[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR ,—Your article on
"The Youth Movement in Ger- many" interested me considerably, more especially as I have taken advantage of the accommodation offered the tramper by this movement.
But Germany is not alone in encouraging her youth to live an outdoor life by providing cheap accommodation. In Austria almost any farmer will allow trampers to sleep in his barn, either free, or for a purely nominal 'sum ; and in Vienna I slept in a bed in a school for 2d. a night. Again, this year in Copenhagen I slept on mats in a gymnasium for 3d. ; this included the use of hot and cold shower and foot baths ! In Sweden the same thing is possible, I believe.
We have the slogan, "See England First," but why not help to make it more easily possible by providing cheap and reliable resting-places ? Many Germans and Danes have said to me : "If I came to England, should I be able to find places to sleep in, similar to those we have in our country ? " I had to admit that they would not, whereupon their hopes of visiting England—at any rate for many years —are doomed.
Could not our Youth Movement offer something similar to that offered by other Youth Movements ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
Woodcraft, Brislington, Bristol. ETH EL WiLmoTT.
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