U.S.A. CONDITIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 3

U.S.A. CONDITIONS.

BUSINESS IMPROVES.

AUSTRALIAN'S VIEWS.

SYMPATHY "WITH AIXIES. There is a substantial and growing improvement in business conditions in the United States, according to Mr. E. O. Erickson, a prominent Australian business man, who arrived in the Monterey to-day after a tour in America, in which he studied business trends and conditions.

As an instance, Mr. Erickson said that the returns of a department store r.i Chicago, which was reputed to be the largest in the United States, had increased by 16 per cent during the past year, and an optimistic view was taken of the future.

There was no question of the sympathetic attitude of the people of America towards the Allies, he said, though equally strong was the wish to stay out of the war. The Graf Spee engagement had aroused the widest interest, and the tactics of the British ships had beea warmly praised. The final scenes, when the German ship went out to meet her fate, were broadcast throughout the United States by an observer on the spot, and were heard by Mr. Erickson.

Referring to the paucity of news about Australia and New Zealand, he said that during the entire time he spent in the United States he did not see one reference in the newspapers to cither country —not even on the Pacific Coast. Only those who did business with the two countries, apparently, knew that they existed.

On the other hand, said Mr. Ericksor, there was a very real interest in New Zealand when the resources of the country were explained, and a keen demand for the novelties and trinkets that the country produces. "I had a greenstone tiki with me, and I could have sold a cartload if I had had them," he added.