THE SLUMP IN U.S.A.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11827, 7 January 1933, Page 7

THE SLUMP IN U.S.A.

SOME EGI.V REMINDERS. ENGLISH VISITOR'S I U PRES SIGNS. Vivid impressions of the state ol affairs in America were given at a luncheon of the Birmingham Sot-opti-mist Club recently by the Tle\ . Levton Richards, on his return from a visit ro rite United States. He has been to America many times, and hr-' opinions wore therefore qualified by previous experience.

The effect of tbo industrial depression was not notices Mo when (be traveller first reached New York. bo said, ns luxury simps “Mill existed, and 1 here worn well-dressed pooplo to be seen in Fifth Avenue, just ns fho'v. are well-dressed people to he see;: in Bond street or Picendilly. After n time. however. certain incidents occurred. which showed n viplv side fco> this picture of superficial prosperity, ns. for instnnee, when Mb'. Richard s walked along n New \ "rk street one dny, and, feeling; someone push hard against his shoulder, turned to see. a. loafer, who said menacingly: ‘‘Gimme a dollar!'' Several times he was stopped by down-and-out men, and, encouraging' them sometimes io tell their story, heard always the same tale of unemployment and hunger. Thirty-nine deaths certified by the coroner as Ire to starvation took place in New Yoik last year, and hundreds of eases were taken to hospital. America has no national insurance scheme, and so the workless depend, as a rule, on money subscribed through private charity. Mmiv or them have taken to the roml. buying a car for next to nothing, stowing the few possessions they have in it, sleeping there by night and louring the country in search of odd jobs by day. Mr. ’Richards quoted a case, typical of many since the slump. Two years ago a millionarie built and equipped a homo for paupers in New York. Today ho is one of the inmates.