He Always Has a Passport

1895

H. L. Benson of Now York, according to a reporter of a St. Louis paper, takes pains to be always provided with a passport. He says that it cost him but a dollar and a little trouble to get it, and that it saves him a great deal of trouble whenever he is where he is not well known.

Says he: "With the passport I never have to be identified at a bank, postoffice or other institutions where strangers transacting business always have to be vouched for by somebody known to the officials. You see that the body of the paper contains a most minute and unmistakable description of me, together with my age and residence. The whole bears the great seal of the United States government, thus making deception or imposture almost impossible. My description was sworn to by notaries public who know me before the state department at Washington issued the passport. With this affidavit and another one certifying that I was a good citizen I inclosed $1 with my application to the secretary of state and received the passport."