Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-04-16
ARTICLE NXVII-By j. II. Binns.

My impression of London when /
first visited it in 1915 was one of
group anxiety. Everyone was wor-
rying about the war. Soldiers from
every part Of the empire throngea the
streets. Air raids occurred almos'
every day. There was cause for anx
iety, and the great city reacted to it,
quickly :,nd strongly. Londan was
never terrorized. but she was more
than concerned.
Today there is rush and noise and
hurry, more than in 1916. And there
is anxiety. But it is Of a dilferent
sort. No one seems to care for any
thing except his own joys and sor-
rows, his own losses and gains. Len
don has lost the solidarity which the
common war feeling produced; she
has not regained the peaceful ple"war
certainty. Probably she never will
regain it. A year and a half of p. ace
have not made the life of the average
Londoner either peaceable )r certai'.
and when things have shaken down
he will find himself in very different
position from that which he once Oc-
cupied.
Throughout the kingdom rriccs
and taxes are high. The inco le tax
alone is about IL per cent on ny
thing above $500 year, AMI III ch
higher on large ones. The burden OF
taxation ID going to be terrible, if the
war debt is ever to be paid. But the
/ London prices and taxes are almost
unbearable. The necessary assess
ments for lighting and municipal i'm
provements have risen with the cost
of everything else. Real property in
the profitable business districts is
held at fabulous prices. AS always, it
is the man in the street the consumer,
who pays. The teachers in the Lon
don schools, under the London Coun-
ty Council. are threatening a strike.
One of them points out that after -
years of service he is getting. in
American money. $27 week.
We are very much disposed to SYM
pathize with him. We came up to
London on Monday, planning to spend
most of our six weeks vacation here.
We got our first jolt when we wrote
should have to pay $55 month for
bed and breakfast" the usual lodg-
ing accommodations in London. But
we thought that after we got here
we could find something more rea-
sonable. That was a delusion. We
are on the fourth floor as it is, ard
at the back of the house. and n
about as reasonable boarding
house as we are likely to find. We
are not quit, in the street. but Ne
are certainly paying. We had
thought Oxfor t,irly high. but get
ting back there will be like going to
live on our folks. We are going to
put in two giddy weeks of sightsee-
ing and operas, then look for some
very tall timber
But these may not be the impress
sions Of London which our friends at
home want They probably are wor-
rying a little about income tax and
sugar shortage themselves
One cannot wander an hour ABOUT
the streets of London without feeling
that he is in the capital Of the great
est Territorial e. r're the world has
ever seen Two blocks frCm GU"
lodgings is large Y. Nj. c. A. hotel
for London university students from
India and Ceylon. 1t is crowded all
day with students of every shade OF
brown, many of them wearing Mo-
hammedan turbans. Whole office
buildings are devoted to the higl
commission of the Commonwealth OF
Australia, or of the Union of South
Africa. Even subordinate political
divisions have their representatives
here, for example the Province or
Quebec And down by the river, IN
Westminster, brooding over it all,
sits the Mother of Parliaments. some
Wi,at shaken and damaged by recent
events, but still perhaps the moSt
powerful legislative body in the
world.
London is laid out on a typical
British plan--that is. without any
plan at all. After the great fire In
1856 John Evelyn and Christopher