LIFE IN AMERICA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 63, 14 February 1939, Page 9

LIFE IN AMERICA

ADDRESS TO ROTARY CLUB. Since his return from America, said Dr. C. R. Barnieoat in an address on life in that country at the weekly meeting of the Palmerston North Rotary Club yesterday, lie had been approached by well-meaning friends who desired to know about America, its people, “and its gangsters.” The general idea prevalent in New Zealand concerning America had come from films and a noor type of magazine. Stating tiiat tnere were very few Yankees in America, tho speaker traced the history of the country from the lauding of the Pilgrim Fathers, The only people entitled to be called Yankees were those who had fought on the Northern side in the Civil War — people mainly of German and British extraction. In thinking of Americans wo were inclined te think of them as being of the same race as ourselves, primarily becauso of a similarity ot speech. The “business” of “hands across the sea” and “cousins” did not really exist, as the nation was composed of many peoples, Dr. Barnieoat maintained.

A dislike of the North still existed among the Houthern States where, to some extent, the people were indolent, the climate hot and there still remained an old aristocracy. Negroes there still did tho major portion of the work, the speaker proceeded. The southernmost State was Florida, which was originally Spanish territory. Louisiana was colonised by tho French, while at one time Texas was an independent country. It was the richest State in the Union, with its oil wells and orchards, although the people claimed that they were the poorest as all tho money was held by people outside the territory. There* were two million Indians in the South-Western States, living, not as he had understood from the hooks of his boyhood days in picturesque fashion, hue in lints and tents and wearing more sober costumes. They were workers in wool, silversmiths and copper heaters. The Indians were taught English and the language of their tribe in schools of their own.

Washington and Oregon were similar to New Zealand in that there were no extremes of climate. The predominating people were of British stock. Driven out of all other states, the followers of Mormonism had settled in Utah and converted a salt lake into one of the most beautiful towns Dr. Barnieoat had ever seen.

Claiming the Middle West as the real America and one of the most important parts politically of the United States, in spite of" the deprecatory terms applied to the inhabitants, Dr. Barnieoat said that in the ’sixties pioneers had journeyed from the Fast amid great hardships, had fought with the Indian tribes and had killed the buffalo for meat. At various times these original settlers had been augmented by families from other States.. There was a tendency after having lived in the Middle West for some time for a person to become forgetful of tho existence of the rest of the world and to feel that it was just not worth while bothering about what people were doing in other parts. . This, coupled with a feeling of nationalism, made Senators and Congressmen from this area stumbling blocks in the signing of treaties, etc., because they could not lxs bothered with the world’s troubles. There were two exits to the sea from the Middle West. One was the Mississippi Itiver. It was on the upper reaches of this—right in the heart of tho .continent' —that Unde Sam maintained a gunboat for the training of naval reservists. Another outlet was the port of De Lutli which would, take boats up to 3000 tons. In a newspaper, Dr. Barnieoat said, he had seen a story from an lowa paper stating that it would he a calamity to allow the importation of New Zealand butter as it was manufactured from the milk of cows which had not been tested for tuberculosis. This was indeed unfortunate, as it conveyed wrong impressions. The real strength of the American Nation came in their ability to co-op-erate. concluded Dr. Barnieoat. who added that Boulder Dam and such like projects were tho outcome of this spirit. Air A. A. Langley presided, and on the motion of Rev. J. Hubbard Dr. Barnieoat was thanked for his address. Dr T. R. Vernon (Palmerston North) and Messrs W. S. Holland (Napier) and W. H. C. Teppett (Palmerston North) were welcomed as guests. Air R. Allison was welcomed hack after undergoing an operation.