Evening star., 1940-11-21

| NlShel oullullls, tIle COWcT tildt
housed the College of London, etc
But 10 Downing Street remains 1C
Downing Street in the middle of ii
all.
The entrance is barricaded with
barbed wire and sandbags and SEN
tries are on guard. 1 walked down
the alley and rang the bell at the
side of the famous door. Its brass
was neatly polished. A butler opened
it. We crossed the hall and my friend
Brendan Bracken, who used to pub
Hsh financial journals in the city and
| is now one of the Prime Ministers
top secretaries. was standing before
a small desk. He is a medium sized
man with large head set in a still
larger halo of bright red hair, which
appears to stand on end and wave
He looks a little like a red version
of the New Workers. Harold Ross
He said, Il think the Prime Min
lister is waiting" and we went out
of the room and down a steep stair
way and to a girder-roofed cellar
basement
The Cabinet Room.
1 1t had Dutch-tiled fireplace or
one side and was fitted as tempo.
rary secretarial office with type.
writer's on tables A young lady wa.
sitting at one doing nothing
Bracken went into the room be.
yond, came back and said, az
thought he was going to see you
down here, but he wants you up ir
the cabinet room" We went back
upstairs.
The room in which the British
cabinet meets is a handsome room
with big windows on two sides and a
fireplace on the third. The big win
doWs were covered with wire and a
small pane in one was broken. There
are bookcases between the windows
Most Of the room was taken up with
a long mahogany table at which
! places were set for cabinet ministers
Each had his own desk equipment
of an inkWell, blotter, pencils and
pens and paper. In the center OF
the table the long way, with its back
to the fireplace, was chair that was
larger than the rest, which was OBJ
vlously the Prime Minister'S. On
the wall space that was not filled
with bookcases were hung portraits
At the far end of the room on a
table rested an enormous picture
protector which some one told me
later was called an ipidioscope II
pointed toward the screen which
had been hung over the book shelves
opposite. Bracken said it was there
so that aerial photographs Of bomb
damage in Germany could be en-
/ larGnd and thrown up on a screen
for the cabinet to see.
The Man.
The Prime Minister came striding
in Brendan Bracken said. L want
to introduce Ralph Ingersoll. Hes
been a good friend of England's. -
We shook hands and Brendan left.
My fxst impression was that
Winston Churchill was smaller
rounder, neater and redder than
imagined from his pictures. His
eyebrows. his rusty hair. are thin
red. l am quite tall myself. so that
people sometimes look small TO me
who do not look small to other peo-
pie I found his voice and conversa-
ton mllder than I had anticipated
The Prime Minister sat down with
his back to the fire and I sat along
side Of him
One of the things I wanted most
to bring from England was a first
hand message from the Prime Min
lister to the American people. And
after all I am a Journalist and there
would be news in such a statement.
I wasn't to have nv cake. AS soon
as began asking him questions, the
Prime Minister said that this mes
sage must be a private conversa-
ton" I tried to argue with him
Prime Ministers don't argue very
well.
He turned me down gracefully
but definitely, remarking reasonably
that expressing oneself accurately
was difficult and that when he had
something to say publicly he liked to
think a great deal about it and work
it out in his own way. So we talked
as one must talk with the President
Of the United States. not for publi-
cation" We talked for half an hour.
l can't honestly say that I came
away very much wiser, although all
n1fncrI0rNc =
his opinion on vaIOUS phases OF
international politics end the PROP
able costs Of the war and what he
felt about Americas relations to
it, he appeared to be answering
simply and frankly.