The Champs-Elysees is
probably at present the darkest avenue on earth. All those monumental
lamp-posts which used to stand like beacons in the midst of the
stream of traffic now shine no more. The sun seldom rises without
revealing the ruins of one of these lamps and of an automobile, the
two having mutually destroyed each other in the darkness. We do not
know why the city is left in gloom. The common interpretation is a
necessity to save gas and coal.

I do such a variety of things each day! This morning I managed to get
away from the Embassy for an hour in one of the several automobiles
which have been loaned to Attaches and which are driven by their
American owners. During that time I arranged for the delivery of
twenty thousand francs in small change which I shall take with me on
my trip to the detention camps, ordered a lot of printing, and
obtained fifteen hundred francs in change for tomorrow's crowd of
German and Austrian indigents. I visited the editor of a newspaper and
arranged for the correction of an article giving some misinformation
about Embassy affairs, and then ended up by making a verbal report of
the morning's work to Mr. Frazier.

* * * * *

_Tuesday, August 25th._ The Military Governor of Paris is now invested
with absolute and autocratic powers. He makes what regulations he
chooses and is authorized to punish any infraction of his rule with
the death penalty. He has taken advantage of his position to institute
various reforms which have for years been much needed but which have
hitherto been persistently blocked by "politics." He is no longer
required to argue with bureaucracies or to convince legislatures. He
acts without hindrance. He has thus, out of hand, settled some of the
great problems with which Paris has been struggling for years. With a
stroke of the pen, for instance, he has made it illegal to buy, sell,
or possess absinthe. He is said to have destroyed the long menace of
the Apache gangs by summarily shooting down all that could be found in
Paris. He has by drastic measures suppressed gambling, and has even
done away with the slot machines of chance which have so long stood in
all the cafes to catch the hard-earned sous of the workmen. It is
probable that these reforms will be permanent and will stand even when
martial law in Paris is abolished. It is always difficult to
accomplish a great reform, but it is often impossible to undo it once
it is an a