PROS AND CONS

It is well understood that we are boring with our eternal paperwork, with our administrative nonsense, our bullying, our teasing and our pettiness. Yes, of course. Only if the “new” peoples are even more routine, more fussy and more bureaucratic than us, we no longer have anything to say... It is especially “the new" peoples who so often denounce our organizational vices, our defects old people, who no longer have anything to say....

A little story that happened to a woman painter, Mrs. Reno, deserves to be told... We would even like it to be remembered by our American friends, a new people,

So, Mrs. Reno, called by her brother, who has lived across the Atlantic for many years, wanted to discover America. So she asked for a passport, which she immediately obtained. She retained her cabin on the liner Paris, and she innocently left for Le Havre.

She registers her trunks. She embarks. And they ask him for his passport. Horror!... His passport was stamped by the American consulate on June 26... Now, it is July 12... It seems that a visa is like plum pie, it has to be or very fresh... Mrs. Reno was told sternly:
— Madam, it is impossible for us to let you leave under these conditions... America cannot receive you with a visa dated June 26... Go quickly to the American consulate and have your passport re-stamped. The traveler, without hesitation, the liner was leaving the same day, rushed to the consul in Le Havre. The consul made her respond: — Impossible, madam, to endorse this passport... You live in Paris... The passport must be endorsed in Paris... Take a train to Paris quickly...
— But the liner is leaving soon!... I have my cabin held. I have my luggage in the cabin... — You will take the next boat...

The consul said this calmly, as if boats to America were as frequent as trains to Asnières... Madame Reno, defeated, bowed. She lets the liner go... She returns to Paris, for the famous visa which, in parentheses, costs ten dollars, or nearly 200 francs.... She runs to the consulate, where, on June 26, her passport was stamped .
— Sir, she said to an employee, I need a new visa...
— Ah! Ah! Madam!... So you want to go to America?...
— Yes sir...
— But what do you want to do in America?...
— Sir, I already answered the question on June 26... I have a brother in America. My brother invited me to spend a few months with him.... I will live with him...
— Who proves it to me?... Who proves to me that you are not going to America to look for work?...
— Letters from my brother, sir! I showed them on June 26.
— June 26 is no more... It is July 13. Where are these letters? Show them to me...
— Sir, I left all my luggage in Le Havre... The letters are in a suitcase, at the hotel, in Le Havre...
— Good, ma'am. Leave for Le Havre. Come back with these letters. We will then target your passport...

Mrs. Reno could only obey... She left for Le Havre, then left for Paris, finally left for Le Havre... She has even now left for America. .. But we will recognize that she had courage...

If we had made such a fuss about Christopher Columbus, he might never have who knows? was able to discover America…

Morality, once again: the passport must be abolished. We must eliminate this Chineseness, this international and vain bullying... Down with the passport...

Maurice PRAX.