International Complications

Last week Felix, consort of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg hurriedly ended a goodwill visit to the U. S., sailed home to his wife's tiny (999 sq. mi.), neutral land right beside which Germans and French were fighting (see p. 15). Courtly, friendly Felix left too soon to hear the news about one of Luxembourg's several unsalaried consuls in the U. S.

Consul in charge of any relations which Luxembourg may have in seven Far Western States, Alaska and Hawaii is one Prosper Reiter. Last month Sheriff E. W. Biscailuz of Los Angeles County, Calif., said his vice squad visited the white, rambling Reiter residence and office near Hollywood. The Sheriff subsequently complained to Attorney General Earl Warren of California that the place was "an alleged gambling establishment," added that diplomatic immunity protected Prosper Reiter and prevented his arrest so long as he stayed in the consulate. "If the evidence warrants my doing so," continued Sheriff Biscailuz, "I am going to ask the Secretary of State of the United States to have the (Consul's) exequatur (credentials) . . . revoked."

Undeterred by immunity, a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald and Express last week talked his way past guards at the gate. Next day the Herald and Express printed four columns of detail about roulette (10-c- a chip) and bingo (10-c- a card) in the consulate's shoddy rooms. An attendant was quoted: ". . . We don't have craps or the other games. Just bingo and the wheels. We could have craps, of course, but that would make it too much like a gambling joint."

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