The Daily Alaska empire., 1948-05-22


 cents of that must be corned beef, a pound of sugar month, and three ounces of butter.
 Clothing rations barely keep a person covered much less purchase of towels or sheets or extras for a household.
 The Dorchester had a notice in our room asking guests to con- serve hot water and electricity due so the fuel scarcity
 The bomb damage is everywhere, sut has been well cleaned up; and somehow one is amazed that there IS so much undamaged
 "Make-do" goes here, too, as we used it during the war. And every one seems to be doing an amazing job of it.
 Remembering the reaction here o Loretta Young's story about the shortage of food in England. one should add that rationing has ad- yantages: there is more milk for shildren and i'll people on special 1iets; there is now plenty of fruit, though it is pretty expensive; the three courses served in restaurants,
 hough the entree is usually fish or fowl, are ample, the vegetables de- licious; and since I like fish, satis- fA saf tthough usually not very sweet) is good too.
 People appreciate greatly the bundles of clothing. boxes of food, and other things that have been sent from America
 Alaskans gripe about high costs, for instance of liquor, Here Scotch isssviRtuallys pnobtainahla "A man to whom We talked said his wine mer- chant allows him four quarts year --and American whiskey he never sees.
 We have walked and walked, and become aware of all the history we have forgotten. We've been to Wind sor Castle. which was closed that day; talked to MT. Lloyd. head of the London Associated Press Bu- reau. took a Cooks tour of the National Gallery, Hampstead Heath, British Museum; went to church in Westminster Cathedral. walked more miles through Kew Gardens, beautiful with it's formal gardens; heard the orators" of Hyde Park on Sunday propounding their be- liefs on everything from anarchy to religion; had personally con- ducted tour of Lloyds of London (for which we have to thank Ed Coffey and John Gaffney) and an afternoon at the House of Con- mons. I will tell you more later about our afternoon there with MT. Harry Wallace, M. P. from Lambeth, as our host.
 Today, because of the British In- dustries Fair and the Queen Eliza beth arriving with another ship load of Americans, we had to leave our hotel. We had planned to fly to Edinburgh for brief visit there, but cold weather, our weariness. and the finding of a couple of beds in . boarding house here took our plans in hand and we're still in town.
 Some day should like to come back and spend a summer. There is so much to see, so much to do. Even summer would not be long enough. But here it is May, and to- day is colder than when I left Ju- neau early in April-my word, just a month ago today!
 In the small world department: the day after I arrived in the big gest city in the world, in the Dor chester Hotel I met Honey Hansen, former passenger agent for North land Transportation Company and friend of many Alaskans.
 Honey had just returned from a trip to Norway and Sweden and the day after an Oslo newspaper inter- viewed her, she had calls from AT people who sent messages to friends and,relatiyes in Seattle and Alaska So people up North will be hear ing from her. Honey now operates a travel agency in the White Build ing in Seattle and her trip is being made to line up travel connections for her clients.
 I feel it would be out of order for me to be profound and give My Impressions of the English People" after nine days in London. There is nothing can add to what most people know of London. That Sir Christopher Wren was build ing magnificent churches here be- fore there was any United States; and just as one becomes overwhelm- ed by the antiquity of things in Britain. in the British Museum one sees examples of Mediterranean culture from a time when Britain was barbarian, and SO it goes.