William West Grant writes or Europe

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: William West Grant writes or Europe
Language: English
Year: 1936
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Abstract: The author, of M. H. O’Malley’s Dartmouth College class of 1903, has been a trustee of Dartmouth since 1931 and is prominent in Who’s Who in America less for his banking and legal practice at Denver than for his civic-welfare work.
Fulltext: 6 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1936 “I am writing on the Normandie—the largest steamship thus far constructed. I am glad to have traveled on her, to sec what it is like. “Suppose the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City, hav ing some 2,000 rooms, were suddenly equipped for ocean travel and put to sea. You have some idea of the Normandie. The population is even similar. The races of the earth, bas tards—mostly in the ethnological sense—from every place. The genus known as buyers, male and female, exhibiting everything they have bought,—plus others that they haven’t. “I sit next to a rather nice one at table, a woman of about forty, dark, good-looking, devoid of humor, and wearing very attractive clothes. She evidently is a good designer, though her conversation deals with diet and health, and’ a predis position to suicide, which she has to overcome periodically so she tells me. She is also kind-hearted,—apparently. On the other side is a lady half Irish and half Cuban, married to an American. She informs me that she used to be a dancer in a one-time well known troupe. She is volatile, attractive, and likes brandy. She is one of a number traveling with a dog. “The dogs are housed in luxury on the top-deck. At the same table are seated two Dutchmen, a manufacturer of airplanes and his secretary. The manufacturer is stoutish, interested only in planes and machinery, and other wise like a child—naive and self-centered. I looked at him with curiosity, remem bering that he made German fighting planes during the War. While he was furnish ing thousands to fight against us, America was spending millions developing a plane— literally. One only was ship ped abroad and that one was found on the quay at Brest, as I recall it, having been shipped by mistake. “In reply to a chance re mark of mine that my son raised horses, he said, ‘How many you raise a year—ten dousand?’ I told him only the sausage and chicken feed markets could consume that many. “He confidently predicts St. James's Park and insert of No. 10 Downing Street, official residence of the prime minister. William West Grant WRITES OF EUROPE The author, of M. H. O’Malley’s Dart mouth College class of 1903, has been a trustee of Dartmouth since 1931 and is prominent in Who’s Who in America less for his banking and legal practice at Denver than for his civic-welfare work that within five years alL sensible persons will insist on crossing the ocean by plane—preferably his. His secretary is equally certain. Their enthusiasm was somewhat dam pened by the news that Will Rogers had been killed in a crash. If it had been the' administration and Congress in stead, the balance would have been on the credit side. “I modestly stated that the Pullman Company had carried some nine million people in 1934 without loss or injury. ‘Yes’, he said, ‘but it must have been tiresome and dusty.’ “The boat has all the attributes of a hotel—winter-garden, golf, deck-tennis, trap-shooting, assembly rooms, parlors, reading rooms, smoking rooms, bars, grills, etc., etc. Nothing has been left out which would keep the traveler from the feeling that he was at sea. “The service is like that in the Crillon Hotel in Paris where we stayed—superficially polite. I understand from several bankers that the French are in the throes of a depression which would continue till the franc was devaluated. I was not at all pleasantly impressed, and could not but contrast it with our experience in England. “At the Berkeley the waiters took a deep, personal interest in everything we did, and the floor'waiter, a stout, elderly party, was particularly solicitous. Still we had many pleasant times in Paris. One Sunday afternoon we went out to Bois Pre, Mr. Edward Tuck’s lovely old house near Malmaison. He owned and lived in the latter for many years, and finally gave it to the French government. On our depar ture, he presented my wife with a large bouquet of pinks, which flower originated at Malinaison. Mr. Tuck was expecting his ninety-third birthday in a few days. He is an ideal of distinguished and graceful old age. I shall always carry with me the picture of him, his philoso phic wit, his dryness. He has attained his extreme age with out crotchets and with a wonderful sense of proportion. He has eaten well, smoked and drank moderately all his life. February, 1936 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 7 “His last financial article appeared in Scrib ner’s magazine sometime this year. He talked about Dartmouth, what it looked like, etc., and said in a perfectly matter of fact way, 'Of course, I shall never see it.’ It made me feel rather sad. Of course he never will. “Bob Davis dropped in on me next day. He looks fine and evidently feels so. We talked about Dartmouth. He is in touch with every thing, and his views were, as always, stimulating and refreshing. “Mr. John Harris, the builder, took me out to sec the new International building at the Uni versity of Paris, which he is building as the gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It is beautiful, and such a contrast to contemporary English and French architecture, which is terrible. The architect was J. Frederick Larson of Hanover, New Hampshire, the Dartmouth architect. “There are certain places to which I always go in Paris, among them the Louvre, mainly to see the Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo. An enthusiastic young friend of my daughter’s, a recent graduate of Smith, was with us. She unerringly separated the wheat from the chaff. The Louvre picture galleries always give me the impression of being there for the purpose of having a gallery. There are many wonderful paintings, but more that merely oc cupy space. A judicious cyclone that could dis criminate, and thereafter sweep through West minster Abbey destroying 99% of the Georgian and Victorian statuary would be the greatest imaginable tribute to good taste. Then I al ways go to the Pantheon, and afterwards to Notre Dame to get the contrast between the creation of a period and a timeless institution. “Perhaps our American architecture of the present—which is so much better than that of present-day Europe, except Sweden—will fur nish us a background in ages to come, comparable in its own way. On the whole I do not partic ularly enjoy France, though a week at Dieppe had its compensations. Our friends, the Bells, were there, and Mrs. Ottley—May Bell’s mother and the grandest of all old ladies. She embodies in herself the best there is in England. She is entirely understanding, frank and completely able. She said one day to Gertrude and me, 'You know, old age is not a happy time (she is seventy-three). People talk about happy old age, but there is no such thing. How could there be? Powers have waned and friends have gone. Reasonable content is possible, given the requisite philosophy. Otherwise, old age is a thom in the side of youth. People say, why don’t old persons go with those of their own age? They can’t—generally because most of them are dead. But they needn’t be a nuisance and become tyrannical through their demands to be part of an age they don’t belong to. When we reach seventy, we become spectators. The Bible is right. Man’s allotted age is seventy, and when he goes, beyond it, then is it indeed labor and sorrow.’ “A remarkable woman! Two daughters, ta lented and good to look at. Two sons—one the youngest man in the British delegation to the Versailles peace conference, and dead before its conclusion at the age of thirty-two; another, one of the leading bankers of London, as well as musician and artist. “One of her daughters told me that when they were children, her mother used to get up early in the morning and run around a paddock half an hour leading a horse on which was her eldest son, because the boy didn’t ride as well as his younger brother, and being the eldest he ought to ride better. “While at Dieppe we went over to the town of Eu and inspected the Cathedral. Eu is the ancient seat of the D’artois family, famous in French history. Their tombs are in a damp crypt, and there the remains of their poor bodies lie, thrown together in a heap by the insensate fury of the French revolutionaries, though they had been dead five hundred years, now all under the floor of the crypt. Over each tomb is a statue of the one-time incumbent, each with his dog at his feet, some killed in the Crusades, and above each the pathetic injunction, Pray for me! And today, the Communists urge another up rising to complete the French Revolution, thwarted by Napoleon! What can they give any country but blood and misery—and jobs and authority for such as no sane person would ordinarily trust with anything. “England and the English always refresh me. True, they have their demagogues, but to get away with it, a demagogue must perform. He must be abler and more astute. Lacking the spoils of office, the M. P. cannot succeed by the simple device of rank falsehood. Slander and libel are met with substantial damages. While I was in England a city official brought an action against a newspaper for quoting Winston Chur chill to the effect that the official in question had attempted to make political capital out of the King’s visit to Liverpool, stating certain details. Counsel for the paper apologized in open court, and the Judge assessed damages at 2,000 pounds. “Libel laws with teeth and the abolition of the direct primary would immeasurably improve politics in America. Something could also be said for the duel—within certain limits. "I went one day to Canterbury to see the most wonderful of all cathedrals. The place where St. Thomas-a-Beckct was murdered, the exact spot marked by a piece of marble about four inches square let into the pavement, to replace an original piece taken to Rome, as I recall. Prue and I went with Father Hughson and Father Baldwin, on their way to America frem the Holy Cross Liberian Mission. Father Hughson is a holy man if there ever was one. He was our guide. Back of the high altar we heard an English clergyman telling the story of the legend on one of the windows to a crowd of small school boys of about 8 to 12 years. ‘You see’, I heard him say, ‘They gouged out both his eyes. One came out quite easily, but the other took quite a bit of gouging. You’ll be glad to know that even at that they didn’t quite get them all, and with the help of the Lord they grew back.’ “The relief of the small boys was quite ob vious. “On the other side of the altar was the Black Prince’s tomb, his gloves, his breastplate, the scabbard of his sword, and his black helm still hanging there as they have hung for the last 700 odd years. If there is anything in a tradi tion here, you find it. The love of the English man transcends the noisy and vocal patriotism of a day. I felt the impression of something deep-seated and permanent which will always keep England national and democratic. “Westminster Abbey (forgetting the statuary), the Saxon towns of Sussex (we spent a good deal of time at Seaford), afforded us untold pleasure. King Alfred’s kingdom is still Saxon and proud of it. The market place of Alfriston, Piddinghoe (called Pidnoo), Bishopstonc—the names recall the times and the occasions. “And now home! A little solitude is oc casionally pleasant—except that I always want my wife near. I imagine, as the darky said, the ‘vice versa is not true’, especially as she refers to me ever and anon as her problem child. And solitude is never more complete than in the Grand Central Station or on a populous ocean liner. “I must not forget our week at Kelburn Castle in Ayreshire nor our meeting with Sir Alexander Walker, the proprietor of 'Johnnie Walker, of agreeable aroma. Everything considered—this judicially—I enjoyed our visit to Kelburn as much as I ever enjoyed any visit. Living in a castle dating its origin from the 11th Century has a charm of its own, particularly when it has been made most livable and is inhabited by people who understand the art of graceful living, as do the English aristocracy above all people. A charming family. I spent a pleasant morning covering miles of reforested ground with the proprietor. His wife (Archie Bell’s sister) most lovely and kind. “While at Troon, Sir A. Walker asked me to go with him and look at what he termed, ‘The most successful farm in the world.’ He said it had made money every year for twenty-five consecutive years. This was rather staggering for one who comes from a country in which we are led to believe that every farmer is impecun(Please turn to page 15) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1936 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 15 William West Grant... (Continued .from page 7) ious and entitled to special favors from every administration. “Just off the coast from Fairlie (the town nearest Kelburn) lies the island of Cumbrae, and in the distance Arran and Iona. “Cumbrae used to be the seat of the historic Bishopric of the Isles. It is referred to, if I remember rightly, in Scott’s Tales of a Grand father. Iona, of course, is the scat of the original monks brought out by St. Columba for the conversion of Ireland. St. Patrick was a Scotch man. “It is strange how tradition persists. The inhabitants of southern England are still proud of their descent from the Saxons of Alfred’s kingdom. The Scots are still jealous of the Young Pretender’s cause. Alan Boyle, maker and pilot of the first British monoplane to fly, kept and showed me as some of his dearest possessions a fragment of Prince Charlie’s plaid, an autograph letter written when he was a pen sioner at the court of France, and various other mementos. A pageant of Scottish history was presented in the summer of 1934. When it went to Edinburgh, the authorities warned the players that the part of Butcher Cumberland would have to be omitted, as they could not be responsible for the consequences. He was accordingly left out. “The following week after our return to Eng land we went to Eton for tea. My daughter had been there a number of times, but it was new to me. It was fascinating from every point of view. The old buildings (they still use some of the original school rooms built by Henry VI); the amazingly beautiful chapel, column after column of boys killed in the Great War; tablets to those who have died for England all over the world, ever since the Wars of the Roses. It is not hard to realize that you are in the cradle of a ruling class. “Oxford and Cambridge do their part, but the rulers of the empire come primarily from Eton. A young friend of one of my soils was there four years ago. Today he is sub-administrator of a district in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. They don’t seem to get soft. “From the standpoint of him who is interested in education, it is pertinent to consider what they study. Particularly in these days of so-called progressive education, aesthetic dancing, etc., ad nauseam, mathematics, Greek, Latin, French, English and science. The arguments against Latin in favor of the merely useful may continue to rage, but the fact remains that the greatest colonizing and administrative race of the earth does it on a classical foundation. “Incidentally, Colonel Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom inculcates the same principle. An archeologist, a Greek scholar, an Oxford don, is the man who incites the Arab rebellion and directs the right wing of Allenby’s army—with out previous military experience. Lawrence was killed in a motorcycle accident while I was in England. He admired Allenby above all others because the latter was the one military commander who could think in other than military terms. He could evaluate the intangi bles; he could think in terms of temperament, background and tradition, forward to an ultimate result. “Educated Englishmen are most conven tional, and yet furnish examples of the most unconventional people in the world when con ditions require it. “As usual, I spent a day at Henley. We have acquired the habit since my younger boy went over with the first American' schoolboy crew in 1927 (Kent School). Whatever else may be said, the beauty and charm of rural England is in a class align by itself. We took 2 Oxford boys (ex-Etonians) and 4 from Eton. Their eating was prodigious. I furnished lunch. “I am beginning to think I shall have to move to Hanover. With my daughter in England and one son in the east, I see very little of my family. My wife is away about six months every year. One boy is a rancher whom I meet occasionally in the evening. Hanover is a pretty good center. Unfortunately we have the accumulations of family residence in Co lorado since the Civil War. Pieces of land, old mining claims, a few cattle, some horses, a dairy, and the odds and ends of all kinds of things possessing in common the clement of taxes, like death and the poor, always with us. As that is the prevalent note of the day, on lit I shall close and betake myself to contemplation of what the country is coming to.” Luzon Stevedoring . Co., Inc. Lightering, Marine Contractors Towboats, Launches, Waterboat Shipbuilders and Provisions SIMMIE & GRILK Phone 2-16-61 Port Area Manila—Europe Direct Sailing on February 23rd, 1936, of Super Luxury Liner CONTE VERDE From Hongkong M. V. VICTORIA March JOrh, 1936, From Manila Via Singapore—Colombo—Bombay—Port Said—Naples Genoa—Venice (London) Overland—Trieste Stopover privileges. From Egypt the voyage may be continued by five optional routes of the Mediterranean services. Through Tickets to the U. S. and Round the World at Reduced Fares. to EUROPE EXPRESS SERVICE via INDIA-EGYPT - ITALY ITALIA LINE—LLOYD TRIESTINO—COSULICH LINE Smith, Bell & Co., Ltd., Agents HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANK BLDG.. PHONE 2-31-31 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL