visibility at all. The windows iced up and when we scraped they iced almost as fast as we could rub the film away. Could not observe much of the scenery though what I did see was grandly picturesque. The run from Denver to San Francisco was without much event and we arrived at Oakland and the S.F. Ferry on time. Several of the passengers were English families en route for California, Australia or New Zealand. I think England will profit by the departure of some of them and those who stay in California will not be of any great value to the U.S. One family named Whitear, father, mother, daughter of eighteen, son of twelve, openly boasted of their smuggling of jewelry, both from England and into the U.S. Pa Whitear being plied with beer in the lounge car by some soldiers who were tra- veiling, on the last night sang nasally "God Bless H'America" and then tried to put on the porter's hat. "I 'ave a mania for 'ats" said he. It confirms my be- lief that England is cutting off all those parts which she does not consider trustworthy and of advantage in case of trouble, Egypt, Palestine, India and the Whitear family. Van and I settled in at the Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco, glad to be able to stretch our legs. I have one or two small purchases to make and have just had a call from Colonel Slack, shall be spending the evening with him and Eleanor, his wife, both friends chiefly of Major Rowe, so shall close this for the present, bringing it up to date before leaving San Francisco on Friday. It might be worth adding, before I close, that people here in S.F. are shivering in the grip of a cold wave, 50 degrees; the papers warn them that there may be rain at the weekend, it now being Wednesday, with the probability that there will be more within a few weeks. Thursday, 29 January 1948. Last night was taken around San Francisco by Colonel and Mrs. Slack and had very pleasant time. Visited show places, St. Francis Orchid Room, Top of the Mark and ended up after riding cable car, at Italian place named Veneto's, for dinner. Everything drowned with garlic and woke myself during the night by my own odor. This morning went down to Watson office. No mail there and no change in time of embarkation but dis- covered what I have been wondering about S.F. The place is unfinished. There are several branches of "Painless Parker", a dental chain which I knew in Brook- lyn in 1913 and 1914 but have not seen since then until now. What I have dis- covered is that San Francisco reminds me of Manhattan as it was in 1913. This afternoon am going out to Redwood City, about thirty miles from San Francisco, to spend the evening with Prof. Spurr and Van is dining out with friends. I shall not be able to write anything in this tomorrow so shall close at the end of this page and start in earnest after we sail. Prices in San Francisco seem in general to be somewhat lower than compar- able things in New York but in the matter of articles we have for the expedition, my costs still are lower than anything I have seen anywhere else. Am lunching with Col. Slack tomorrow and now shall close the U.S. part of the hournal.