HEYDAY OVER

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 9

HEYDAY OVER

AMERICANS IN LONDON

FALL OF THE DOLLAR

Keluctantly the American colony Is admitting that its financial heyday in London is over as it shapes anew torn and tattered budgets, says the "San Francisco Chronicle. '•' ■ • ■ ,A year ago, with'the''dollar at a premium, every 100 dollars . .pushed across the counter- of it bank brought something like £31 sterling; now the 100 dollars buys only about £-21, a difference of nearly 48 dollars. .That difference has ushered in an era of tightened belts in. the American colony, 6000 strong ia London alone, but few individuals are returning to the United States... The depreciation of the .dollar, however, has produced one noticeable trend —many American concerns are paying their employees in.Britain in'sterling. This has beou .particularly ,true with concerns whoso representatives in England wore given salary cuts a year ago when the dollar was at a premium. Calculating their employees' dollar salaries on a basis of what the cost of living is in America, these firms pay sterling figures on a basis of the cost of living in London. United States Government employees, with salaries shaved down as in America, have conducted & campaign ,to got paid in gold. The answer is 'understood to have boon that until tho pound is quoted at 5 dollars, Uncle Sam cannot undertake to pay in gold. Some Americans say that- while tho pound is below the .par 4.86 dollars rate, tho dollar-pound rates are much to their disadvantage. Having no faith in index figures, which, they say, are not comparable because ( th« basis of reckoning the cost of living in the two countries is, not the same, many of them have made their own studies. They compare the Friday evening chain store grocery lists from America with English lists and, quality for quality, pound for pound, can for can, figure they could live more cheaply in America.