OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 31 March 1913, Page 6

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

M-W YOllly. February -23. ! IN.\i i.: I; \'i |i N UK PiIKSIDKXT ■ WIL-UX. i T'.;c ':;.;, .■.•-.!,■.iii'.nt of the neu President i v.;.i, .i v.ii i.iki' |ii.u-.- in \Vu.sh : njrti=ii on j :;..r ii : . v.,1! !,:.,.• 1-.TU ii uiatli-:- of hi.-,- ' in:-; by i.i lii::.- Ihi- your! j. •' :-' ' ; ■ . ;i,-'ii; nuthiv i more „ ■..'..•.■ ~ !,:-' : ,-.:i in .-::;,;■■! ;o Mr. \, i. , v' , ;;:.- ~,r !ii- i ;ih:;ii-1 li:an that ■;■ \ : .'.! \-,i 1- V:■ ,L- twiOf t':'e ■ . ,V, i : ..' :h,. li.T.-.0- ---, !.. i , i -'• !.".-.r, . will !>•-: , ~:, .-", ::,•■, .-; it-. ;.i>\l.Ues for; , . ,;;_; . , ~,,. ~;,.,-,. nrk. l>Ut :;...j ;: ; l.injeh IVI-rcSCII t I'll ill tV ■ 1...1., ■ ■. i . -.-. i. ' i- H.-ifirai. ".> inir l° the ,-;■ '.. i 1i'.1.l Hi \!i/ :• o-.itherners on ' tileir i> m.ii-i-iii;. :iK. gi.l.'i c- -\t this v.::t:ii;.'. n,. ,cv r. Imi-lii. • < i> a nil un- , ■;;!, ~ !,.■ .u-r of the unccrt :i intv. for li, ;..'■:■■ ~: ;!:,■ i,,oni!»'l> vi ihc r.lliHpl m; ;'.,•:i ••- ,■:,!] .:.->ii.4rtinoiits i- iilniosi ,n; ••-, i -11.. -■ t only to the will of ..;,, [-. ~ I,; ; ~:;,! ,:,.'-,• gentlemen nro ■~..,. ■..■ i•;> . n.i !;!■■■ in lhe people by .: - i:,. ■ :■ .;,.- .--H-.-tel only by Hip '•. ii.|, ~; mi hi- ii;-.:TPt.ion. ' They < a!i '■■: ,!i_;n ,< ■ is'--, rules ;in.l regulations.' ; ,,,| .~j '•■ ::i- --s in oHh-p-hohier-i that ; m.i-. v ■ v'r. :•..<-; r.idi.-a: diiVerences in the, n-r-i !i<i 1.- it i- -iidiieting public affairs. I !": '- ■- ii. peculiarity "i the American, , ■.:;.■!'. .iii.l iliu-tr.it'ive of tlie reason i ii',i>\ lV !'.-c-ii'irni is capable of 'being Oβ i ..-,! i r,;'\. ,i- tip- f /.iir i>l Russia in lliia i ■ : i,'," ~i:i!.lry. The only tiling one ran : • ■!.!-■ ni in ;irivan<-e is the character of; ",'■ i!i;. : i >,■:,•■■;.'. l for President and the | ii'ibienvcs ii which he i> and will be sus-j i-c>itil>li.. Sμ while everyi.me hopes for j l.hi- i»vt with President Wilson, no one | knou.- uli.it may happen. The Opposition !'n*,s charge him with being altojrr.ihcr ,i theorist, and dub him "Thr , j'-ofe.-sor." An unusual and perhaps I aulliontatiw announcement w<>j- made i i:; -Mm. ..; i ■.. ; ..ippiv n> day to the effect I i hut Mr. \\ ilso;i will use the Vice-Presi- | dent. Mr. Mart-hall, of Indiana, as his linseri per-onal art visor. This is un-li-ii.ii. the Vice-President _is senrr.ilU- afier election a nonentity, il[i:n» and having w> hand in the affair- of Slate unless by the death of the »■« has «evVral times happened, he' hixvneds to the Presidency witlifuit an election. Tlip popular explanation for this custom is to leave thf \ ire-I're-ident unhampered by the iw-ln of the Pi evident should he ever find ii lieri'ssarv to inaugurate a regime of hi- own. One living under a British system can. however, readily understand Ilie liM'.vrt.iinlies that result from the < ut-toin-. After the inauguration will conic thf it , ' ll ' , for otHees. and as there arc more than eight thousand post-■;.i,-tit.-:ii|'.n under Presidential appointmput. I" -ay nothing of the executive, diplomatic and other Federal offices, the i-Viiiro I'm changes becomes apparent. So ,-tronr is the desire to grasji everything pfvi-iiik- in the way of patronage, that j ii'l! i- ?aid to be probable to fix >i limited ti'im of oHice for Civil Service employee-, hut at all events it is under-r.t-.ml tiiii d'-.-i-riuiination will be made in linour of party men for new i i\il ScnuT appointinente regardless of when they parsed examination. \Tith iiie -lysine of the present Congress then , ii.i- iipeu a great deal of interest ::1 ilv lii!! to make the Presidential term one of i-i.\ wans, ami the incumbent ne\ir i'li-i!:le fu;- re-election- A resolution to llii- < ii'e.-t "as passed by the Scnaie. but whether or not law will be made >.:i the matter remains to be

r"M. 11 will ncct'issarilv have to be an .1 rr(!n<!;m nt tv tin 1 Federal Constitution, :i ].! t'.i" plan i- that it shall not become etTcctive until after -March 4. 1021. Vvlicn tliif resolution was up in the Senate an interesting incident occurred. Chairman Clayton, of Alabama, chairman of the .Judiciary Committee of the Tlour-c of Representatives, in expressing the disinclination of the l>cmocrats to consider the resolution, stated among other objections Lo it lliis: "'For one thing, il contains a split inlinitive, which is nol a good example to set for young Americans who read the Constitution to leurn to write good English." But this critical disciple of Limlloy Murray was mistaken. a~ he line been once or twice before in hi~ public career. The resolution as it rami" to the Senate from the committee contained this language: "The term of the office of President shall be six yearn; and no person who has held the oiiice by election, ox discharged itfl power* or (intie-. or acted as President under the Constitution and laws made in pursuance thereof. "be eligible to again hold the office by election." When .Senator Roofs eagle eye fell upon this language he persuaded the Senate in open i-r.wion to transpose the words

'"again ,, and "hold." and so made the language unobjectionable, at least to Representative Clayton, who. strangely enough, seems no more disposed now to put the resolution through the House of Representatives than h<> was before. Senator Root went further, and followed up this lesson in grammar by reporting from the Committee on Library, of which Senator Wctmore ir; chairman, the bill introduced by Senator !>a FolIctte to organise a legislative drafting bureau, the head of it to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, whose duties it shall be to draft bil]~ and reports and other documents to be presented in Congress, and to keep refenr-c bookc on tap, so thai Congressmen will not take riiich liberties with the Knglish language as they are apt to do now. According to the La Follette bill, the chief of this bureau is to receive 7.o<W dollars a year, to hold office for ten years, and is to be selected not on account of hie party politics, which arc to be ignored altogether, but because 01 his ability to steer clear of split infinitives, misused punctuation mark*, and the like, and to make congressional English so clear that it will pass muster with critical men like Senator Root. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S WIDOW. Heeaitee President Wilson it; the first Democratic I'rttsidenit since Cleveland, and is aleo a warm personal friend of the widow of President Cleveland, with wiuim he lived in the same travn of Princeton. N..1.. for a good man) years, ii i> likely thai the former Mrs Cleve!:unl, who un Fe.brua.ry 10 became the w if.- of Prof. Tbomats .lex Preston, jun., at the executive mansion of Princeton University, will be again a prominent fiir:Tc in Die ooeial circles of Washington dnring tlic present regime. At the wedding the bride war> atten-ded by her daughter. Miss Esther Cleveland, and the groom, who is a line-looking six-footer of 50, by his brother. They ore a,t present in Flori hi. Mre Prer-ston is 4.8, but looks much younger. A MILD WINCTBR. 'Mercury up to 63deg. in the street this afternoon and yesterdny was a rainstorm, which, hcAvever. succeeded' a month of fairly "hard" wea-Uher. By the term "bard" here as meaat orisp, froety rweafiier iwiien the ground ds hard and 1

without mud. Ihe chances that March will •γ-omc in like a la.mb~ look good, but according to the same old proverb, | if to iio w-Hi -go on I like a lion." People j who g" by these eigne cite t-hrs year the j ellicieu: result*, of "tiroiunl Hog Pay," i ■ahU'h falls on the of l-'e.l>rua.-y. The ; proverb i<s ",bat if the grouiui hog fiees j hj- shadow on that d.Ue when he (tomes I (ml cf hie hole ('XT his annual peep at rhe \ve:ither. he will scurry back a.nd rii-iirn himself to six weeks more of v,ii:w-;. It so happened thai the day ;i:i.- y.:ir w.i* very bright. and was bucceeijoi! by a month nt the only winter .M:ii!iev of t!:e sear-on, but yet not eiMMigh con-immus frepl to make skating j •n ihe city park hikes, and so fa.r t'uere '■ h-.ive been but one or two f.ll Its of snow I riunk'iently heavy to invohe the nece»<- ! nity of c'eining it fTom the streets by tea mc. .'.(jOMLSc; titk canal bciuders. One of i ie features of aUraction at a hig department t=tore in Brooklyn la-tely line panic >tore which used to keep a .-table of ,ncr seven hundred horses for its delivery wagons prior to the intro-d-tc!ion of iiinonnTbilfe) has .been a vrorkiut! model, abmit twelve feet long, of the Panama Cana! an it will be when com-p!plF-d. and whio'i i<s explained in a little lecture by ihe reprepentative Congress- | man for the dir-lrk-t. The exhibi! its in a room which will admit an audience of lesjs than a hundred people, who are admitted by ticket to be obtained free twenty minutes before each lecture, and the exhibition i-s repeated every hour during the afternoon and part of the morning on certain days also. The o-b----ji-vi ie to laud the great achievement of the American people in the enterprise, and incidentally the Congressman as a leading factor, but he does not hesitate to give full praise to the physician in ch-arge at the isthmus for having done more than any one man in making ■the work practicable. The audiences eeem. however, more in-tere«te<l in the working of the locks and the mechanical ingenuity of the engineers than anything else. It is admitted that there are problems in connection with the canal which will not be solved until after it liae been practically tested, including t he sufficiency lof ihe spillways to take care of the overflow of water during fhe rainy season. The boom to shipping interests on account of the prospective canal opening is as yet pTrfbably Hie befit thing about it. FASHIOXABLE AMERICA. 'Parisian dressmakers who are now in Xew York are saying that in another twenty yea.rt> America will probably ect some styles for Paris. They find that the costume creations here are not at all necessarily copies of European designs, anil thai conditions in our crowded thoroughfares, as well as the Himaie. make things a bit different from those of European cities. Short close skirts seem to have come io stay, ac -they are co much handier, while the lack of necessity for high-necked garments or ones with long sleeves, while soap ami water are So much more cleanly and healthful, are pronouncedly admitted. Asidp from street and business costumes for women, the pre-Lent balls and social events this year afforded occasion for more display of scant and fancy raiment than it is said was ever before witnessed in good society. Even at the great bal masque in the staid old city of Philadelphia, on the night of Shrove Tuesday, tlie notable feature was that skirts were discarded by nearly all the feminine guests, while the blouses worn were much more decollete than ever before. Short knickerbockers were considerably in evidence, while on*. , prominent society young lady, who appeared as a "grass widow." had a limited costume of grass-green crepe de chine, with a short skirt slashed to look like blades of g/rass.

THE SOAPING COST OF LIVING. Newspapers hero h:,,ve had many interesting articles lately apropos of the higher cost of living, and the possibilities on limited incomes. While it is admitted to be practically impossible to support a wife decently on less than £,'> a week in most modest fashion, there are those who draw the line at a limit of £2,000 per annum, and there 13 no question that numerous New Yorkers live up to the latter figure. One of the recently new apartment houses at 998. Fifth Avenue, oilers seventeen rooms and five baths for 20.000d01. n year on the twelfth floor, and nothing less than IO.OOOdoI. a year in the building. It is said that nobody with an income of less than 250,000d01. a year is able to keep going at No. 998, and that the electric light bill alone for one of the Hats will amount to about ].200dol. a year. This is where Senator Root. Murray Guggenheim. Robert E. Tod. Levi P. Morton. 11. Rogers Winthrop. and a few others make their city homes, but all have palatial country houses out of town. N X W PH I LANTH ROI'V. The New York Hebrew Free Loan Society, or (ieinilath Clvasodin. 10-aned without interest last year 1i07,04-Jdoi.». in sums ranging from idols, bo President Julius L. Dukas, in his report at the annual meeting of the -ociety. said thai, although this was k larger amount than was loaned in mil. the losses were a little lei?*. During the year -the society turned over its capital five time*. A total of 20.5K] loans was made, much of the money going to immigrants who required small sirms to live on until they were able to o-bta.in employment. 'Much of it went to keep small merchants on their fee-t in time of trouble. Kaeh of the -20. 561 loans was made to ipersons who were indorsed byvoluntary investi-ratons. Of the 1i07.042d015. loaned,' 059,214.70d015. wjia paid back. Fully i) 7 per cent of this was paid by the borrowers in monthly or weekly instalments. Tlie indorsers were obliged to pay only two per cent, and the records show that one half of this will ultimately bo returned to the indorsers either through the society or through the borrower himself. The average irf loss to the society in the 21 years of its existence Ims been one-half of one per cent. The society enrolled in 1012 01."1 new members, ino.rea.sing the rr.em'bership to ,V2(i:S. Every dollar received as a. donation forms a purt of the permune.nt capital. The memtbership dues more than cover the running expenses and losses, and the surplus in also added to the capital. The loan-a-ble capital of the society is now 132,254.95d015. A CKMETRRY TRUST. The latest financial grab seems to be a. cemetery trust. A unique and profitable speculation in cemeteries, involving property in five States worth 4.000.000 dollars, has been revealed through v suit brought ill the Supreme Court. Francis K. Baker and Reese (."Carpenter six years ago formed a 'partnership to get control of graveyards and divide them into building lots if tbev did n-ot pay for burial purposes. Broker, who ■brought the action fur ;i di-wiliitiou of their partnership and an accounting, says the company acquired cemeteries i-n or near Syracuse, N.Y.; Erie, Pa.; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, BuiTalo, Troy, X.Y.;

>£ew York city and Prince Cporges County, Maryland, and other places, lie declares that a fortune -was in sight for the JOTTINGS. the new rich young men recently ccitTw: into his own is Mr. 'William Ziegliir, jull.. who inherits an annual incon*- of MUU.OUUdoI. f.oni the estate of his fauher, the wealthy baking powder maraifaaiturer, v.iio died eight years ago. The Zis-gler property now aggregates about 21.0U0.U00d01. The young man was 21 last July.

(iovexnor Sulzej;, the new chief executive of the State, of New York, has begun cleaning out officials accused of becoming rich because of their ollieiitl portions, anil has caused the resignation of the man in charge or the institution in which Harry Thaw is coniined. and who admitted that he had bei'ii offered 25,000d0i. to set Thaw at practical liberty. Several other officials have likewise resigned rather than charges.

It has' been decided that the U.S. Treasury will soon issue a new nickel coin with an Lndian head on the face and a btiffjilo on the reverse. Opposition had been made to the issue by owners of nickel-rn-t.hc-sloi machines, who said they had been at great expense to make machines forr automatic vending of chew-ing-gum arxl other articles by the old nickel, but the new coin would not fit them. Treasury officials, however, overruled the protest.

It is stated that the international postal money order husiiTess decreased nearly twelve million dollars during the past ye.ar, due almost wboJl}'. according 'to the postal authorities, to the operation in this country of the postal savings system. In the 13.000 postal hanks the deposits now aggregate :l;j,.OOO.OOOdol.. and it is expected they will reach n0.n00.000d.01. during the present fiscal year. Statistics of newspapers in the United I States ami Canada during 1912 show J that 1.08(5 new ones were started and J 1,050 suspended publication. It is esti- | mated that the total income of all was P.fiO.OOO.OOOdoI. The largest steel ginder ever made in the world has been set at a theatre building in Pittsburgh. Pa. It is 19tift long and !'ft Sin high, and is to support the balcony as one span without posts. The rivets used are ILJm by lin, and fl,6oo!bs of them were tr.-«>d. " The total weight is l:)4,0001bs. A gruesome sight was afforded an open-air meeting of 2,000 striking garment workers in a Ht/tle park here the other day. One of the TOast River bridges crosses ahov-e at tv height of 130 ft, and a man jumped from it. His -hody on the pavement wtus a flattened irrecopnisaible little mass. A letter w?s found in his clothing. ft read:—"Hope, courage, 'belief are everything. I lost all. Therefore, 1 cannot live. I am proud to die on the soil -which jfires equal rights to all men."

Several students at a "Me.thodist University in Connecticut were expellexl recently when it w.us tha<t they were making a pastim-e of betting on the length of the morning .prayer by the principal.