AMERICAN NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3294, 12 August 1911, Page 10

AMERICAN NEWS.

PRESIDENT TAFT ON UNIONISM.

PANAMA CANAL. There seems to bean exceptional wave of plain-speaking upon social and vcunomic matters which is perhaps o cl another sign that we are on the eve. of sweeping changes in the old order of things, says the New York coresmonclent of the “bydney Morning HerakL The President himself has set the pace, and has even out Rooseveited Roosevelt in blunt frankness. At the Trainman’s Convention last weeI*, 1 *, lie almost bewildered his “union” hearers by declaring that, in liis judgment, nen in Government employ should be lor. bidden by law from affiliating with the Federation of Labor, or any like organisation ; and there was also the tacit implication that the- trainmen rhomselves, as quasi public servants. Should only be permitted to indulge in yti jaes and boycotts after due and sufficient notice to their employers. In, S ome district such an utterance will next year lose him votes, ‘hould he be renominated —as he may be since no prominent man of his own party ras so far put in a claim for the succession—but among the business men and mariners, it will greatly strong tarn him. Another pronunciamenfo was aimed two millionaire clubs in Wa ihnigtou and New York, which have distinguished themselves recently by blackballing seme very able and prominent men. It was delivered at the Jewish Temple and was emphasised by the speedy withdrawal from the directorate of the Washington Club of the army and nayv dignitaries, whose uniforms had on gala occasions lent color and dignity to the ceremonies. Among the clergy of many denominations, too, the changing time has brought some serious problems. A. tew years ago Mr Rockefeller’s New Church invited a famous English Baptist, Dr Aked, to be its pastor; and his success has been very marxed. But the cliurch is not Large; and, although the burden of replacing it with a larger was a mere negligible detail, toe trustees declined to listen to any -uggestion, even when the alternative of 4 iie acceptance by the doctor of a call elsewhere was plainly presented. Dr Aked, therefore, now goes to San Francisco, and perhaps at a lower salary, taking. the ground that it is the duty to minister to as many willing listeners as possible, while the trustees justify themselves by pointing to some over-large cnurches built specially for famous preachers, which are now in financial straits because an attractive successor to the original star cannot be secured. In the less prudent days of old, a congregation cheerfully loaded itself I wr. with huge debts, in order to make the fold large enough for all sheep seeking entrance but the permanence of foothold is now’ the controlling consideration. 'The seventh year of American work on the canal ended May 4; and only one-fourth of the great task of excavation remains to be done. The account shows that the “ground hogs ’ have removed 138,000,000 cubic yawls, leaving only 44,000.000 to he cut evay Ihe placing of the concrete in the 'ec l .s is more than 52 per cent, completed, and t-lie installing of the lock gates has begun. These last are simply staggering jn the audacious hugeness of their dimensions. Each steel leaf two to a gate—is 7ft thick, 65ft long, and from 47 to 82 feet in height. _ Of _ such leaves there are 92, and special hoisting machinery has had to be contrived and installed in order to place these masses of steel in position. Work .s progressing at high pressure in every department, and the canal, as is believed, W‘!i be finished a year before the outside world was told to expect it. Probably, too, when it is opened, t-lie rarades ar.o manoeuvres and social ceremonies will be one of the memorable events of tne centurv — the formal rising into full splendor of the Pan-American star. Congress is still unable to agree .upon a date for adjournment, and this special session may perhaps drag on all through the summer. Yet everyone knows tnat there is not the faintest hope of getting anything passed except the Canadian reciprocity act; and even- that may possibly be defeated. The Democratic house naturally washes to make a record for use in next year’s race for tne Presidency, and has been industrious, well-behaved, and conciliatory. But Senate is broken up into at least four fractions and there is little prospect of restoring discipline in either parey until after the election. Every nerve is strained to break the record in one line after another. New York’s speciality is skyscraers, and it is now proposed to build a Broadway scraper 55 stories high, towering 750 feet into the empyrean. But that would be only a little more than 100 feet 3 inches of the Metropolitan tower _at Madison Square, and the Singer building down town is 612 feet high . As to subways, the plans already adopted call for hundreds of miles of road and vet more hundreds of millions of capital, but as fast as they are opened, they are literally choked with traffic.