" COME TO BRITAIN "
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sra,—Britain has something to offer to our American cousins that no other part of the world has, at least for the majority of them, viz., that it is the home of their ancestors. Would it not be possible to advertise not only the scenery and the hotels of this country, but also that we have here a special bureau which is ready to give advice to any American who is seeking to find the original home of his ancestors?
To do this it would, of course, be necessary to establish such a bureau and I cannot but think that the promoters of the " Come to Britain" idea would do well to create such a bureau. It is, of course, difficult for the average American with perhaps but scanty knowledge of his family to know where to turn for help, but to a small body of experts making use of the clergy and the various historical and antiquarian associations scattered throughout the country the task would be very different. From the requests I have received myself, I know that such a bureau would supply a need, but I feel sure that it would still further be true that here the supply would create the demand.
It is easy to, imagine that each American going back with pictures and documents about his. family. .and ancestral home would be the means of starting others on 'the same search, thus causing them to not only visit England, but in many cases places remote from tourist haunts and incidentally doing something to make them love the Old Country better.
If I might make a further suggestion in connexion with this " Come to Britain " movement, it is that lectures be established in places of historic interest during the two or three months when the Americans are specially here. This might cause them not merely to spend a day or less, say at Windsor, Stratford, Stoke Pops, &c., but to spend two or three days, and when they returned they would not only be able to say we trod the path—we heard the formula—we paid the coin—but they would have a far greater appreciation of the inexhaustible treasures of these places.
Americans have a keen desire for knowledge and to spend their time to the best advantage, and it is up to us to help them if they are to help us.—I am, Sir, &c., C. H. D. CRIMES. Royal Geographical Society, Kensington Gore, London, S.W. 7.
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