Speech #430061887

Although it is said that those who go abroad are wealthy and can perfectly well afford to pay this fivedollar tax. yet it should be borne in mind that nowadays passports are to a great extent dispensed with in Europe. that is to say Government officers in very few instances stop a man at the frontier and require to see and vld his passport. The wealthy and more intelligent travelers care but little about passports. because they carry with them other means of identification. such as letters of iitroduction. or they may have personal acquaintance with ministers and consuls. But a passport is very valuable to a naturalized citizen who goes back to his native country on business or for pleasure. such a man desires a passport for the purpose of identifying him and establishing his citizenship in case any question in regard to it should arise. lie is more likely to place value on a passport than the wealthy and more intelligent traveler. Gentlemen speak as if this fivedollar tax were nothing. But at this time when a poor man can take passage across the Atlantic for twenty or thirty dollars. and when he calculates every dime in estimating the expenses of a trip to return to Germany or England. five dollars for a passport tax is quite an item in the estimate.