Los Banos Rotary Club History
Tony Paradiso Tells Of European Trip

T. A. Paradiso, local automobile dealer and recent traveler, Tuesday noon gave members of the Los Banos Rotary Club an informal, personal review of his experiences and observation while he and Mrs. Paradiso were touring Europe.

Mostly he spoke of personal things, of his trip to New York by train; and there to find their baggage had been left in Chicago; of the luxurious and leisurely boat to Paris; of his purchase of a French automobile and his experiences with French traffic. He told of arriving in Germany without having acquired any gasoline ration stamps, and of spending half of one night in a strange town trying to purchase black market gasoline so they could continue on to Heidelburg, where they visited briefly with Capt. And Mrs. John Gallant, former Los Banos residents.

One of the their more exciting and breathtaking experiences, Tony said, was at Heidelburg, as they arrived just as the government personnel there were hurriedly sending their families back to the States. Having read and heard considerable of the Korean war, Tony said they spent more than a few anxious moments wondering when, how, and if ever they would get back home. A mass formation of airplanes passing overhead in the darkness did little to soothe their war jittery nerves, nor did the blatant scream of sirens in the early hours of the morning. "I thought sure we were in war again," Tony said, "and that we were in the middle of it." The sirens, he eventually found out, were those of fire engines racing to a nearby fire.

Generally, wages are low. Prices are extremely high and the people are interested mostly in securing three hot meals a day. Consequently, conditions are excellent for the Russian propaganda and communism is flourishing, particularly in seaport towns. Switzerland is possibly the only exception. There the people are happy, sociable and seem to have a more normal life.
Paradise said he was conscious of the fact that Europeans generally have little love for the United States. Mostly, they have no idea of the democratic life as we know it, and they resent any attempt of the U.S. to shove a type of government on them that they know nothing about and don't want. The support, food and clothing routed to European peoples by U.S. organizations too often go astray, he said, and mostly fails utterly in accomplishing the intent with which it was subscribed by well meaning U.S. citizens. The exception, he said, is when people in this country send gifts of food and clothing directly to individuals. Such gifts, he said, are appreciated beyond all else.
Telling about his car, which he sold just before returning home, he said he learned to drive all over again. Roads, though generally good, are narrow and crooked. Bicycles, rather than other cars, caused him the most gray hairs. He did not see a single automobile wreck while on his trip, and in his casual inspection of garages along the way it was seldom if ever he saw a paint and body shop. During one three-day holiday period in France, for instance, newspapers listed only a single accident, and that between a motorcycle and a bicycle. Gasoline prices are high, about 90 to 95 cents a gallon, though several times he paid as much as $2.50 a gallon. The merit of all European cars is based almost entirely on how many miles it will run on a gallon of gasoline.

September 12, 1950

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