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Show iVhij Americans Go Alwocii, a! ' WiW fje State Department Has Learned About Annual Exodus of Uncle Sam's Children y J -QJM " " and the Reasons for the- - .Atnazing Increase in - a! ' WiW fje State Department Has Learned About Annual Exodus of Uncle Sam's Children y J --QyMfi " " and the Reasons for the- V Jjfc fK Amazing Increase in j By Nell Ray Clarke' fi jl' i AN ACTIVE and ilcrt woman ot S3 hear strange aounds, andS- ' . ' "j ' walked Into the State Department their notes to. sniff queer C""'" j . ( --- recently to have her passport renewed, aromas. They still retain "V, lit ' In Ailing out the Items ot personal de- the curiosity or children . ""i '" ' ' -i lJ 1 scrlptlon she volunteered the Information of a young race. They are n ' "" 1 I ' ' ' that her hair and her teeth were her not satisfied to read about thW tta, becoming -ore common each ' Uli- , own. She was merely going around the want to experience their thrills first-hand. ' , i,. .I.,. - ... world agaln-her fifth time. Thus they have become a nation ot Jolly . " by this airport eastern. lPUo -"" ' Americans have become a naUon of tramps; rolling stones. If you will, gather- at Lea Angeles, one ef the six International airport - - 'Flying Dutchmen." Trotting off to Eu- lng no moss; but, alter all. who wanta to ( entry la the United Ststes rope or around the world Is their greatest be a moss back? J1 ; foreign Industry. Tourists spent last year. Once people telt a need to Justify an I I X M X - - - j : f Going abroad by air la becoming more common each , ' "" year, aa shown by this airport easterns Inspection . "" . at Lea Angeles, one of the six International airport : sL f entry la the United Statea OKE then 200.000 America f j citizen esked or passport I : I 1 I" 1929. ! i . , Mor than 4.500,000 permit : ' ; ' I ware issued to automobile to ' ' croa into Canada. They car- f "v. ' ' ' r risd about 13,000.000 tourist. " Another 100.000 went by train I 1 ' ' ! and boat. J" More than 5.000.000 Ameri- W J cane crossed into Mexico lat V J year. ' f J Ot all foreign traveler, about j y 1 J 50 per cent list "to travel" a ' V their res son for going out of the . ' . - j if" 1 country. About 34 per cent are . C-i i ' T" j , ' i " "going bark home to the A Prosperity, divorce, liquor, Al JyA'y Pari clothe, business, educa- j I " ' I tion, health and "keeping up V . nl , ' y with the Jones" ere some of yr the motivating influences. Customs inspetiion of an American car returning home from Canada-Just Canada-Just one of the 4,500,000 that crossed the border Isst year AN ACTIVE and alert woman ot S3 walked Into the State Department recently to have her passport renewed. In filling out the Items of personal description de-scription she volunteered the Information that her hair and her teeth were her own. She was merely going around the world again her fifth time. Americans have become a nation of "Flying Dutchmen. Trotting off to Europe Eu-rope or around the world is their greatest foreign Industry. Tourists spent last year, exclusive of passage on steamships, a sum In excess of $525,000,000. or two and one-.... one-.... . half times the foreign war-debt payments to the United States. The desire "to go places and see things" has become so predominant among Americans Amer-icans that recently the State Department ' decided to analyze passport figures to find out what Americans went abroad and why. More than 200,000 American citizens asked for passports during 1929, but that does not begin to tell the story. Since a passport 'is good for two years, a person msy go abroad more than once during that period, and about 25 per cent of the passports were written for more than one person. In addition, 210,000 foreigners resident In the United States who have not yet got their citizenship paper ' obtained permits from the Immigration Bureau of the Labor Department for trips to the "old country." And there are numbers of countries which require no passport from visitors from the United States Canada, Mexico and a number of - Eouth and Central American countries. If we take Into consideration these wanderers to other countries than their own on the American Continent, the number num-ber of persons who visit some foreign country annually Jumps far Into the millionsen mil-lionsen average of one In every six persons. per-sons. More than 4,500.000 permits were Issued during 1929 to automobiles to cross over Into Canada, each carrying on an average 1.3 passengers, or approximately 15.000.000. Another 1 .500,000 went by train and boat. More than 5.000.000 Americans are estimated to have crossed over into Mexico during the same period. What do they go for? The State De-partm;nt De-partm;nt has no particular desire to pry Into people's personal affairs, but it Is interested In getting some reasons for the tremendous exodus every year, so about two Inches . of space Is provided on the passport application blank for the assignment assign-ment of some reason for going abroad. ALMOST half the applicants for passport pass-port ssid they wanted to travel. An additional 34 per cent were going back home to see members of their families In the old country. The next largest group were going on commercial business, some for education, health, professional business busi-ness and a very few on official missions. Behind that glib excuse ot the desire to travel there lie hundreds ot reasona for going abroad the lure of the open road, the call of the wild, the urge of the caveman to see what ilea Just over the horison and on to the edge of the world. It Is an expression of the desire for freedom, free-dom, to go and see. to wander at will, forgetful of responsibilities and cares. Americans, the Immediate offspring of pioneer blood, feel the pioneer challenge to wander. 'Their feet Itch to tread strange ground, their eye to see strange people and modes ol living, their ears to hear strange aounds, and their noses to. sniff queer "C"""' aromas. They still retain "v, the curiosity of children . ot a young race. They are not satisfied to read about things; they want to experience their thrills first-hand. Thus they have become a nation ot Jolly tramps; rolling stones. If you will, gathering gather-ing no moss; but, after all. who wants to be a moss back? Once people felt a need to Justify an urge to roam, but not now. It was mainly the "wild" son who went to sea or wandered wan-dered from the home town, a prodigal. Today the boy and the girl go from home to get a start. Stigma Is frequently attached at-tached to the stay-at-homes. Undoubtedly there are persons who have lesser motives In going, abroad. They go In the spirit of "keeping up with the Joneses," because It Is fashionable. Or because they want to buy Paris clothes. When a man makes a "killing in the market" mar-ket" It Is the natural thing for his wife and family to go abroad. Some say they desire to guzzle giggle-water or to obtain an easy foreign divorce. Some want the Individual benefits to be derived de-rived from self-improvement it develops their courage, their confidence In themselves. them-selves. It adds to their self-esteem. PEOPLE give many superficial reasons why they hesitate to admit that travel is the answer to romantic desires. Think of little Susie Smith, thrilling surreptitiously surrepti-tiously to tales ot romantic wandering, talcs of pirates and doubloons and buckets buck-ets of blood, and wishing with all her heart that she were a boy so that she might run away to sea. Mother knew that Susie was sniffing the aalt air and looking look-ing longingly at ships, so she bought the little girl a middy blouse and hoped she would be satisfied. When Susie get older she will write on her passport application that she, too, went to travel, but down deep In Susie's heart there Is the mental picture of sapphire sap-phire sess. sunny Isles and spicy smells. Travel to her means romance, the answer to those stifled longings which colored her childhood. It Is this ssme desire for romance that actuates those men who compose expeditions expe-ditions to polar regions or parties for digging dig-ging In prehistoric ruin of Asia Minor, Africa. Central America, Mexico and elsewhere; else-where; ior unearthing reptiles out ot rock strata which have been sunk below the surface of the earth for thousands of years. There are also those men who go to foreign lands to bring strange animals back from the Jungles, who go to make their movies and talkies' in lands where they can get the real background oi Jangle Jan-gle wilds or of a South Sea Island coral beach. It la romance, too, which sends hunters ot rare plant to the Asiatic hinterlands, and scientists to plumb the ea and go climbing mountain tops for the sheer physical phys-ical prowess of climbing or to get up above the dust cloud where they can spy on the stare. Some people go abroad on account of their health to take the bath In Germany, Ger-many, to soak up the sunshine on the Riviera or to the sanatorium in the Alps. There are also the "lnteljectuala." the expatriates ex-patriates Nrho prefer living abroad. Recently Re-cently a large number ot American soldiers, sol-diers, wounded during the World War, The vast throng that witnessed the opening ef the Ambassador Bridge, which apana the Detroit River treat the United Statea U Canada, tesU- . tee t the greet Interest ef Assert ' cana la visiting their neighbors eat the north ' . Canadian-American frontier. There la a continuous exchange of merchandise across the border, and each country baa relatively heavy Investment In eoncerne operating In the other. American Investments Invest-ments in Canada are double those In any other country. American drive o.:t 'o the Canadian aide Just for the fun c. it or to imbibe contraband beverages or to purchase some thing they think they can get cheeper or better In Canada than In America. ' They go bunting In the Canadian north woods and fishing in the thousand of lakes and streams In the sparsely settled regions. They go for the entrancing ecenery of the Canadian Rockies or for the quaint Old World flavor of French Canadian Quebec. The line of cars that cross Into Canada annually would make a line half around the Equator. The United States doe not ask Its citizen why they wish to travel In Canada, but hundreds of them have volunteered their reasons on the automobile permits Issued to them when they cross- the border. THERE has been an enormous Increase In the travel over the Mexican border within the last two or three years, and the Chambers ot Commerce of Mexican towns are beginning to make strong bid for the American tourist. The American Consul at Cludad Juarez estimated that 190.000 Americans visited tost on city alone during 1929. Ue says that they were attracted by permission to go through the old Ousdelupe Mission, on of the most beautiful In the Southwest and eoo-strvcted eoo-strvcted In lM: by the bullfight which are held regularly each Sunday the weather permits; by the cockfights, the Mexican cafes: by the opportunity to visit the racetrack and to get a drink. More than 24.000 Americans left West coast ports during 1929 to visit China, Japan and the Philippines, not counting those who visited the East vis army transport. Nearly 8000 sailed for South America, but that figure Includes Latla Americans who were returning to their homeland. Thus the great American exodus goes on annually wanderers who desire to get the flavor ot Europe's scenery, wines and old masters, and to bring bom fragrant memories of lands and people who are -different." Meanwhile, they are unwittingly unwit-tingly balancing the international payments pay-ments of those foreign lands to the United States. CerVM tv ! ii- t found that they could live more cheaply abroad on their compensation than In America, There are the students of our floating universities, and the casual graduate who goes across for a short summer course In one of the European universities, end the serious student of medieval literature and philology who must go to the libraries of. Europe tor his material. There are those who go to Rome or to the Boly Lend on religious pilgrimages. And, of course, there Is the ubiquitous traveling sslesmsn who msy be selling shoes or tractors in Argentina, the capitalist capi-talist who goes abroad about a foreign loan, the lawyer looking at property which Is being offered for security, the buyer 'of clothes and perfumes as well as the buyers of raw materials, textiles or meat, the buyers of Jewels end antiques, with a sprlrJUing of financial advisers to foreign for-eign Governments-There Governments-There Is the srtist who must pslnt a European cathedral because somehow be feels that It has more spiritual value merely because It la European than would the dome or the columns of St. John the Divine. There are the singers who must make a European debut or concert tour But a las I there are no American lecturers going abroad to afflict them as they do us Harry K. Tbawwaa once reported to have gone abroad because his particular brand of cigarettes, made In London, had run out and be couldn't get any more In America, The son of a famous orator Is living abroad because of the prohibition law. Prosperity, easy money and several important im-portant event have stimulated the "go spirit" In America In recent years. The World War gave millions of Americans their first glimpse of foreign soiL They saw England, Prance, Italy or Russia under abnormal conditions, snd they wsnt to sea those countries sgaln under normal nor-mal conditions. The American Legion returned re-turned to Paris for one of Its snnusl conventions, con-ventions, and now the Government is sending the Oold Star Mothers. When one member of a family has gone abroad, the others wsnt to go, too, snd eventually most of them do. rpHE next largest class of trsfelers are A the naturalized Americans who wsnt U, go back to see the "old folks" or their sisters and brothers snd their friends. With them family ties are stronger than the desire to accumulate wealth, for many of them go on sums which a native-born American would not consider adequate tc permit him to travel. In this group, also, comes a considerable number of naturalized Americans who have saved a considerable sum and want to go back and live In lordly fashion In the old home town. Even a hundred dollars will enable them to do so for a short Urn In part of Central Europe where many persons seldom see money at alL Some of them sail with the expectation of living the rest of their lives abroad, but only "strut their stuff" for about alx months before they come pell-mell Into the office of the nearest United State Consul and want to know what to do to get back to America. They hare got used to creature comforts In America which they find It almost impossible to do without. It Is the old story of the country boy who, having made good In the city, longs to return to the farm, and when he does he finds that his life is no longer attuned to the tempo of farm life. It seems odd that Americana In this day and age should be colonisers, but each year the State Department Issues papers to quite a number of persona who are going to some remote region to live. For Instance, there are about 150 Americans Amer-icans living on the river rubber plantations planta-tions In Sumatra, and recently numbers ot young oil men have been going to the ssme Island, not to mention the considerable consid-erable number of Americans connected with business enterprises In other portions por-tions of the East, Near Esst and all over Europe. IT HAS been estimated that there are 392.661 Americans permanently residing abroad, more than 200,000 of them In Canada and 70.000 In Europe, the re-irainder re-irainder scattered all over the rc;t of th world. The greatest traffic between any two countries ot the world 1 that between the United Statea and Canada. Dr. Ray Hall, of the Department of Commerce, who ha made the financial aspecta ot this border traffic a subject for special atudy. says that the underlying causes are easily enumerated. The densest population popula-tion ot both countries Is dose aloof the |