City in Sound; Passport Agency

This is Jack Angel, with city in sound. These are stories out of Chicago, city of all things, and to all places. Some of them via passport. Now you've never been out of the country permanently, and you're not married, and never had a passport. And you have your hospital record, and now if you will sign your regular normal signature there. There is your change, and you have a vaccination certificate. You do have it. And if you'll raise your right hand elsewhere, you'll sense where the information contains. Your application is true when you will support and defend the Constitution. And you'll get this passport in about a week or ten days. The regional passport office in the Old Federal Building is the State Department in Chicago. Because more people are going more places, it's busier now than ever before in its history. For every citizen that leaves these shores, a passport. Each one, the indispensable

document. Each one, a separate travelogue. I wonder, sir, if I can ask you where you're going. I'm going to Italy. And you've been there before? I've been there 1928. How much you need a new passport. All right, and that's why you're here. To live in Chicago. Yeah. And you want to go back and take a look around? No, I don't want to go on vacation. Oh, vacation. Wonderful. We'll have a nice trip, sir. Thanks. Thank you. Where are you going? I'm going. I hope to go to Israel. Mm -hmm. And to France. And maybe Brussels Fair. I wonder, is this your first time abroad? And you're almost the second time. Do you have a good time the first time? Oh, yes. A wonderful time. That was many, many years ago. Oh, I see. You have to apply again. Yes. I'll go over again. Nice to see you. Thank you. Well, it certainly doesn't take a visa to get in here, but we're in the passport office here in Chicago with Joseph Callahan, who's agent in charge of the Chicago passport agency. This is a State Department function, isn't it, Mr. Callahan? Well, yes it is. It's a part of the consular service

of the United States in the United States. Mm -hmm. Are you a native of Chicago? No, I'm from Pennsylvania. Oh, and you came in through the regular State Department channel, did you? Yes, I originally worked in Washington for 10 years, and I've been in Chicago for a year. I'm rather surprised at the size of your operation here. I always imagined that most passports came from New York and Los Angeles and maybe Washington. I didn't realize you had so much business here. Well, certainly the Chicago metropolitan area is a very large area, and in the amount of applications we come behind Los Angeles and New York City, but we also lead the rest of the United States. So we're number three, that's number three as of now. Where are most of these people going on vacation, or is this export business? Or is it exactly why do people apply for passport tickets? Well, the great majority of applicants around 78 % of them are

traveling abroad for reasons of pleasure. The next highest percentage travel is proceeding abroad on business or on military travel. We have a number of nationality groups here in Chicago to many of those apply to go back to the countries from which they came for a visit or to see relatives or something like that. Oh, yes they do. As you know, Chicago probably has representatives of practically every nationality in the world. And the travel of those persons back to their homeland is of course increasing every year because of the decrease in the cost of the transportation. How about the modes of travel? How do people travel? Well, the percentages that we have checked on the mode of travel since the first of the year, we find that roughly 51 % travel by air and the balance by ship.

And an interesting thing about it is on the return, roughly 58, return by air and the balance by ship. So that there's a certain commingling there between the two modes of transportation? That's right, yes. Over one way, come back another. Yes. Have you ever been abroad, Mr. Callahan? No, I went abroad once but that was as a member of the United States Navy. I've never been a possessive of a U .S. passport myself. That was on the country. That's right, yes. No visa necessarily. I see on one of these passports the picture of a little boy looks like he's about maybe four or five. Do you have many young travelers? How about the ages? Oh, we have many young children traveling. They usually travel with the mother. Yeah. The ordinary thing for it and the do is the mother applies for a passport and has her children included in the passport, while the husband ordinarily has a passport just for himself.

Ordinarily the reason for that is because the younger children are usually with the mother. I see. And do more women travel in men or does that work out that way? Yes. In the statistics that we have gathered on the sex of travelers, we find that around 60 % of all applicants for passports are women. Wonder why that is? Well, ordinarily we have never checked on that. I imagine the ordinary thing is that the husband is probably staying home accumulating the funds so that the wife can travel. Well, I don't know whether that's an acceptable explanation or not, but it seems logical anyway. How about the places where most of the people from this office want to go? Where do they want to travel? Well, a great majority, let's see, I believe around 80 % of all travelers are proceeding to Western Europe. And the particular country in Western Europe, which has been attracting the most travelers, has been

Germany. Is this largely pleasure, you say? A largely pleasure and also two visit relatives. How about some of the other places? Well, the next area where the great percentage of travelers go is to the far east and to Hong Kong. And then in that order, the next busiest area for the American traveler is South America. Then the Eastern Europe, Russia, Czechoslovakia and so forth, and finally the Middle East. Do you ever get any real odd places like Nepal or some rare Australian island or something like that? Yes, after ten years of being in the passport business, there are still days where a traveler will put down a narrowing in the world, which I have vaguely heard of before, but can't quite place until I look it up in an atlas.

For instance, we had one man who wanted to go to the land of Canaan. And after checking the atlas, I found out that Canaan is a mythical country, which is supposed by historians that may have been somewhere in Palestine. Hard to get a visa there. Yes, he never did make the trip. How about some of the other places? Of course you have many that are closed now, like Tibet and certain of the communist countries. Do you ever have anybody who wants to go to China and then you tell them that you can't get into China and you get in some kind of a skirmish? Oh yes, those things happened, but usually they resolve when we explain the reasons that the travel to that area is restricted. What are the major nations that are restricted? Well, the major nations which are restricted now are parts of Korea, parts of China, portions of Vietnam, and also Albania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

But much behind the iron curtain has opened up. Oh yes, and in the last two or three years, there's been a great many travelers to the USSR and to Czechoslovakia. Now one more question, how does one go about getting a passport? Well, an applicant for a passport must appear at a passport agency, or if he's not in a city where a passport agency is, then he can go to the nearest clerk of court. That is courts that are entitled by law to naturalize aliens. Practically all state courts and all federal courts are authorized to accept passport applications. Then what happens? He appears at those offices if he was born in the United States with his birth certificate or other evidence available to him which would indicate that he was born in the United States and therefore a citizen of the United States. If he is a naturalized

citizen, he appears at the office with his naturalization certificate. In both instances, the applicant must have two photographs of himself taken within the last six months. Also, he must have a witness appear with him. The witness's purpose is to identify the applicant and to prove that he is who he says he is. Lately, we have relaxed the witness requirement and if a person is possession of a driver's license or a pass from some firm or any type of a card which bears his signature and also either a photograph or a physical description, that will be accepted in a little of the witness. Does that do it? That does it. Fine, do you have any idea Mr. Callahan? How many Americans go abroad each year? Well, in 1957, there was 565 ,000 Americans preceded outside the United States. Over half a million. That's right. And since July of

1957 up until this present day, we have had 584 ,000 applicants preceding out of the United States. Well, there's sure no recession in the travel business, is there? There's absolutely no indication of that. Well, let's take a small voyage around the rest of your office here. Alright, just follow me, please. Alright. Well, I don't know whether Mrs. Dean of Petrofana does any ironing at home but she certainly does at work and in what capacity? Well, in addition to being a judicator, each one of the employees at the agency has to step in and with a few additional duties and one of the duties is to affix photographs. And you do that with a steam iron? We do after the musilage has been placed on the back of the photograph. It requires heat. We use a plane, ironing, household iron to affix the photographs. That supplies the adequate heat to adhere the photograph to the passport. In the midst of all the modern machinery we have, we find that the ancient and venerable steam iron is still

pretty irreplaceable in your question. That's right, true. And evidently can't be replaced by any other type of machine. How many of these do you affix a day? Do you have any idea? I guess there's so many pilots here that it's going to take. There are approximately in at least 200 per day, I would say. What happens to the passport after you affix the photograph? After the photograph is affixed to the passport, we place the state seal on it over the photographic likeness. And beneath that goes what is called the Department of State legend. Now that's the state department seal. That is correct, the state of Illinois. No, it's the Department of State, the United States Department of State. We don't send anybody anywhere in Illinois. I don't think there are any state rights for that operation. But you affix the seal here. That is correct. Now do all these passports necessarily have to clear Washington? Each one of them must be clear through Washington before it's issued. I see, what do they do to them there? Well, there are clearances that they put them through.

Mm -hmm, but you prepare them here and you seal them, put the seal out over here. And they're mailed out from this office. Process them here, but they just have to look at them to make sure that nobody goes who shouldn't go. Or that some applicants might have another passport, a valid passport outstanding. Of course, that has to be checked. Well, it hadn't occurred to me that there would be a cashier in a passport agency, but there is, and her name is Margaret Matey. And exactly what funds do you handle here? Well, the passport application, the execution fees, and the special passport fees going through the office. So it costs a little money to apply for a passport? Definitely, $10. $10, and I suppose with, I don't have any idea how much you handle, but it would amount to several thousand dollars a day, wouldn't it? A couple thousand, between 1400 and 2000, a day we handle dollars. Do you ever answer the phone around here from people who want to know

all about passports and where to go and what to do? And I also card special passports going to Washington, such as military dependence and teachers going for the government and military personnel. I handle all special applications going through the office. Well, I take the reason that you handle those is because they're increasing in volume enough to set up a special function for it. Well, it's just one of the functions of this particular job. Have you been abroad? No, I have no desire to go abroad. I'm perfectly content with the United States. That's wonderful. I suppose that you see enough of the passport business each day to handle that. To compensate for my going abroad and I talk to enough people about what they do when they are over there. I just love you in the United States. Excuse me a minute, ma 'am. You're Miss Florence

Beeman, they tell me. And you're in the foreign service and you came to Chicago. That's not very far in the foreign service and at least geographically. What are you doing here? Well, right now I'm operating a teletype machine sending through messages to Washington for clearance and passports. I see. Do you have to get clearance, of course, on every passport? That's right. This is for people who want their passport within 24 hours. Well, I see. You have that kind of service. Yes, we do. As opposed in emergencies and cases of that type. Yes. And you can teletype directly to your Washington office, is that the idea? Yes. And then we get clearance the same day. We get clearance. And I see, what is that, a coated list in front of you with all the... Yes, that we have symbols that we use in order for the Washington office to be able to have cards made right off the tape that we send to them. Tanganyika, Somala land, Belgian Congo, Spanish West Africa. That helps us in determining what part of the forest

or oriental wherever it is that they're going. Do you get many from Madagascar? Not too many, no. But they're all coated so that you can indicate the destination on the passport. That's right. Well, actually, no. The destination is not indicated right on the passport. It's just for the information and the Washington office. Oh, that's for their information. I see. How long does it take you to hear from them? We all know. I heard all about Washington. I know the mall there is down there that these things go into, but do you get quick responses? Yes, we do. I probably will get an answer while I wait on the line. Or else, I'll call me back with them about 15 or 20 minutes. You mean if we get out of here leaving alone? Well, it doesn't take very long. There's no particular rush on this one here, I guess. No, this isn't. It's going to be mailed, so we have a little tenants. Do you ever have a desire just to fold up the passport and go along with it? No, I certainly do. That's why I'm in the Foreign Service. Do you hope to go somewhere from

Chicago a little more foreign in the service? Well, I will be going to Washington in about a month I mentioned. And from there, I don't know someplace overseas. Pretty fascinating work, isn't it? Yes, I think so. Tell me about passport pictures. They look as if they're getting a little better and brighter than they used to be, eh? Yes, now we have them that they can be colored photos. And I think we had about two or three of those. Sounds very aesthetic, eh? Very nice. I think it's a great improvement on what they originally were. All righty. Thank you very much for this. You're welcome. You're Ms. Blenda L. Admin at the counter here, and it's a rather unusual counter. Could you describe to us what you're doing? Well, we're accepting applications for passports and executing them. Mm -hmm. All right, fine. I think that, eh, I wonder if you have any objection if we just, eh,

kind of listen in and see what's happening here. We're glad to have you here. Now, print carefully your last name first and second. What's this for a baby? Just for my daughter, yes. Here's the alphabet. Oh, how old is she? She is seven. She is seven. There she is. There's seven in the head. No, you need to aid her. She's a pretty good passport photo. And you're not a citizen. No, we don't. You see, in this case, the mother is not a citizen. The child is born here, so she's applying for an American passport for the child. Mm -hmm. And she can travel on a passport from her own government of which she is affected. And now, will you print carefully the mailing address here? Baby, are you going? No, no, you're a dressier. What are you going on your trip? Ninetyth of July. Fine, now you put your Chicago dress right in there. It's fine. No age limit on passports. Everybody

has to have one. You don't have half price for underage or anything. No, same price. Everybody has a passport. And I require another picture. Oh, are they two there? Oh, I beg your pardon. No, aren't you? And this is just the hospital record. Are you the father of the child and you're a citizen? No. You're not a citizen either. Oh, okay. I don't think it's real young people can't sign there. No. The photo is what are you doing in a case like that? We're going to have the mother's son. How tall is the baby? I'm taller. Well, now we're doing great things. Yeah. Well, I'm about to measure a baby here. Here, hold tight. I beg your pardon. Lay around the counter in a measure. All kinds of things happen. I don't tell you lies, she's going. She is quite cute and understandably a little confused. I don't know what we make her about. There's 28 inches long. 28 inches. I don't know how tall your baby is. I thought every mother did. She was 20.

But every two was born. The two feet and four inches. And the color of her eyes are hot. Yeah, that's a change. Blue, blue, brown. I would say blue, brown. Well, we better call him Hazel. I think you're going to be Hazel. It's certainly a nice and big eyes. Aren't they now? And she's born right here in Chicago? Yeah. And her date of birth? So did first of all, October. October 31, 1957. I don't know, I keep it. And no possible. And you give me $10. How much do you want? $15 ,000. I'm going to speed up here. All right. You want to have this in about a week or ten days? Oh, that would be very nice. Yes. I have to get it out of the bottle. No, it'll be mailed to that address. That's fine. All right, lady. That's all. That's all. I wonder if I could just ask you a question. Namely, where are you going?

I don't go to Poland. To Poland. Are we born there? Yes. And you're a citizen of this country? Yes. Is that right? Yes. Want to go back for a visit? I don't see my father. 20 years I didn't see him. Well, isn't this waiting 20 years already? 20 years. Yes. From 900 to 39. Isn't that wonderful. I certainly hope you find him in good health. Yeah. It just recently opened up Poland to visas, I know. And I certainly hope that everything meets your expectations. I hope you forget to come back to Chicago. I'm sure. I come back. All right. This is the best place where I find till now. Chicago is the best place. I was all over in all countries. All right. Take good care of that passport. Yeah. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And so the story of the passport must include its meaning. No one who has ever stood a stranger in a foreign land could fail to understand it. More than a possession itself, it is proof of the most precious possession of all. American citizenship. It is overmodest. A small pocket -sized model green

booklet. But stamped in gold on the face of it is the great seal of the United States. This is Jack Angel with George Wilson, whose recordings here have imprinted city in sound.