ng performances that I have seen on any front--a
performance of which they have every reason to be proud--but
diffidence and conservatism have deterred them from telling the world
about it.

To visit Italy in these days is no longer merely a matter of buying a
ticket and boarding a train. To comply with the necessary formalities
takes the better part of a week. Should you, an American, wish to
travel from Paris to Rome, for example, you must first of all obtain
from the American consul-general a special vise for Italy, together
with a statement of the day and hour on which you intend to leave
Paris, the frontier station at which you will enter Italy, and the
cities which you propose visiting. The consul-general will require of
you three _carte-de-visite_ size photographs. Armed with your vised
passport, you must then present yourself at the Italian Consulate
where several suave but very businesslike gentlemen will subject you
to a series of extremely searching questions. And you can be perfectly
certain that they are in possession of enough information about you to
check up your answers. Should it chance that your grandfather's name;
was Schmidt, or something equally German-sounding, it is all off. The
Italians, I repeat, are a suspicious folk, and they are taking no
chances. Moreover, unless you are able to convince them of the
imperative necessity of your visiting Italy, you do not go. Tourists
and sensation seekers are not wanted in Italy in these times; the
railways are needed for other purposes. If, however, you succeed in
satisfying the board of examiners that you are not likely to be either
a menace or a nuisance, a special passport for the journey will be
issued you. Three more photographs, please. This passport must then be
indorsed at the Prefecture of Police. (_Votre photographie s'il vous
plait._) Should you neglect to obtain the police vise you will not be
permitted to board the train.

Upon reaching the frontier you are ushered before a board composed of
officials of the French _Service de Surete_ and the Italian _Questura_
and again subjected to a searching interrogatory. Every piece of
luggage in the train is unloaded, opened, and carefully examined. It
having been discovered that spies were accustomed to conceal in their
compartments any papers which they might be carrying, and retrieving
them after the frontier was safely passed, the through trains have now
been discontinued, passengers and luggage,