AMERICA'S WAY.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20334, 5 September 1931, Page 9

AMERICA'S WAY.

N0 OUTWARD SIGN OP DISTRESS. ERA OP EXTRAVAGANCE. [THE PXESS Specie Serrice.] DUirBDKT, September 4. An insight into-conditions- in America at th« present time is given by the following- extract from a letter received by a Dunedin resident from a. relative in the United States. "Trade seems to be on the' gain here,'' the writer says, "but there is no indication of the distress that is rife in the gaiety of dress and habit that the people generally seem to be indulging. The number of new cars career-' ing about, and the general appearance of extravagance even among "the rank and file, belies our situation, and is n.gin g in the extreme. Nowhere else in the world could one see anything Like it,:' and I often : try to imagine what the average European would f.hink- of the daily parade of extravagance and show. The first question would be, 'When do these people work!' ... , , ~ "Of course th©re is a ridiculous siw fco the - picture. Right opposite to where I am sitting is a recent bride, who is at this moment hanging out on the clothes line a few pieces of silk underwear, ' washed with an electric washing machine, while the laundry wagon has just taken away everything "else. She is dressed in highly coloured silk brocade, with silk stockings to match, astin pumps with heels six inches high, and to give the final touch. Bhe has seven or eight rings on her fingers, a watch on her wrist; a permanent wave, in her hair, and. paint on her face and lips. "There are a lot. of laughs to be had at our extravagances. It 'is rea'ly amusing Ix> see negroes wearing dia- ! mond rinigs and pins with stones large enough to 1 choke a cow .and perhaps driving a garbage wagon or wielding a pick and shovel, and all the time whiliing aljout poverty and the loss or the big pay they used to get. We are without doubt the most extravagant nation in the world, and the young people have developed such an extraordinary pace, in lire that parents have to pay very dearly to maintain the overhead expense.":