Tourists: Passing the Buck

IN Paris last week a beggar on the steps of Sacre-Coeur displayed a hastily scribbled sign: "Dollars are no longer accepted." In Kampala, Uganda, where the dollar used to bring 10 shillings on the black market, safariing Americans were lucky to get five. And in Zurich, hardhearted whores gave only three Swiss francs to the dollar, instead of the official 4.08.

Itinerant buck passers, including some 4,000,000 Americans living and vacationing abroad, faced a confusing array of exchange rates. Early in the week, the London Hilton was gouging its guests $2.75 for the pound, while the American Express office in that city was gamely taking traveler's checks at the official rate of $2.42. A few rapacious landladies at London bed-and-breakfast lodgings were squeezing $3 to the pound out of gullible visitors. Tourists did not know what their dollars would be worth the next minute, or in the next country. From Canada to Japan, some merchants refused to take U.S. dollars at any price.

Flea Market. Vacationing Americans were shocked to find their money dishonored by bank tellers, bellboys and waiters. "I realize it is irrational," said an American matron in Rome, "but I feel this as an intensely personal thing. It's like having my passport stolen." When a California man was told at the exchange window of Rome's Fiumicino Airport that the dollar had collapsed, he did likewise and had to be taken to a hospital. Makeshift flea markets sprang up in London and Paris, where young Americans were selling guitars, cameras, tents, radios, motorcycles and even their return plane tickets.

Unlike the tourists, most Americans who work abroad are paid in local currencies, and will not be damaged by the dollar's dip. But a few dollar-salaried executives of U.S.-owned firms in foreign countries stand to lose in direct proportion to any devaluation. Some companies, however, may try to boost salaries back to the good old levels. No relief is expected for retired Americans living abroad, some 50,000 in Italy alone, who get by on fixed pensions and Social Security payments.

Some Europeans tried to help out.

Restaurants in Rome offered an improvised menu for Americans unable to buy lire: a fat sandwich and a Coke for $1. When the unofficial rate for Swiss francs sank to 3.25 per dollar, one hotel manager in Montreux took his guests' home addresses and promised to send them refunds if and when the rate is fixed at a higher level. And the Palm Beach Casino at Cannes continued to accept dollars at the official rate of 5.4 French francs. "Why should we create a security margin for ourselves?" asked Jean Toutain, the casino's director. "Taking risks is our profession."

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