THE ART OF HUSTLING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8700, 20 December 1899, Page 4

THE ART OF HUSTLING.

THE RESTLESS AMERICAN. j Mb lan Maolaren has a highly amusing I article on the mercurial temperament of the American business man in the North American Review. He says : — AMERICAN AND BRITISH MERCHANTS. While an English merchant saunters down to his office between 9 and 10, a New York man rises at 6.30 in his suburb, and ia bnsy at work at 8 o'clock. The Englishman takes off an hour during the day for luncheon at his club, while the American eats his meal in 15 minutes. The Englishman spends more than an hour at afternoon tea, and gossip with his friends, and sauntering about between his club and bis office, while' the American packs every minute with work. The yery walk of an English merchantr-slow, dignified, self-satisfied— and that of the American — rapid, eager, anxious — the one looking as if time were of no importance nor circumstance, and the other as if the loss of a minute might mean ruin— are the visible indices to the character of the nations. LIFE AT FULL PEESSORB. No man goes slow if he has the chance of going fast, no man stops to falk if lie can talk walking, no man walks if he can ride in a trolley-car, no man goes in a trolley-car if he can get a convenient steam car, and by-and-bye no one will go in a steam car if he can be shot through a pneumatic tube. No one writes with his own hand if he can dictate to a stenographer, no one dictates if he can telegraph, no one telegraphs if he can telephone, and by-and-bye when the spirit of American invention has brought wireless telegraphy into thorough condition, a man will simply sit with his mouth at one hole and his ear at another, and do business with the ends of the earth in a few seconds, which the same machine will copy and preserve in letter-bonks and ledgers. It is the American's regret that at present he can do nothing with hie feet while he is listening at the telephone, but, doubtless, some employment will be found for them in the coming age. ■ THE AME6IOAN AND BRITISH WORKMAN. There seems no doubt that an American workman will do from 25 to 33 per cent, more than an Englishman in the same time, and that the higher wages of the American have their compensation for the capitalist in a workman's quickness of mind and sleight of hand. Everything goes at an accelerated speed, with wonderful inventions in labor-saving machinery and devices to economise time. If the great end of a nation be to do as much as possible in as abort a time as possible, then the American climate has been practically arranged for that end. AN ELECTRICAL ATMOSPHERE. While the English atmosphere is heavy aud" soothing, and lends itself to thought and quietness, the American climate is exciting and exhilarating, and quickens both mind and body to the highest aotivity. It ia an electric climate, and the electricity has passed into the people, who are simply vessels charged up to a certain number of volts. These vessels as sources of motive power can then be attached to pulpits or offices or workshops or politics. Of course, a day will come when the vessels will have been completely discharged, and that day arrives very frequently without warning. A little confusion in the head and a slight numbness in the limbs, and the man has to go away a year to Colorado's springs or to Los Angeles. If he is fortunate, he can be recharged and run for another five or ten years; then Nature does not give any warning, but simply stops the heart or darkens the brain, and you must get another man.