple once you got inside, had 400
francs, five photographs of the right
profile, and certificate of residence
approved by the precinct police sta
ton on the sworn word of a hotel
proprietor or boarding house keeper.
Embassy Gets Time Cut.
The second was more difficult and
during the first two weeks of war
required 10 days or more. The
American Embassy got it speeded
up to two or three days by persuad-
Ing the War office to have somebody
especially assigned to examining
American passports. First it was
necessary to fill out an application,
which cost 20 francs, and which
was checked against the American
passport. This was sent to the War
office. The applicant returned day
after day to the window reserved for
Americans, presided over by a fat
mademolselle with short temper
whose very imperfect knowledge of
English was decidedly an asset al
though she must have grasped va
guely the taxonomic inaccuracy of
. the generic classification to which
she was most frequently assigned by
her unwilling guests. 1t was not, of
course, mademoiselle's fault since
she had no influence with the War
Office.
Mon, non, bas, bas," she would
bark, pile of exit permits living
before her which she would refuse
to examine, although not infre-
'quently the particular one asked for
I would be lying before her. An
attache of the American Embassy
was on hand most of the time and,
when a protest was made, usually
persuaded her to let him look
through the pile. The Embassy did
Its best under extremely trying cir
cumstances, with nearly 5000 Amer
lean citizens somewhere in France"
all clamoring to get home with no
transportation available.
Surplus Photos Unneeded.
Eventually, when a steamship
ticket could be produced along with
the certificate attesting that an exit
visa had been asked, it was not even
necessary to have the Identification
card with its five profile photo
graphs. Possession of one, however,
saved some embarrassing moments
with the police on the street, them
selves confused over the multiplicity
of the new regulations and taking
no chances on a court martial.
Only gradually did some sort of
system begin to emerge. There were
amusing and disheartening mixups
Nobody knew when an exit permit
would emerge from the war Office
machine. When it did come through,
1t allowed the applicant a certain
number of days to leave France. A
scheduled sailing might be delayed
and there would be the whole mess
to go through with again. 1t was
very bad for those sailing from
Dutch and Belgian ports. When
steamship tickets were shown, per-
mits to cross the borders of these
countries could be obtained also
good for a certain number of days.
It was necessary that the permit
to leave and the visa to cross the
border corresponded.
Morning after morning the hope
ful Americans would gather in front
of the prefecture where they would
be mingled with about a thousand
Italians, Portuguese, Turks, Ar
menians, Britons, Belgians and Scan
dinavians. The gate was guarded
by about 30 policemen with white
clubs. The whole 30 were necessary
when the crowd began to lose its
temper. The policemen themselves
were excitable and their tempers by
no means sweetened by the mass Of
regulations.
Line Up at Cry.
Then would come the familiar cry,
"Americain, Britanique, Beige" and
persons of those nationalities could
get in their particular lines. All in
all, it must be said that the Paris
police tried to make 1t as easy as
possible and, through the efforts of