Miscellaneous Items - 1946

Frank Doolittle Injured

Bainbridge News & Republican, August 22, 1946

Frank Doolittle is confined to his home on Kirby street [Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY] by injuries received Monday morning when he was struck in the head by a four by four while rolling logs at the Trico Lumber co.  He suffered a fracture of the right cheek bone, broken teeth, and a slight concussion.

 

Bainbridge Native Returns from Europe

Bainbridge News & Republican, August 22, 1946

 

Harry Searles, of Saratoga Springs, research engineer for Van Raalte, has recently returned from a trip to Europe and has expressed his opinions in a most interesting article in his hometown newspaper, "The Saratogian."  Mr. Searles, a native of Bainbridge, has numerous friends here who will be most interested in the account of his trip, which has been contributed to the News by Mrs. Fred Davis, of West Bainbridge.  The article follows:

 

Admiration for the courage of the English, apprehension for the future of France, and unlimited praise for the beauties of Switzerland and its handling of post-war problems, is expressed by Harry Searles, research engineer for Va Raalte, on his return from a month's business trip to Europe.

 

Mr. Searles, former manager of the local Van Raalte plant, who continues to make Saratoga his home and business headquarters, made the round trip of the Atlantic by American Air Lines, much of his traveling on the continent also being by air.

 

This enabled him to make wide observation of economic conditions in addition to carrying out the object of his visit. The principal purpose of the trip was for a preview of a new textile manufacturing machine which is scheduled for showing in the united States this fall, as well as to talk to leading textile men abroad.

 

Mr Searles was one of 32 passengers and a crew of five which left by four-motored plane at 2:20 p.m. June 22 from LaGuardia Airport, flying north along the coast over Boston to Gardner Airport in Newfoundland, where the first stop was made after 1,096 miles.  "Cocktails were being served in anticipation of dinner," he said, "when a storm broke, delaying the landing at Gardner, so dinner was served at a hotel there."  After motors had been checked, they took off in the rain for the 1,976-mile Atlantic hop to Shannon Airport on the Shannon River in Ireland.  The crossing was uneventful except for a magnificent view over the thunderheads and other clouds at sunrise about 2 a.m. E.D.S.T.  The view, he said, reminded him of the Garden of Gods, although even more striking.  One of the passengers, who had traveled over much of the world by air, described it as the most beautiful sight he ever had seen.  "In marked contract to England, where food is scarce," he said "we had a fine breakfast of bacon, eggs and coffee, with more butter in evidence than I had seen before in six months."

 

There was a delay of an hour for plane inspection after which they flew direct to the New Heath Row Airport, near London.  This port, about eight miles in length, is in use, but tents and temporary buildings are being used.  It is expected, he learned, that it will take the place of several ports in the vicinity of the metropolis.  This completed a trip of 3,441 miles.

 

In London, Mr. Searles stopped at the Savoy and took time to tour the city by train, observing the widespread damage which had been done by bombs.  "Most of the buildings," he said, "are not more than seven stories high.  It is fortunate that the city is spread out that way, as the destruction would  have been much worse had it been concentrated, as in New York.  Much of the damage is in the center of the city.

 

"Whole blocks have been blown away and windows and sidewalks of adjacent buildings are badly damaged.

 

"I was impressed by the courage of these people.  They are friendly, courteous, and talk freely.  I visited with all classes and nobody was crying about conditions.  Most of them expressed a willingness to fight it out themselves, some of them not in accord with the loan from the Untied States.  All expressed hope that it would be repaid, feeling that were it not, good feeling between two countries might be endangered, particularly in the minds of the coming generation.

 

"Food is very scarce. there are no steaks, or chops, and no fresh eggs, the meat rationing of lamb and some chicken.  Vegetables are scarce.  For the first part of my visit I saw little else but spinach but things seemed to improve a little while I was there and they produced some green peas and new potatoes.  People are not starving but the food was lacking in nutritive value.  For instance, after I had orange juice for breakfast in the hotel several mornings I learned it was mineralized water with synthetic flavoring."

 

Mr. Searles described the rationing system as better than that in the United States, but in no way equal to that in Switzerland.  A visitor may stop at an English hotel four days without ration coupons.  He applied for and obtained stamps after four days and surrendered them to the hotel.  "It was possible for a person not registered at a hotel to purchase a meal, but the practice was discouraged," he said. 

 

Mr. Searles then went by train from London to Nottingham, about 180 miles north.  This is the leading textile center of the country, noted for its fine laces.  Here is located one of the finest textile colleges in the world, of which Mr. Searles became a member.  He also went to Leicester, a textile and machine center. 

 

Unable to get reservations on a regular air line, Mr. Searles and Dr. Robert Reiner, a textile man from Weehawken, N.J., and a London banker, chartered a private plane and flew from Croyden Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where they stopped at the Brau-au-lac Hotel, on the northern point of Zurich Sea (Lake).   Mr. Searles described Zurich, one of the world's most noted vacation spots, as the neatest, cleanest, most restful and beautiful places he ever had seen. 

 

"The streets are as clean as the floor in one's home," he declared, "and they allow nothing to mar the beauty and attractiveness of the city.  There are no unkempt buildings.  As soon as a building becomes unsightly it is removed.  I have the highest opinion of Saratoga as a vacation center, but, nevertheless, the city would do well to send a couple of engineers to Switzerland to see how they handle things in Zurich."  He described the food there as excellent.  Although practically everything is rationed, there is an adequate supply, he said, and well rationed. 

 

"Arriving at the airport," he said, "we surrendered our passports, which were returned to us containing food coupons ample to last for three meals.  At the hotel my passport again was taken and held until morning, when it was returned with food coupons for one week.  Thereafter coupons, to meet the size of the meal ordered, were surrendered at each meal, before it was served.  These were good at the hotel, any restaurant, or they could be used to purchase food in the stores.  By this system, persons  in all circumstances had the same ration, as one could not eat in a hotel without coupons."

 

After an automobile trip through the Alps, across the Austrian border, Mr. Searles took a train to Paris where he found conditions "appalling and deplorable."  Conditions were worse in Paris than I ever had seen or heard about.  There is extreme inflation, acute shortages of food and other materials and a strong black market.  Communists have a powerful grip on the country and I fear the future of the country.  At the Grand Hotel breakfast was one egg and one cup of tea or coffee.  Buildings are shabby; not from bombs but from  neglect, and everything looks run down.  The Germans apparently took everything they could lay hands on.  A machine man on whom I called apologized for his six-year-old automobile.  Out interpreter explained that the car had been entirely dismantled and buried in the ground to keep it from the invaders.  otherwise there would have been none.

 

"We flew from Paris back to London by private plane in company with the Princess of Athol, and returned to the United States by the same air route over which we had come."  Weather was favorable on the return trip until they arrived west of Boston, when the plane encountered a bad storm and from then on into New York it was fog and low ceiling all the way. 

 

"We were over New York two hours," he said, "and made four attempts before we could land on LaGuardia Airport.  It was the only time on the whole trip that I was at all concerned about safety.  You should have heard the applause the passengers gave the pilot when he walked down through the ship."  The ship arrived in New York July 22, just one month from the day of departure. 

 

by Winfield S. Hill -- The Saratogian