AMERICANISATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 25 November 1925, Page 7

AMERICANISATION.

EFFECT ON THE DOALINION. A GROWING INFLUENCE. The iccent announcements that Australia is about to raise a loan <.t :EIS,OUO,IKK) in New York, and tliat South Africa is contemplating doing the same in. the nefir future and has already appointed a Trades Commissioner' in America, have directed attention to the glowing influence of the United States in Dominion affair.-, (w,rites a South African correspondent of the Manchester Guardian). Canada, of course, has been _ subjected to this influence throughout her history, but m recent years, and particularly since the war. it' has become much intensified, and Canadians ate seriously alarmed at the prospect of the Dominion becoming e i oiunnlca'ly and spiirtually Americanised. There is a growing movement of the population southwards across the frontier, and Canada, is so overwhelmed with the-mass of American books r.ud newspapers that pour in upon her that it has been seriously suggested that a special prohibitive tariff should be put on this class of import. A SIGNIFICANT TREND. It is only since the war that this influence has reached considerable proportions in the other Dominions. It is line in the nnu'u. of course, to America’s unquestioned economic supremacy and her position of world banker. I lie. Dominions would greatly prefer to borrow in Guidon if it were pussib'e t<> do so to the extent they require. Not only doe s New York demand a far higher rate of interest and attach most exacting conditions of repayment, blit sentimental considerations undoubtedly play a. great part in these matters, and the Dominion Legislatures and Finance .Ministers Would all prefer, were it possible. to postpone their borrowings until London could meet them, rather than go to New York. But American economic supremacy is felt by the Dominions not only in questions of finance but also in the industrial sphere. American methods °f mass production, particularly of motor-cars and agricultural machinery, have given the United Slstcs a virtual monopoly in many, important c'asses of goods, and the British article lias been completely ousted. It is the old story one so often hears in these cases. The man who uses aa American car and an American plough admits that ho would prefer the products of Birmingham or Coventry, which are general'y allowed to lie better, but are quite out of reach of the ordinary man’s purse. Moreover, the British nianufr.eturers cannot, or will not, study tiie special conditions and needs of the Dominions’ markets, and in the motor trade alone the persistent refusal to turn out a light car with a, higher e'en ranee has lost Great' Britain' i. number of immensely valuable inaikets. The. British manufacturer, too. pins his faith to a printed catalogue, whilst his American rival sends out, a personal representative fully armed with samples, and in such a race there is little doubt who will prove the winner.

DRIFT TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.

The growing influence of America on tlie Dominions, and on South Africa in particular, is not, however s olely to her economic supremacy. I lie more enterprising young South Africans realise that .it is higltlv desirable that they should complete their education by going for three or lour years to a university outside their own land. I util recently this usually meant England. Those who could affoird it went to Oxford and Cambridge, but there lia.s always been a large colony of South African students at Edinburgh and in London and at Trinity College, Dublin. A certain number of young Dutchmen always went tu one or other oi the famous universities of Holland, though in these cases it was usual for a man to finish up with a year .in England Irefore he returned to South Africa.

Since the wair this hits been greatly, altered, and the stream which each year went exclusively to Europe now tends more-and mere to go to America. There are probably several reasons for this. Political antipathy to England on the part of the enthusiastic young Nationalist students, who take their politics very serious y, is perhaps the chief cause.' The feeling that America is a young country like the in- own, and will not despise them a, s .Philistines, as they undoubtedly fee' that English people do. creates a natural sympathy between the two countries, and has something to do with it. There is also a geneini .impression among the young people of South Africa that Europe’s, and particularly England’s, day is done and that the world of the future belongs to America. Finally, but by no means the least important factor, is the strictly practical consideration that the universtities of America, if you happen to strike the right one. are far less exacting in the demands they make for qualifications for doctorates and degrees than are thoes outworn seats of learning on the Cam and the Isis.

The result of all this is that each year South Africa sends ail ever-in-creasing s tieam of earnest young Dutch men to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and other less famous names, and receives back another hatch of thoroughly Americanised doctors and professors in large horn-rimmed glasses. These men seldom, if ever, go into business, and for the most part become university, lecturers, journalists, and Government, (fliiciahs. The present Government looks on them with the eye of favour, and it

is highly significant that a majority of the members of the Hoard of Industries. which framed the new protective tariff under which, Great Britain’s preference is so much reduced, are. young Dutch South Africans trained in America. One way and another their influence is considerable rod growing, and it i« yet too early to say •whether it is to be for the ultimate good of the country that it should be so. The conservative elements in South Africa regard it. with considerable suspicion, and Eng'and cannot but view this movement in South Africa and the other Dominions with profound uneasiness.