THE TAME AMERICAN.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 6

THE TAME AMERICAN.

IN HIS NATIVE HAUNT. LAND OF JHTG_ FINANCE, ■WHERE DOLLARS GO BY BILLIONS. TEMPORARILY WORLD'S MONEY CENTRE. Some very interesting impressions of America and its people were related to a "Star" reporter this morning by Mr. Marsden Caughey, of 'Auckland, who returned from the United States by the R.M.S. Niagara on Wednesday. "It made mc very .proud of being a New Zealander," he said, "when I heard the way in which our own soldiers were spoken of. Officers who had seen service, both American and Canadian, our own Imperial officers in New York, and indeed everyone who had come into contact with New Zealand soldiers said that not only were they the 'best fighters on the Western -front, but they were also the best-behaved. One Canadian officer with whom I spoke, and who was very proud of his, own corps, said: "We thought -we were some good, hut we must take our hats off to the New Zealanders." AMERICA'S ARMY SCHEMES. During his visit to- America, Mr. Caughey has been carrying out certain investigations into the working of the Military Service Act there, on behalf of the New Zealand Government. MajorGeneraH Wood, who is , regarded in America as a very eminent soldier, he said, is in favour of a military service scheme that will include a standing army of 250,000, with a reserve of officers of nearly half that number, together with a scheme of compulsory military service requiring six months' training. Secretary Baker, of the American War Office, favours a standing army of 500,000 (two and a-ba!f times the pre-war number), and considers that he can ini_e the army attractive enough to get the required number by voluntary enlistments. It is generally thought in the States, however, that there will be no system of compulsory military service -while President Wilson and his party remain in power. ASTONISHING FIGURES. During his visit, Mr. Caughey compiled some interesting iigurcis showing the financial relations between America and Great Britain. Up to June 30 last, the United States had loaned to Great Britain £900,000,000. The _ Bankers' Trust Corporation of New York estimated that the national wealth of the United Kingdom was £17,000,000,000, I including the capital values of buildings, land, railways, ships, and, in fact, cvery- | thing that "could be called property. During the period August, 1014, to August, 199, Great Britain spent £110,000,000,000, of which amount £3,000,000,000 was raised by revenue, and -7,000,000,000 was raised 'by loans. - When -the war broke out, Great .Britain's national debt was seven hundred millions, and now it had risen to eight thousand millions, and was still increasing. Great Britain had practically incurred a- mortgage equal to nearly half her pre-war capital value.^ Of the moneys loaned by Great Britain the Allies and the Dominions had taken £1,700,000,000, about a third of this sum going to Russia (and possibly lost) while Italy had taken a quarter of the sum and Belgium about £80,000,000. It was probable that the people of Great Britain would have to submit to heavy taxation for the next fifty years, with America as a heavy creditor. THE DOLLAR UPPERMOST. As far as the difference in the exchange rate was concerned Mr. Caughey said that it was not difficult to see why the balance bad been disturbed. For the twelve months ending June 30 last, the United States had exported goods to the value of seven and a-quarter billion dollars, and had during the same period received payment for only four and a-half billion dollars worth. It was the great amount still owing that had disturbed the exchange rate. It was nevertheless believed by prominent New York financiers that America's position at the head of the financial world was only temporary, and that sooner or later London was bound to again become the hub of finance. Sir George Paish, a London authority, considered that the £ might tumble Btill further from its present value—four dollars fifty cents.— to four dollars or less, before any improvement occurred. CITY OF ELEVATORS. Speaking generally of the Americans, Mr. Caughey said that he was much struck by New York with its colossal buildings, its teeming population, its constant endeavour to " speed up," . and its note of ultra-modernism. :The people seemed to be remarkably I well clothed as a whole, and there were few signs of actual poverty, ! even in the foreign quarters, although : these portions of the city were so crowded that people were sleeping on the fire escapes. Mr. Caughey heard more than j once of the way in which America won i the war, and the "biggest navy on earth." There was at present a noticeable scarcity of labour, due in part to an exodus of the foreign clement. Signs of the enormous wealth of the country were evident enough. A new hotel with 2,200 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, was being erected, and another new hotel had installed a special lift by which people go to the ballroom on one of the upper floors by driving their cars straight on to the lift to be carried up to the dance, where they stepped straight out of their cars into the ballroom. The cars returned by the lift later to take them away. Incidentally, Mr. Caughey remarked that, he could not help wondering what a Ijot of.time the average New Yorker speijjt riding in elevators.