MR. REED'S HAUNTS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—I note that you have closed the correspondence, which I began, on " The Admission of Immigrants," and have no quarrel with that, as I have made my point. But you allowed one correspondent, whose heritage of wisdom seems less than his name promises, to make an offensive reference to my personal habits, having no relevance to the subject under discussion, and I must ask you to allow me to answer him on this point.
Mr. Salomon's supposition that I spend my time at the Carlton and Ritz is as impertinent as would be any supposi- tion of mine that he spends his time at nude revues or bottle parties, as for all I know he may do. I lunched at the Carlton twice during the late unpleasantness with Germany, 1914-18 ; the Ritz I have never seen. I am anti-plush palace, anyway, and my queer views about gilded halls cause much anxiety to my friends.
Occasionally, however, I have of late lunched by invitation —not at my own expense—at approximately similar places. These visits confirmed me in my habit of staying away from them. I had the same feeling of being a foreigner in my own country, that so depressed the Berliners and Viennese in former years, and depresses the citizens of several other capitals I know today. In Vienna the native-born population at one time came, from this reason, to boycott the centre of the town. These places are usually full of the persecuted, and the sight of so much suffering is more than I can stand.—Yours
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