U.S.A. AND CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 6

U.S.A. AND CRISIS

RACIAL DIFFICULTIES

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

Asked what was the reaction of the American people to the situation in Europe, Mr. J. Aston, who has returned from a trip to the United States, said that he had listened a great deal to the debates in the Town Hall, New York, to what was called "meetings of the air," in which many subjects were discussed. "One of the principal items discussed was the repeal of the Neutrality Act," he said. "It proved a very warm subject indeed, and public opinion seemed to be swinging very largely in favour of the legislation being done away with in view Of the situation in Europe. One difficulty we saw in America in particular was with the enemy within the gates, as well as the enemy without. There were definitely racial and labour troubles. There is practically every nationality on earth living there, married, and then intermarried. There is a great proportion of German citizens. They have a national body which held meetings in San Francisco and New York while we were there, and once they were broken up by the college students. "Illustrating the racial difficulties, I was told of one outstanding case. Every boy who commences attendance at school is registered under his nationality, where it can be done. One boy, asked his name, gave it readily, but when he was asked his nationality, said that he did not know, but that someone had told him it was the League of Nations." . ' Property matters were fairly brisk in the United States, he said, and a good deal of development was going on, with much activity in house building. The Americans had got behind during the depression, much as New Zealand did, in house building, and were now trying to catch up, but they still had a marked shortage. The "American" accent was much more noticeable amongsfyotmg people than their elders. "My son-in-law's boy, aged nine, was much harder for me to understand than he was," said Mr. Aston. "For one thing, he said 'reehing' when he meant raining. We did not notice the accent very much in older folk. The accent of New Zealanders living there varied a good deal according to the length of their residence. We did not meet many of them who wanted to conic back to New Zealand. We would have found it very pleasant living there ourselves. "It was 92 in the shade on two days while we were in California in midwinter," said Mr. Aston. "On the road from Santiago there were roadside fruit stalls all the way. We bought ripe strawberries—in the winter. The people of the United States proved most hospitable and courteous to us wherever we went; in fact, the welcome we got astonished us."