The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-01
James Telford, of Burritt
Lumber Company, Has
Returned From Trip
Abroad, and Says Condi-
tion of Britain Is Excel
lent.

James Telferd, of the A. W: Bur-
rift lumber company has recently
returned from a three months trip
ito Europe. Most of this time was
spent at the .old homestead visiting
his mother who was seventy-seven the
day he landed in England. Her home
is in the North of England in the
lake district about thirty miles south
of Carlisle:
Te1ford was seen by a Times man
and asked to tell his impression of
conditions in England.
"England today he replied
thoughtfully, .tis experiencing a ire
mendous wave of prosperity or SO it
seems to superficial observation.
Everyone IS working, every factory is
busy, wages are high and the work
ing and middle classes are having
more money than they ever did be-
fore and they are spending it freely.
AS soon as a holiday comes they
drop everything make for shadow
bang" and are off. Do you know
what a, sladow-bang is?"
The Times man had no idea what
a shadowbang was and Mr.. Telford
explained that 1t was big, heavy
motor car very similar to the sight
seeing buses on Fifth Avenue and
were. used to carry pleasure seekers
to the beaches.
English wages" Telford conttn-
ued, ARE approaching the level of
American wages and SO is the cost of
living or perhaps it is equally high
except in one or two particulars. For
instance rents are not as high as
they are here for the reason that the
Government has kept them down but
the housing situation Is just as
serious or perhaps more so. A new
married couple can not find a house
to live in in all England. This gives
you some idea of the terrible short
age of houses
'T had an interview with Sir Ar
thur Robinson who during the war
was Secretary of the Air Ministry
and who is now organizing a building
movement which is known The
Building Trades Guilds. A few of
them are already in operation es-
pecial1y in Manchester where there
are more ait present than anywhere
else. These actually seem to me to
be semi ciaiistic for the houses. are
built with no profit and If the cost
overruns the estimate the taXpayers
make up the deficiency. Sir Arthur
told me that the greatest difficulty
experienced in putting the scheme
in operation was to persuade the
n.
There had been a decided drop in
production and before the Govern
ment would commit itself fully to
the scheme there must be some guar
antee of an increase in production"
Another thing which is cheaper
there then here is clothes, The
same grade of goods which a, tailor
here makes into a suit and charges
sixty dollars for you can buy there
for thirty. just half.
ENGLAND is also feeling the effects
of bountiful harvests. Hay and grain
are very plenty and the farmers are
all enjoying great prosperity. There
is plenty of food in England except
domestic beef. They are using i'm
ported beef almost entirely because
the Government is insisting that the
herds of cattle be fully brought up
to what they were at the beginning
of the war before butchering is COM
menced again"
ct was in touch with all classes OF
society from the stone breaker on
the road to an Under Secretary and
1 found it was the general opinion
OF all thinking people that this con-
tfnual rise in costs, this continual rise
| in wages and the seeming good times
could not go on indefinitely that
there must be n change and they are
looking for a slump"
Before I went to England I heard
| great deal of talk of how bitter the
English felt toward us and how they
| despised us. After my three month.
| over there I can say positively tha
| no such feeling exists. They feel tina,
we are not exactly playing the game
| That they have been left to brins
order out Of chaos alone, but they
are still confident that EVENTUAL,
America, either by joining the
League or in some other way, will
come in and help the world out of it
difficulty. The English people arr