Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-22

have 1920 vision but I don't be-
ieve my own eyes.
Take food, for instance. The
menus are unbelievable. Two weeks
ago was out with some American
flyers securing the English country
side via bicycle in the hope that We
could run across a farmer who
would part with an egg or two. The
kids were spending their spare time
between operations over Germany
trying to rustic up breakfast that
you can buy In any restaurant in
New York.
White Bread Blitzed, Too.
No one in England has seen white
bread since the blitz. The citizenry
has forgotten that bread is white.
Their loaves are the color of q good
suntan and Boy Scout couldn't
blaze 1t on both sides without stop
ping to sharpen his Ratchet. This
morning I had an ordinary break
fast-white toast, scrambled eggs,
bacon, butter, coffee with cream and
sugar.
You couldn't buy that in England
II you wanted to spend a million
pounds. Gen. Devers, commanding
officer Of the American troops in
Europe, couldn't get it, with all the
influence he naturally must have.
New York's shop windows are still
unbelievable to me. Walk the streets
of London and you pass shop after
shop with signs on their doors read
ing: CLOSED for the day. Our quota
has been exhausted" The women
in England pay 500 to $3.50 for
cheaply made dresses that no store
would dare charge more than s25
for In this country. And the women
who can afford these prices are
able to purchase clothes only once
or so year because of clothes ra-
tioning.
You seldom see a smartly dressed
woman. The lowest salaried working
girl in New York is better dressed
than the fashionable women you see
in the night clubs of Mayfair. A
friend of mine, Lady Peel, who is
better known in this country as
Beatrice Lille, goes everywhere in
a coat cut from a plain bed blanket.
And she Is the envy Of her friends
who don't have a blanket to cut UP.
No Private Cars Operated.
The gasoline rationing is tough
here but 1t is tougher there. You
just don't see any private cars on
the streets in England. AL you see
in the way of cars are government
cars. The private citizen just doesn't
have one, and that Is all there Is to
1t.
A man can still get a sleeper in
this country If he has to make an
overnight trip. No one over there
would ever dream Of trying to make
sleeping car reservation. What
few sleepers are left are used by the
government for transportation Of
officers and men on official business.
You can be the Duchess of High
Monkety- Monk, but If you have to
go to Glasgow or Edinburgh or any
where else, you can rest assured
you'll sleep curled up on a cushion
with about seven others curled up
on the cushions with you.
There is no limit to the cigarettes
and tobacco you can buy here. And
when you buy a package, the clerk
casually throws out a package Of
matches. Even our soldiers in Eng
land are strictly rationed as to ciga-
rettes and matches and If they need
more than their slim allowance they
can buy English cigarettes at about
go cents package. That is, If they
are lucky enough to find shop that
has cigarettes to sell.
Nope, no one will ever tell me
there is any complaining in this
country about wartime privations.
If there is, those who are doing 1t
are either ignorant Of what is going
on In the rest of the world. or are
of that type which wouldn't like a
living room, bedroom and bath in
Heaven.