Evening star., 1937-03-14
JUNGLE SHYLOCK' RIVALED
BY HIS CRITICS In BRITAIN
Coronation Prices and Exchange Riot
Indicate Their Desire to Have
and to Hold.

AiiN'tSittoiiy, iliOAlOpO4iSo aIC 1lOU lCs
garded as public enemies over here,
and almost cheerfully the people pay
fixed and non-competitive prices
which would make the Federal Trade
Commission and the Interstate Com
merce Commission rub their eyes No.
table are the whisky, tobacco and mo-
tor car industries.
1nterlocking directorates apparent
ly are not discouraged, and the
economic royalistS" are not told
where to head in by officious Gov
ernment agencies Private corpora
tionS don't even have to publish an
annual report Naturally, there's no
S. E. C. nonsense.
Another curious matter here is the
extent to which the great literary
and political names" sell their opin-
ions to the press. In the States you
can brace an author or a Senator
for an interview and he will toss off
a few free phrases. But in England,
the names must first see the color
of your guineas before they will utter
a syllable for publication.
Now for the Keeping Side.
So much in hasty survey of the
getting side. On the keeping"
side, it becomes apparent what is
meant by the phrase right little.
tight little isle" in reference to
Britain. And that isn't because of the
Scotch, either.
1 think the most revealing thing
is to state that Lord Nuffield, the
great motor magnate here, has left
Britons simply speeches. with awe,
has monopolized whole front pages
for days and even weeks with series
OF gifts to charities and to Oxford
University, totaling in lifetime about
S50,000000. This is unique 1t Is
unheard of. He is so far out in front
| of any other giver that there is no
| second place. The obvious answer
that BritOns make, when it is pointed
out to them that there are half a
dozen donors in America who have
! given this much or more and a dozen
who have come close to it, is that
America is a much richer country
than England. But it is impossible
to live here any length of time with
| out realizing the enormous fortunes
| which accrue to England from world
wide interests of the greatest empire
| in history, which dwarfs in wealth
even the United States" as one paper
| puts it. In phrase much used by
Londoners, You cawn't have it both
ways, can you?"
Wealthy Britains Not Apologize.
In America, apparently, million
aires are a trifle apologetic, infected
| perhaps with the sense of their Ameri-
can craSsness in being millionaires.
They seek to mitigate the scorn of
the rest of the world by giving their
money away in great amounts Not
so the English. The front page of
the Times is eloquent of the straits
in which London hospitals and Brit
ish social services find themselves.
They are kept up mostly by private
contributions and are reduced to such
pitiful devices as appealing to the
public for its otherwise wasted tinfoil
and discarded false teeth.
The hospital buildings of London,
frankly are a scandal. To go into
some of these worlo-famed institu-
tions and look about is to feel that
there can't be much to the germ
theory of disease or of sepSis. Other
wise the death rate would be appal-
ling. The dirty, tumble-doWn build
ings and equipment would not be
tolerated in any tenth class city in
the United States.
Public munificence is not wasted
| on the church. either From the point
of view of the tithe system, perhaps
it is not very much needed But it
is an experience to go into London
church in a prosperous neighborhood
and regard the collection plate as it
is handed along. The average con-
tribution could not be much over a
penny.
1 recall the case of an American
friend who went to church in Lon
don and found that he had only a
ten-shilling note and couple of cop
perS when the collection was nearing
him. Rather than toss the pennies
into the oncoming velvet bag he put
in the ten-shilling note. He reports
that he never saw such a Striken
look as passed over the face of he
next man down the row. An Eng
lishman assured him later that it
was probably the first ten-bob note
which had been taken In since the
days of Pepys.