Don Martin diary entry for Saturday, January 26, 1918: Became
a regular sightseer and spent 2 hours in the Tower of London. Went all through
it – from the Crown Jewels tower to the place where murders were committed 40
years ago. It was like living through my English history.
The Tower of
London, officially Her
Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is located on the north bank of the River
Thames in central London. It was founded in 1066 as part of the Norman
Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built
by William the Conqueror in
1078. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. The
castle was also used as a prison from 1100 until 1952. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under
Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout
established by the late 13th century remains.
 |
Tower of London viewed from the River Thames |
January 25 (yesterday) was a big writing day for Don Martin. He mailed seven articles to New
York. The Sunday, February 10,
edition of the New York Herald dedicated a whole page to these
articles, in Part Three of Section 1 banner headlined “SPECIAL ARTICLES
ON THE WAR WRITTEN FOR THE HERALD”. The scope of the articles
showed Don Martin to be a top-drawer reporter and commentator on the war
situation of interest to Americans, as seen from London. A main article was a
collection of brief stories, some humorous.
ROBERT
LANSING IDOL OF LONDON;
STORES SHOW
HIS WORDS ON WAR
Utterances of American
Secretary of State Widely Quoted in British Capital
—English Soldier, Blinded at
Gallipoli, Finds Travelling Difficult at Home
—What Working Girls Eat
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, is
an idol certainly in some parts of London. Recently I saw in the windows of six
restaurants in Holborn (this street about corresponds to Amsterdam avenue), one
in Whitechapel and three along Eastcheap (the Williams street of London), large
photographs of his with the following extract from one of his notes:--
“I am firmly convinced that the
independence of no nation is safe and the liberty of no individual is sure
until the military despotism which holds the German people in the palm of its
hand has been made impotent and harmless forever.”
-- -- --
Here is a war story which has been
told for some time in England, but which is worth retelling:--
Entering a compartment in a railway
train a young man awkwardly found a seat after nudging clumsily against a
dignified, middle aged woman and stepping on her feet. A moment later she gave
vent to her wrath, but without addressing her remarks to anyone in particular.
“I have my opinion of a healthy young
man, at a time like this, who is not at the front doing his duty.”
No notice from anyone.
“I’d be ashamed if I had a son who was
riding around on pleasure and stepping on people’s feet when he ought to be in
the army.”
Still no notice, so the woman, after a
moment of silence, again opened the spigot of her wrath. A half hour later the
train stopped. A man across the aisle got up, gently took the arm of the
offending but silent young man and guided him out of the carriage.
“Pardon me” he said pleasantly to the
irritable lady, “but this young man lost his eyesight at Gallipoli.”
-- -- --
American songs, not so popular at home as they once were, but
still good, are beginning to catch on in London. “Me an’ My Gal,” “Poor
Butterfly” and “Over There” are heard nightly in practically all the
restaurants. They are sung, too. The Englishman who usually sings “Me an’ My
Gal” ought to be arrested, but the women who sing “Poor Butterfly” in the
various semi-cabarets do very well. The Americans who are always around attend
to “Over There.” Which reminds me that the Miss Regine Flory, the headliner at
the Gaiety in “The Beauty Spot,” sings “Poor Butterfly” as part of her
performance and does it nearly as well as did Sophye Barnard at the Hippodrome
in New York. She sings Irené Franklin’s “Mississippi” and murders it.
-- --
--
Gravediggers in Monmouthshire went on strike recently for an
increase of $3.75 additional a week. There were a dozen of them. Eight funerals
were held up and the diggers got what they asked.
-- --
--
Two weeks ago a liner at sea was saved because five seagulls were
perched on the prongs of a floating mine far out to sea. They drew attention to
the danger. This week a railway clerk was fined $10 for feeding seagulls in St.
James’ Park. He attracted so many of the sea birds that the crowd that formed
almost blocked traffic. He was guilty of disorderly conduct. Most of the London
papers remarked that gulls are entitled to more consideration than that.
Thousands of them come to the city and almost fly into the faces of people on
the various Thames bridges.
Sir Auckland Geddes recently gave the following figures showing
the increases in the British army and navy:---
1914 1917
Army
......... 600,000 4,000,000
Navy
.......... 150,000 400,000
Air
Service ......... 3,000 125,000
The total effort made by the various parts of the British nation
is shown by the following figures:--
Men Percent
England
.......... 4,530,000 60.4
Scotland
............ 620,000 8.3
Wales
.......... 280,000 3.7
Ireland
........... 170,000 2.3
Dominion
and Colonies
........ 900,000 12.0
The remaining million men, composed of
native fighting troops, labor corps, carriers, represent the contribution made
by India, Africa and other dependencies.
The millions of women knitters in
America may find inspiration in the record of Margaret Wilson a nurse in the
Scarborough Workhouse Infirmary. She is ninety-three years of age, but since
the war started has finished more that two hundred pairs of socks for the
soldiers and knitted several scarfs. She says she is “doing her bit,” and will
continue till the war ends.
-- -- --
It is only in exceptional cases that
the exemption boards of Great Britain grant exemption claims to men of military
age. But a board let Edgar L. Miskin off. He is a schoolmaster on Foulness
Island, a lonely spot in the North Sea, which only seldom is visited by any one
of the outside world. It has a population of fewer than 500, and has absolutely
no immigration. The Board of Education of the island said that if Mr. Miskin
were taken away they could not get another teacher to come to their little home
country.
-- -- --
At a lecture on the pianoforte at the
Royal Society of Arts the other day Dr. Frederick S. Clay said that he trusted
every musician would swear never again to “play on a German piano.” He
continued:--“No damned German shall come near me after the war.”
Sir Frederick Bridge, of the Royal
Society, who presided the gathering, said jocularly:-- “You would hardly expect
such strong language from an ecclesiastical gentleman.”
“Quite true,” retorted Dr. Clay. “I
didn’t exactly mean to say ‘damned,’ but having said it I will stick to it.”
-- -- --
A society in London has been
investigating to learn just what the tens of thousands of girl clerks in London
eat for luncheon. Following it said to be the average menu for a week:--
Monday – Two sausages and mashed potatoes, 18 cents; coffee, 6
cents.
Tuesday – Soup, 8 cents; roll and butter, 4 cents; cake, 4 cents;
coffee, 6 cents
Wednesday – Date pudding, 8 cents; rice mould, 4 cents; coffee, 6
cents.
Thursday -- Date pudding, 8 cents; rice mould, 4 cents; no coffee
Friday – Rice mould, 4 cents; no coffee
Saturday (pay day) – Substantial meal costing about 30 cents.
[One pence in Jan 1918 was equivalent to 3.75 US cents: 4p= 15,
6p= 23, 8p= 30, 18p= 68, and 30p= 113 US cents. The 110 pence total per
week was equivalent to $4.13, which equates today to $73, using the Consumer
Price Index ratio of 17.6, or about $12 per day on average.]
-- --
--
One hears and sees constant tributes
to America’s unselfishness and magnanimity in her attitude toward the Allies.
Recently the following paragraph appeared in the Daily Telegraph:--
“One striking fact was the evidence at
stand after stand of America’s endeavor to fill our larder. Mammoth stacks of
cases of corned beef were a tribute to the packing firms and workers of Chicago
and piles of tins of evaporated milk, at thirty-five cents per pound, bore
labels from Chicago and Oregon. Cases of American eggs, frozen ducks and other
commodities all demonstrate how American has come to the rescue. All these
articles are to supplement America’s contribution of beef.
-- -- --
On the day that the Woman Suffrage
measure was adopted by the House of Lords the Daily Chronicle printed the
following:--
“Lord Balfour of Burleigh, having seen
the principle of female suffrage accepted by the Peers, moves to-day to submit
the question to a referendum. He is an entirely honest man, but his proposal
might bring about a result as unexpected as attended certain instructions in a
story told by himself. An official of the Soudan Railway received one day a
message from a remote village, “Station master dead. Shall I bury him?” ‘Yes,’
was the reply, ‘but make sure that he is really dead.’ In due season came the report:--‘Made
sure he was dead by hitting him twice on the head with a fishplate.’”
Another main article reported on worsening conditions in
Germany and Austria.
News from
Inside Central Empires Shows Increasing Want, Privation and Unrest
Translations form Newspapers
in the Enemy Realms Tell of Supplies of Necessary Products Exhausted, Prices at
Previously Unheard of Levels and Crime Rampant
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
A somewhat clearer insight into the
economic conditions of Germany and her chief ally, Austria, than has hitherto
been forthcoming is given in the issue, by the British government, of a huge
batch of translated extracts from newspapers published within the enemy’s
realms.
The publication, which is a lengthy
one, consisting of 106 pages of closely printed matter, deals with every
subject, and one does not have to delve very deeply into it to discover that
the problems of feeding and clothing the populations of the Central Empires,
particularly Austria, are causing the gravest concern. The coal shortage, too,
is having a serious effect, for not only is it adding to the difficulties of
the transportation of food but it is also causing wholesale restrictions of
trade.
“Man Power,” “National Civilian
Service,” “War Prisoners”—of whom more than two millions are claimed—“Women’s
Work,” “Industrial Consolidation and Fusion” and “After the War” problems and
other subjects are dealt with in an interesting collection of extracts, of
which the following were selected:--
“At the Congress of National Christian
Workers’ Trade Unions, held in Berlin on October 29, the Under Secretary of
State said it was regrettable that the meat ration would have to be reduced this
winter and that bread and potatoes would have to be the chief items of the
nation’s dietary.”—Berliner Tageblatt, October 30.
Serves Only the Army
“No great supplies are to be expected
from Roumania, as the harvest of that country serves the army. The transport
difficulties in Germany itself are in large measure due to the fact that areas
like the Rhineland, which previously were supported from abroad, must now be
provided from distant districts of Germany.—Berliner Tageblatt, November 7
“Consignments of milk are at present
extremely scanty. We received 30,000 litres (660,000 gallons) less than is
necessary for children and invalids. The supply of autumn vegetables is at
present in a state of some confusion. By delivery contracts we obtain daily
consignments of sixty truck loads, but that is not by any means sufficient, as
the consignments of cabbages and turnips are appreciably below those of other
vegetables. But the contracts are not always fulfilled; for instance, we
expected 800 truck loads of white cabbage but received only 360. Unless there
is a change prospects are extremely unfavorable. —Borsen-Zeitung, November 2
“In a circular issued to the federal
governments by the Imperial Chancellor the following words occur:-- The
throwing away of decayed foods (potatoes, vegetables, fruit, jam. Etc.) should
be avoided. The German Milk Fertilizer Company (of Berlin) has been established
for the purpose of working up such decayed foods and is almost always able to
produce for them a useful fodder by desiccating process.” –Vorwaerts, October
25
No Prospect for Improvement
“The prospects of an improvement in
the coal supply are bad. During October only 70 percent of the very small
amount allotted was delivered in Berlin, and during November (up to the
present, at any rate—and there is little hope of improvement) the consignments
have been smaller still.” – Lokal-Anzeiger, October 16
“The price of coke has been raised by
the Berlin Coke Association as from November 1 to prices varying between 7.20
and 7.50 marks for metric centre (3s. 7-1/2d. to 3s 9d. per hundredweight),
according to quality.” –Borsen-Zeitung, November 16
Prices Are Fantastic
In Austria the prices of hosiery,
woolen stuffs and linen shirts border on the fantastic. According to Die Zeit,
November 11, hosiery is practically not to be obtained. The few articles which
are still procurable come from neutral countries and are smuggled into Austria.
So naturally, they cost far more than their value. The same is true of woolen
articles, especially women’s coats and similar articles, which are now of Swiss
manufacture. We are told that there is no further supply of these goods in
Austria, the wholesale warehouses are empty. Women’s long coats are frequently
made of artificial silk of Swiss manufacture, and are sold there at fantastic
prices. Such coats often cost as much as 300 kronen (L22 10s). Stockings, too,
can hardly be procured, and what can be had are enormously dear. A pair of stockings
costs 14-18 kronen (11s. 3d. to 15s.). The materials for these are smuggled
from Switzerland, a kilogram of wool costing 180 kronen (55s. 6d. a pound). It
is said that socks will not be available until six months after peace has been
declared, and then they will be very expensive. Paper is a fair protection from
cold, but the paper made in Austria is too brittle and the proper long fibred
Swedish cellulose is not available in sufficient quantities.
The
headlines of Don Martin’s other stories were:
SHELL SUPPLY
OF BRITAIN GREATER THAN ARMY NEED
M. E. Steele, of New York,
Declares Output of Factories Is Marvelous
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
BRITAIN
BELIEVES LORD READING WILL BE POPULAR HERE
New High Commissioner, Once a
Cabin Boy, Is Thoroughly Democratic
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
Girl’s Band
from America Plays in Y.M.C.A. Concert
“Golden West”
Instrumentalists Will Give Weekly Performances at Aldwych Hut
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
War Converts
This ‘Idle Rich’ Man Into Effective Worker
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
American
Company Gives $5,000 to British Charities
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
Also dated January 25, a note about London
theater by Don Martin was published in the theater section of the February 10
Sunday edition of the New York Herald.
London to
See Musical Comedy at His Majesty’s
[Special to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet
Street, London, Jan. 25.
There has been much excited talk in
theatrical circles about the price paid for His Majesty’s Theatre. It has been
suggested that $750,000, and even as much as $1,250,000, was paid for it. The
actual price paid by Messrs. Grossmith and Laurillard was $525,000, which would
be cheap if the ground rent were not so high. It is a costly theatre to run,
and the late Sir Herbert Tree said it cost him $2,500 when closed.
No new production is contemplated at His Majesty’s at present, for
“Chu Chin Chow,” which is in its second year, shows not the least sign of
waning popularity, but Oscar Asche says that in future the theatre probably
will become the great home in London for musical comedy, with magnificent stage
setting and dresses, for which His Majesty’s is so well adapted.
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