The New York herald., 1921-06-19

London June y.
r NGLAND badly wants American tour
F lists this year and is prepared to do
- a good deal to get them. Last year
there was horrible slump in preseason
expectations Hotels We're full rates were
high. servants were disagreeable, Americans
heard of it and in uncomfortable large num-
Der for Britain they gave the British Isles
a wide berth.
This year the crux of the situation has
been remedied No less than five of London's
largest hotels have during this year been
restored to their regular uses after mobil
zation. Accommodations now In London are
going begging There will be plenty of room
for all, if they choose to come.
The early has of course been
ruined by the coal strike, and despite the
manifold attractions of American golf and
polo players here steamship and hotel COM
panies report that by far the largest bulk
OF American transatlantic legions have de-
harked at Cherbourg rather than Southamp
ton. There are big American galleries at
both the golf and polo matches. but they are
almost without exception not of the usual
tourist type. They are American residents
OF the British Isles persons specially con-
nected with either game or with the Ameri-
cans who play it.
Coal Strike Kept Away
Many American Visitors
Once the coal strike is over, however.
England expects the rush to begin. Not only
are the hotels ready but the railroads
prepared to take Americans to Stratford-
on-Avon. the Lake country and the Penn
country, the Washington country and all of
the other American shrines-save only Ire
and-where the followers of the faithful
DIR. Baedecker used to flock in the dim ages
before Armageddon.
Ireland is still uncomfortable to travel in.
In Dublin itself the innocent bystander IS
only too often caught in the shower of Mills
bomb splinters the fusllade of machine
gun fire with which the forces of the crown
and the Irish Republican Army argue their
lethaI brand of politics crowded street
corners. In the Irish country trains are
frequently converted into moving fortresses
by one side or the other, and despite the
fact that an American accent is a pretty
fair protection from the extremists" cf
either side it is too often the case that
strangers are disposed of first and their
antecedents looked up afterward.
Blu. England is smiling this spring she
has seldom smiled before despite all her
industrial troubles. Her own business has
been bad her own taxation is frightfu,ly
restrictive of all pleasure travelling. and
Htto fray
studying every means possible to make the
transatlantic visitor happy 1t has been a
springtme of wonderful sunshine and bios
SON. and now the country is luxuriantly
verdant from the unexpected little squares
of London to the great downs of Sussex
and the rolling moors of the north.
For the tourist the heart of hospitality
has been returned to northumberland ave-
nue.. between Trafalgar Square and the En-
bankment. All of the great hotels in that
thorcughfare-the Grand. the Victoria and
the Metropole-have been demobilized. The
Grand and the Victoria are already in fun
operation and the Metropole will go into
full commission late in June early in
July
Every American who ever spent the night
i'm Liverpool invariably subscribed to the
slogan that the Midland Adelphi Hotel there
was the best American hotel in Europe.
And the man who designed and built and
ran the Midland Adelphi is now the Mayor
of Northumberland Avenue Himself back
from the wars with knighthood. Sir Fran
els Towle is now managing all three famous
houses for the Gordon Hotels, Ltd, and
handling as a side line their string through
out England. France and the Riviera. lie
is the John Bowman type of hotel man, and
his ideas for the hotels are American
adapted to European conditions
In London he is running the Grand as the
business mans hotel. the Victoria as the
family house and when the Metropole opens
il will be the cosmopolitan resort of every
thing that is sparkling and gay
we want Americans" he said vigorously
to THE NEW YORK HERALD correspondent to-
day. 81 know them well, both here and
over there and we will have something to
Offer for the American of every taste. We
will have inclusive terms as low as 30 shil-
lings day for everything i'm all the houses,
and our rooms will start at 10 shillings
pence with plenty of good space at that
rate And when I say inclusive rates
mean it, with no extra charges for baths or
service or lights or the other things Amer
leans find irtsome in the European hotel
system"
Besides the northumberland avenue