Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 259, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1918 — Titled Persons Yield to Yanks [ARTICLE]

Titled Persons Yield to Yanks

Princes Have to Get Off Dancing Floor. Reserved for Our Soldiers. FAMOUS CASINO RESERVED Alx is Rest and Recreation Center for American Expeditionary Forces and American Soldiers Come First There. By WALTER KELLOGG TOWERS. Aix-les-Bains, France. Princes, dukes, counts and other titled personages have to yield place to the American soldier in the famous casino of Alx. Even a king seeking accommodations there would be discarded in favor of an American “ace.” N'p prejudice against the nobility exists. Any duke or count can have certain accommodations, that is, if any remain after the American soldiers have been served. As for the dancing floor and softdrink “bar,” none but Yankees need apply. Aix was designated as the rest and recreation center for the American expeditionary force and there is no qualification on the priority of that Counts/ Don’t Count. In tfte billiard room of the milliondollar casino, formerly a famous gambling place and haunt of the titled

wealthy of Europe, bur now conducted by the American Y. M. C. A. for our soldiers, a tall, distinguished man in civilian garb wistfully watched the doughboys caroming the ivory balls. He would have liked to play a little billiards himself, but the doughboys from overseas had priority and he was only a count. He was allowed the use of the casino, but only insofar as it did not interfere with the soldiers* entertainment. Over on the dance floor a well-dress-ed man and woman tried to participate in the merry maze where two hundred Yankees were jostling one another cheerfully in an effort not to miss their chance to dance with the thirty attractive girls wearing the Y. M. C. A. unt> form. The couple not in uniform were told tactfully but firmly that, the dancing floor was reserved for those in the uniform of the A. E. F., although the civilian dancers were known to be a prince and his consort. Passing through the swinging doors marked “Bar” one finds more brightfaced American girls serving lemonade, hot chocolate, cakes and cookies to the throng of enlisted men who line the rail. Here, too, the titled and distinguished men in “cits” are denied service. * Soak the Dukes. The movies in the big hall are free to all and well attended. In the casino’s big theater vaudeville is purveyed at two scales of prices. In the front row recently a duke sat next to an American sergeant. The duke paid ten francs for his seat, the sergeant paid two francs. It was five times as advantageous to be an American soldier a$ to be a duke. The Y. M. C. A. arranged th%t. A.t the Hotel de I’Europe the boniface “Paddy” Leder, who has wel-. corned royalty in other years, recently assigned three Yankee doughboys to the room once used by Queen Victoria. He had turned away a titled Englishman and his lady 'Who doubtless would have given much for the queen’s room, or any room. But the first gentlemen of Europe have to give’ way to the first gentlemen of America. The “Y” arranged that. And the Yan-' kee boys have proven themselves gentlemen. •