Three enterprising and grateful Swiss immigrants have asked the Government for permission to construct a wrist watch for the Statue of Liberty, an especially, proportioned luminous dial on the arm that holds the torch. Diverting new symbolism the Statue will bear if the project is permitted. Not that Liberty will be marking time, on the contrary it will be up to the minute. To the scornful who jibe at our national efficiency, the watch will mean that we are a nation of time-servers, but others will find different interpretations. Kager-gazing foreigners will see at least one sign which they can read and understand. Though time flies it is yet everywhere the same.

The observant Traveller will be able to see exactly when he leaves and when he enters the precincts of liberty. Indeed, the Swiss project, if realized, may do good service in calling attention to the unhappy paradox that the leaving is so much the pleasanter. For the home coming tourist is delayed far longer in his own harbor than in any foreign port at which he has landed. Not more rigid inspection, but merely less component maneuvers of government officials, mysterious and inscrutable, keep the Traveller alert for hours beneath the statue, his trip over, his baggage ready, his friends just beyond sight on the dock waiting. Perhaps a new wrist watch on high might record the wasted hours and remind the inspectors of the value of time.