"AN AVERAGE AMERICAN."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19805, 28 November 1927, Page 10

"AN AVERAGE AMERICAN."

INTERESTING PERSONALITY. STORY OF HIS SELECTION. [FROM OUR. own correspondent.] SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2. The " average American " has been discovered. He is the proprietor of a one-man clothing store in Fort Madison, lowa. Neither a leader nor a laggard in the affairs of his town, Roy Gray, the " average," has an average education, lives in an average house in an average street, and has an average family of four children. Mr. Gray is a church member, though he does not attend religious service regularly. His tastes in radio music run from current jazz to light classical compositions. He believes the " movies "to be as bad as they are reputed to be. The younger generation does not alarm him, and he has an average interest in affairs which do not directly affect his home or his business. A party man in national politics, Mr. Gray is independent in local issues. His attitude on prohibition is non-committal. He believes he cannot get correct information on the subject from either the " wets " or the " drys." He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the Oddfellows. This ' average man " likes to read the current magazines better than anything else, but. he reads the advertisements first, like the majority of Americans, because they keep him in touch with the latest developments. In the newspapers, ho reads about new inventions, then about great disasters or unusual crimes. Foreign news has no appeal for him, but the speeches of the President or the State Governoi he reads from beginning to end. The method of selection was interesting. Mr William S. Dutten was given a commission from the American Magazine to find him. Mr. Dutton used a map, a weather chart and the census report, dividing ■ the number of cities and towns in the country into the population to find that Fort Madison was the average town in population, location and climate. The citizens chose Mr. Gray, saying they believed there was a little bit of all of them in him.