German affairs being concentrated here, while the Americans are
taken care of on the floor above. We are stationed two by two at desks
ranged along the walls of the entrance hall and we dispose of each
case as rapidly as possible as they are passed to us by the doorman.

All these Germans require four things: food, lodgings, protection, and
proper police papers. We began by doling out to them from one to three
francs each to be used to buy food. Our miserliness was due to the
fact that, under existing economic conditions, even the Embassy could
obtain only a limited amount of change, and it was essential that we
make that go as far as possible. In order to obtain at one and the
same time lodging and protection for our wards, Mr. Herrick arranged
with the French government that the Lycee Condorcet in the Rue du
Havre be set aside for the lodgment of German subjects. This building
is guarded by a squad of police who allow no one to enter who is not
the bearer of a certificate issued by the American Embassy. The Lycee
Condorcet is a great barn of a place, from which nearly all the
furniture has been removed, but it provides for the moment the two
essentials, a roof and safety. No owner of an hotel or apartment will
in these dangerous days harbor Germans, in each of whom he sees a
possible spy, and the government, suddenly called upon to house
thousands of aliens, responds to the appeal of the American Embassy
as best it can. Hundreds of Germans will tonight sleep on the bare
floor of the Lycee Condorcet, and be more thankful for that safe
resting-place than ever they have been for the most comfortable bed or
luxurious apartment.

No attempt was today made to provide Germans with the necessary police
papers. We had indeed no time to consider anything but food, shelter,
and safety. Tomorrow we shall attack that problem.

By three o'clock we had so systematized the work of handling the
Germans that I found I could, with the aid of two assistants, attend
to all the routine cases myself. This released the men at the other
tables to reinforce the American office on the floor above, whose
business had during the afternoon greatly increased. There was no
means or time for estimating in advance just how many people could be
crowded into the Lycee Condorcet, so I continued during the afternoon
to issue certificates of admission to all the Germans whom I examined.
On receiving their certificates most of them went at once to the
L