The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-21
HOW THE WAR HAS AFFECTED ENGLAND Business and Pleasure Both
 Undergo Changes
THEATRES IN TROUBLE
Hotels Still Run. But Alien Servants Are Missing and Usual Crowd of American Tourists
 Are Lacking

London, November eo.--(Correspondence of The Associated Press)-After three months of war London, as a neutral sees it, seems conflict between the two com monest sentiments of the periods"B Busi- ness as usual" and Your King and coun- try need you" These signs confront you everywhere. In August they were on the houses and motor cars; now on the bill- boards empty walls, hotels, theatres, monumente-everywh that paste will hold them.
 Contrary to the expectations of earlier weeks, none of the big hotels are closed, but even at the height of the evening crowdc there is slim attendance, nearly half the men being officers in uniform Americans are very scarce, none being en route to the Riviera or other Euro- pean resorts
 There has been revolutionary change in staff at all the hostelries-manager clerks. doormen, walters of German or Austrian blood having been sent to the detention camps. No restaurant or hotel can remain open with any chance of mak- ing money unless 1t can announce that mo alien enemies are hired here" One of tho largest hotels on the Strand was recently the target for much newspaper criticism because its orchestra never played God Save the King" That or chestra now plays the national air every evening with frequent rcpettions of Tip perary,' ''Marseillaise'' and other favorite songs of the allies.
 The theatres are having a hard time of it. War was blow enough, but the darkened streets with their accompany- ag gloom and the closing of restaurants at 10 o'clock. whether they be Picadilly grade or mere pub" was harder blow Rates have been reduced. soldiers and nurses in uniform are admitted at half price, patriotic melodies are the chief rep ertoire of the orchestras-but it is all up- hill work
 Actors in Despair
 The theatrical profession is in despair. Since Drake was put on by Beerbohm Tree nothing new has been attempted. old plays are the order of the day. But for one or two American importations Londonders would having nothing new to see. Even "The Country Girl,'' The Earl and the Girl'' and "The Belle of New York" have been revived. George Edward. who recently returned from detention camp in Germany, has no heart for new musical shows"
 Most of the galleries are open-the fear of the suffragette having departed-but many of the best-known masterpieces have been taken from the walls to places of safety.
 In the streets recruits in companies, battalion and regiments pass along daily. many of them without uniforms. These are the men the country calls for. but Englishmen rarely stop even to look at them Even the women who knit socks or mufflers as they ride to their work in bIS 6n tn taia passing troops. Some of the papers com plain that there should be bands and that people should stop to look at the volunteers, but people do not. Ii is evil dently not the British way.
 Leicester Square at night is not what tourists are wont to consider it, cen ter of gayety and amusement The Bel gian influx has added somewhat to it's population, but the cafes and theatres simply cannot overcome the impression of gloom. Two-thirds of the street lights are out and the other third have the upper part of the globe painted black while no electrical signs are allowed. It is as if Broadway were set back to 1860.
 Regent and Oxford and the adjoining shopping thorc>>.hfares lack their cus- tomary number of busses some lines hay ing been taken off altogether a the army commandeered them. All the shops have reduced the number of their employees but make a brave show of business as usual" their window placards showing how many of the staff have enlisted or that certain proportion of the receipts will be devoted to the Prince of Wales fund or that gifts for soldiers or sailors can be obtained wits a discount from regular rates.
 In the city itself the stock exchange men stand in Throgmortor street at noon- day from force of habit, and talk of business that may come sooner later Figures show that unemployment is be- low the average, the rush of hundreds of thousands to the coors accounting for that. At an auction sale at the wool exchange this week the seats were crowd ed but the bidding was brisk only for grades of wool that could be used for