The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-22
HANSON IS HOWE AF TER 5 MONTHS
 TOUR OF EUROPE
Local Publisher Convinced That America Should Col leCt Every Dollar Due
 From Allies

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 Victor II Hanson. publisher of tho Birmingham News. returned to Bir- mingham yesterday refreshed from a three months tour of Europe, and 1s- lighted to find Birmingham in such sound shape and with such wonder - ful improvement in business con- ditions.
 MT. Hanson declares that he went to Europe pretty thoroughly sold on the idea that 1t would be good thing from the standpoint of inter- national relations and sound thing economically for America to forgive the war debt of the allies, but that he has come home a good deal more strongly sold on the idea that Amer ica ought to collect every dollar of principal and interest.
 Our allies, am convinced, can pay 1t and should pay it." he de- c1ares. France is rapidly recovering from the shock of war. There are great portions of the devastated area now that give no appearance of ever having been through a war. I had it on the authority of French of- ficer high in the service that s5 per cent of the destroyed houses had already been replaced, and the houses that have been built to replace the destroyed ones are of a very much handsomer, finer type than those the Germans razed. The only apparently irreclaimable area I saw was about go square miles in the vicinity of Nerdun which was so churned Up with shells, so covered with barbed wire and so filled with duds from the three great battles there that I doubt whether anything can ever be done with it."
 Fine Roads of France
 France has roads that make southerner stare and gasp, says MT. Hanson. He saw great stretches of road in France that we would boast about, fine roads, but the French considered them below standard and had great armies of workmen busily engaged repairing them, straightsn- ing them out, cutting right through fields to eliminate curves and gen orally to improve them almost to the point of perfection.
 "If any Birmingham man or woman has an idea that he or she can go to Paris or London and buy merchandise cheap" he says. T want to correct that impression right now. Without regard to the duty he would have to pay to bring such things into this country, the price itself Is much higher than here. You can buy good merchandise in Birmingham as cheaply or more so than anywhere else in America and very much cheaper anywhere in America than in either London or Paris. The only cheap things saw in Europe were In Germany and that Is due to the condition of the enormous difference in exchange.
 "The most impressive thing I saw in Europe was the scenery in Switz- erland Mrs. Hanson and myself en- joyed our two weeks in Geneva, Lu- cerne, Lausanne and Interlaken more tkan any other part of our trip. The mountains and lakes were beautiful beyond words. On July IS we re- tired early to awaken early the next morning to face a bewildering sight. There had been a snowstorm in the night, and the mountains were all freshly covered with snow. It was amazingly lovely.
 Hears of Editors Death
 ,"It was at Interlaken that I re- ceived the sad news of. MT. Barrett's death. The news was & great shock to both Mrs. Hanson and myself. When we had left Birmingham in May, MT. Barrett was apparently in the best of health, and we were much grieved at his sudden death. After we reached England some weeks later, we received>the news that Mrs. Barrett had been elevated to the presidency of The Age-Herald Pub fishing company and made publisher of. the paper. We felt that it was a fine thing that the paper to which MT. Barrett had devoted his best years should remain in the family, and want to congratulate The Age Herald stockholders on their judg- ment in entrusting the task to Mrs. Barrett
 We found France and Belgium go- ing ahead with rapid strides toward normal conditions. Germany Is work ing hard. and I predict that she will be the first nation in Europe to re- cover completely from the war. Eng land was in the worst condition of unrest of any country that we vis- tied. The English seem to feel they are sitting on the lid of a volcano. They have an enormous army of un- employed who seem thoroughly satis fled to live on the government doles without ever going to work again. The government contributes 40 per cent of the cost of a home to any person who will build, in order to construction and put more men to work.
 switzerland and Holland, with their money at par, seem prosperous and contented. The American tourists are charged outrageous prices every where. In Paris I paid 80 cents for a package of cigarettes that sell In this country for IS or 20 cents, and that is a reasonably fair sample of what they do to the Americans. -"I am delighted to find Birmfrg- ham in such sound shape and with such wonderful improvement in bus mess conditions. From all I can learn the railroad strike will soon be over, and I believe Birmingham Is going to have the greatest fall and winter in it's history."3