OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16888, 28 December 1916, Page 7

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

' (From Oub Own Cop.nF.srotrntiNT.) i NEW YORK, November 23. ; Most Americans went to bed on the ' night of Election Day with the conviction \ that Mr Hughes was elected. Up to midnight it looked liko a landslide for tho KepuDi.cacJiddtf. New York, the greatest State in tho Union, had given him a [ plurality of 185,000, Pennsylvania, the second , grout ret State, had given one of its old- "> timo overwhelming Repubhciirn victories. New England was solid for Mr Hughes, and A looking westward, the great States of Indiana j and Illinois fell easily into the Republican , column. Strange to say, Ohio, formerly r a Republican stronghold, was in doubt. ' But nobody paid much attention to that i curious anomaly. Apparently tho votes of Ohio were not needed to achieve tho j defeat of the Administration. The streets, i restaurants, and hotels of New York were t filled with noisy Republicans celebrating a victory that nobody questioned. A little 3 after midnight a few long-headed, watchful 3 Democrats began to see a glimmer of hope. ; California was close. In fact, it was nip s and tuck in almost every ono of tho States west of tho Mississippi," and siirewd politi- ) cians awoke to the fact that Mr Hughes s needed most of the States to win, in spite 1 of his huge pluralities in the East. Of I course, the South was Democratic. It had f never been anything else. By 2 o'clock in the morning the election was in doubt. - Some of the Republican papers were an--1 nounciug a Democratic victory; some of the i Democratic papers ware conceding victory s to tho Republicans It was anybody's ' guess. By daylight it became clear that ' if President Wilson had carried either Min--0 nesota or California he was re-elected. Mr Hughes needed both theeo States to win. And both -.States were in doubt. 5 It was not until t\vo days later that tho result of tho election became anywhere near •" a certainty. By that timo, in all proba--0 bility 'it was a AYileon victory. Mr Hughes s had carried Minnesota by two or three f hundred votes, But apparently Mr Wilson had a plurality of 3500 in California, al- '' though Johnson, the Republican candidate 3 for United States Senator in that State, had carried it with a plurality of almost 200,000. The official canvass, although not t yet quite completed, shows that Mr "Willi son still holds his lead in California, with e the chances not one in a hundred that errors - in the count will bo found great enough to o change the result. a The result in Ohio was os surprising as s that in California. Tho mid-western i- State, in doubt at first, swung into the f Democratic) column the day after election o with a plurality too large to be questioned. '• For weeks thero had been rumours that Ohio was about to make a political flipa flop, but the Republican managers laughed ? at them. And they had considered it next 0 to impossible that California couid go to 1 Mr Wilson. According to tho Republicans, 7 it was the treachery of Governor Johnson of California, who has just been elected f Senator, that caused tho defeat of Mr 1 Hughes thero. ' Mr Johnson lias published ■ a vehement denial of this charge, but it ia ■" still being pressed against him. The result of the election show 3 a now 0 political division of this country—the far " west arrayed against the oast for tho first * timo in history. It was the closest National election since tho Hayes-Tildten contest in 1876. Most people think it was tho Democrats' " cry, applied to Mr Wilson. "He kept us out * I of' war" that re-elected the President. It r ; was a cry that was popular among the prosj i porous farmers of the West. Women vote J j in California and most of the other far i western states where the Democrats won y i their fight. Thev do not vote in the great s ' eastern 'states that were carried overwhelm- : ingly by tho Republicans. Yet both Mr Wilson and Mr Hughes had declared in favour of woman suffrage, and Mr Hughes 0 had gone so far as to favour a 'woman s . suttrage amendment to the constitution. J ! A widespread impression had been created p ! in the West that the election of Mr Hughes ! would result in bringing us into war with Germany. The West is too' far away from tho European war zone, and too provincial , to tako much interest in international „ issues. i. In a baby biplane of obsolete tyrie Miss Ruth Law has just, made one of the most * , remarkable (lights in the history of aviation. * This young woman of 20 years, who weighs little 'more than 1001b. flew without a stop 1 last Sunday from Chicago to Itornell, N.Y.. ' i a distance of 590 miles, exceeding by 1 7 3 , ; miles the cross-country non-stop record mode ! 10 days before by Victor Carlstrom, who 1 had flown 452 miles in a modern 200 horse- " power military biplane twice as big as Miss r Law's machine. The only aviator in the 3 world who has made a longer non-stop (light than Miss Law's is Sub-lieutenant '' Marchal, of the French Army, who last i ,1 une flew from Nancy. France, to Clielm. Poland a distance of 812J miles. Until her j achievement last Sunday. Miss Law had never flown a greater distance cross country than 25 miles/ She made the 590 miles in J five hours and 45 minutes. Having stopped I at Ilornell for lack of gasolene, the young ) woman, with replenished fuel, resumed her 5 flight, and winged 90 miles to Bintrhnmfon, i where sho spent the night. At 7.23 tho next morning she was on the wing for New r York, where she emerged from a heavy fog 3 at 9.27. Her sp«\l for the roeord-break- ; ing part of her journey averaged close to ' j 103 miles an hour, while the 90 miles bod ' twe.en Ilornell and Binghnmton were made - at 97 miles an hour. Carlstrom's average , i speed for t.he distance travelled on the first t j day was 107 miles an hour. Miss Law's 1 i announcement several weeks after that she 3 : would attempt tho Chicago-New York . i (light wan not taken seriously by anyone - ' connected with aviation in this city, it 1 : was said that she did not own on aerophno '' i capable of making even one-third the c.is- ; tanco, and when James S. Stevens, vice--1 present of tho Aero Club of Illinois, sent 1 ! word that she had left Grant Park, and ' ! was ori her way here, there v.'as ' : universal admiration at lier pluck in > making the attempt, This changed to amazement when word came in from ' various cities alonrr the line of her (light, 1 telling of her passage. At 10.25 a.m. iccn--1 ' tral time) it was reported that she had passed 1 Over Vermilion. Ohio, and then it brsran to ; seem likely that she would make a reimrk--1 ablo (light. No one yet believed that she 1 would break the record set by Carlstrom, * but it was soon seen that she bad broken \ tho women's record for continuous flight made by Mile. Ifelen Dutrieux in 1212, i when she won tho Fcmina Cup in Paris by 1 flviii" 200 miles. Her total flying time for t the 988 miles from Chicago to New York ' I was 9 hours 27min 35soe. She is * ; the champion eross-coimtry _ flier of f : America. She is tho champion woman : aviator of the world. But- that _ is ' j not all. She did it in a little machine ' i that, was built, for trick flying and looping ' ! the loop, and she financed flight heri self with monev she made doing looping ! stunts throughout th» eountrv. She did it ' j merely as p. sporting prooosition. It had ' j been supposed that Miss Law was coming " j here in a new machine of the tractor type ' i with an enclosed fuselage and plenty of ! ' power. But she glided .on to Governor's ' ; Tsland with the identical machine in which > j site looped the loop for thousands at the * | Sheepshead Bay Speedway last May. A ' ! little tin dashboard to protect her feet from ' tho wind has been added, and the gasolene . capacity has been increased frnm seven gallons to 56. but that is all. Tt is a pusher ' type, propeller Vhind, and bamboo poles ' running out to the nvMort with Miss Law's

scat out from under the -wings over the front landing wheel. There are only a halfdozen of these machines in existence to-day, and it was supposed that they were u&elul only for trick 'dying. Miss Law tried to buy a big cross-country machine such as Carlsl.rom used, but Mr Ourtiss was afraid to fo!1 it to her for fear that she would bo killed. Ho thought it was too powerful for her. But when lie heard on Sunday night ol her record flight to iiornell from Chicago he onlled the Aero Club of America on tlie long-distanco telephone and said that she could havo the new machino any time she wanted it. And she will very likelv want it, lor now sho is going to try to break her own rword by making a non-stop flight from Cliicago to Governor's island. Oarlstroin, whoso non-stop rec-ord was bettered by Miss Law, had the best equipment that money and science could produce and the backing of the entire Curtiss organisation. Jus plane would carry 152 gallons more' fuel th-n the machine Miss Ijaw flew. He trained for weeks and waited day after day for favourable winds before making a start. Miss Law, who never had Hown 26 miles in a single flight before, just had some new gas tanks put on her aeroplane, notified the Aero Club to make the {light official, and started.

Hubert Lovett, of tho Union Pacific, accompanied by. lii 3 son, Robert A., ajid a number of others, motored over to Port Washington, L.1., yesterday afternoon to inspect the large flying yacht recently built for the America Transoceanic Company, of which Rodman Wanamaker is the This is the most luxurious flying yacnt yet built, and has seating capacity tor five persons. Its wings havo a span of 76ft, while the boat from the bow to the tip of the rudder is 5Wt long. The. yacht, which was built for a prominent aviation enthusiast hen;, is equipped with two ]00-horse power Curtis motors, and will make 60 _ miles an hour with its full load. Drawing only 18in of water, it can leave the surface in 30sec. and can cruise 300 miles with full equipment or 500 miles with only _ tho five passengers. Tho interior dccoration of the yacht is finer than any yet used on an aeroplane. The seats- are upholstered in pigskin. and the entire cocknit is finished in mahogany. Tho hull is finished in white, with green below the watov line, and the deck is composed of mahogany strips. In addition to tho regular equipment for yachts, which includes self-starter, muffler, electric lights, searchlights, and tho regulation night-flying lights, tho Sperry automatic pilot is used. This allows tho 'pilot _ practically to disregard the ordinary details of Hying _ such as banking and checking wind variations. Assorting that tho average wage-earners family is compelled to speinil 45 per ccnt. more of its income for food than was spent one year and a-half ago, the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor announced yesterday that _ it had boon compelled to raise tho association allowance for food for a male adult from 21 cents a day to 34 cents a day. Similarly, the daily allowance for food for male adults afflicted with tuberculosis lias boon raised by the association from 30 to 38. cents. Proportionate increases in the amount of tho allowances for women and children also were announced by the association in dollars and cents. The investigation sh'owed that food purchased in November of last year for 7.97d0l last week cost IO.SSdoI. Carrving a proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution abolishing tho Electoral College. Senator Chamberlain, of Oregon, is en route to Washington. He believes the President should be chosen by direct popular vote. In explaining that the Electoral College system might frustrate tho I Will of tho majority, Mr Chamberlain gagßCß«MiM^mugßaßmcragiMiiiiuaJifiiiiCT»w.N><»rt».iisa

pointed out that in the presidential election 5000 votes in California might havo Ewong' that til,ate to Mr Hughes and elcctcd him, whereas Mr Wilson had a popular lead of 41/O,OGO votes throughout the country. Mr Chamberlain, said his amendment would be proposed bo that it could become effective ac the LUdj election. 5

The season of opera began at the Metropolitan Opera House with all the familiar manifestations of public interest Fabulous prices had been paid for seats to forehanded speculators, iimail fortunes had been expended in the preparation of frocks destined to blend in the splendors of the glittering horseshoe. People who had not heard a, note of all the musical entertainments given since early in October had suddenly become aware that there was a musical season. The Metropolitan Opera H'ouse was packed with a vast throng of Caruso worshippers, all lillcd with joy because they were one© more to hear the golden voice. It was an audience representative of many sidee of New York's active life, but chiefly of its social circle. It was an audience with curiosity stimulated becauso a new opera was offered and the favourite tenor was to warble new tunes. Every one in the house was sitting up and wondering whether he was going to like the new music. 'Ihe work selected by Genera! Manager Gatti-Casazza for this first performance was " Les Pecheurs do Perles'.' opera, in tliree acts, the book by E. Cormon and Michel Carre, musio by Georgea Bizet, composer of "Carmen." Two acta of the work liad lwen given by Maurice Urau, with limtna Calve as Leila, but without any demand for repetition. Timea have changed. Calve ha 3 gone; Caruso has come. The performance was received by the audienco villi many demonstrations of pk-aisure. It was a good performance n.rnl deserved approval. Naturally Mr Caruso was the star of the evening. Attired in a luxurious Oriental costume, bronzed and boarded like Othello, barelogged save for gold anklets, as a Russian ballet dancer, he was a genuinely operatio figure. if New Ybrk should experiment with the Australian 6ystem of State and municipal regulation of food commodities there would bo a substantial and immediate downward trend in the cost of living, in the opinion of Mr P. E. Quinn, commissioner representing the 'Government of New South Wales iD this city. " Australia reoogniaes that tile only way to prevent the undue increase of food prices is adequate regulation," says Mr Quinn. "In Australia wo believe that a government which cannot control the market quotations on food necessities for the benefit of its people is not living up to its obligations as a democracy. Although our commonwealth is passing through an abnormal period of war stress, when food prices tend to rise, the people of Australia arc getting their food staples much choaper than the inhabitants ol New York. New South Wales has a State bakery which furnishes a 21b (32m) loaf of bread for 7 cents. Tho master bakers of Brooklyn held a meeting a few days ago to consider a plan to sell a 270z loaf for 15 cents. Mr Quinn clinched .his argument in favour of the Australian housewife by viving that she txjmght for 5 cents a 3000 yard spool of thread —just three times as large as the spool offered for the same, price in Nerw York. "This illustration is ail tho more remarkable," he added, " when you eon si dor that Australia grows no cotton, and that (lie nickel paid for a spool in Sydney includes cost of transportation from England or America, and a profit to the retail ct. It almost looks as though people in this country enjoy getting stun?."