or, if they are not of good grade, to industrial diamond concerns.
All
that has happened at No. 8 Charterhouse Street and, to a less degree,
is happening at the house in Holborn Viaduct. The house in
Charterhouse Street stands no more. It seems there is—as of this
writing—a war. It is a war in which bombs are dropped upon the world.
These bombs do not differentiate between children and soldiers, between
churches and armories, between houses of business and ammunition
factories.
One
day a bomb dropped in the vicinity of No. 8 Charterhouse Street. It
was an incendiary. It set fire to the building. All the diamond stocks
were removed safely and placed in hiding. The offices of the Trading
Company were removed to St Andrews House.
But
the house in Charterhouse Street still stands in the minds of diamond
men. In a justifiable sense it should stand as a symbol in the hearts
of all men. The bomb that wiped it out did not wipe out the diamond
industry. The power of the corporation has weathered more than bombs.
