Los Banos Rotary Club History
Judge Germino Tells Of Trip

"I am happy to be standing here, at home and among friends," Judge D. O. Germino told members of the Rotary Club Tuesday noon, "and I will be forever grateful to my father for coming to California as a young man, and to Miller & Lux for giving him a job at $30 a month so he could send the money home for his family to join him here."

Judge Germino and his family returned home last weekend from a whirlwind tour of England, Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland and his native Italy, and is obviously happy to be home.

Reviewing his trip to the club, Judge Germino told most interestingly of his experiences and impressions, and dealt only momentarily on the scenic and historical details.

Of his own southern part of Italy he said there is no middle road – the people are either very rich or very poor and mostly the latter. Living conditions are substandard to our own, there is little work and little money. The people are overcrowded, the older people are politely respectful of the American tourist and the younger ones somewhat resentful of the apparent wealth and happiness displayed so lavishly by tourists. They do manage their own happiness and pleasures and are seemingly content, yet overall is an undercurrent of discontent that could result in a dangerous, explosive situation.

Northern Italy, the Judge said, is beautiful; the people more prosperous and obviously more content.

In Italy, and throughout most of Europe, the Judge said he mostly missed America's modern plumbing conveniences, and was greatly annoyed at the smell of human sewage that was common through a great part of his travels.
To friends who might want to make similar journeys, Germino advised conducted travel tours, rather than attempting to see the country "on your own."

"The beautiful Isle of Capri?"

"Forget it," admonished the Judge. "There are tremendous crowds, they push and shove you around, the area is overflowing with pickpockets and sharpies, and the scenery in the area can't be compared with a quick run through the 17 Mile Drive at Monterey."

The Germinos' first stop was in London, where they saw the favorite tourist sights, including Windsor Castle, and the "New" London which has been built on the ruins of the bomb destruction of World War II.

In conversations with various Britishers, Germino gathered that the average Englishman feels the United States has let them down because of its reluctance to back them up on their colonial problems, including the present Suez Canal entanglement. They have also apparently lost confidence in Anthony Eden, through his insistence on a pacifist policy in world affairs. As to the possibility of actual war, the average Britisher doesn't believe it is an immediate threat, nor does he believe any war will result in the use of atomic weapons—an eventually that is generally accepted would probably wipe all of us from the face of the world.

The Germinos enjoyed several days in Paris, where the American tourist is an acknowledged "sucker" and treated accordingly, paying dearly all the way. This attitude, Germino pointed out, is a logical one, for the French people, as nine out of ten American tourists go to France with the idea of "letting their hair down" and money is no object. Sons and daughters of rich Americans, who go to France as students and have almost unlimited expense accounts, add to the Frenchman's golden harvest of American dollars, and to their false conception of all American people.

From the scenic standpoint Germino said he and his family most enjoyed a boat trip on the Rhine River between Frankfort and Cologne, a trip, he said, that should be included as a must by every traveler.

Most enjoyable stay was in Switzerland, with its picturesque and exceptionally clean communities and happy people who are more than content with their place in the world of today.

Germino said they enjoyed all of their trip, but the biggest thrill of all was walking into the front room of their home here in Los Banos.

September 14, 1956

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