LECTURE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13661, 1 August 1908, Page 6

LECTURE.

AMERICA -ANJD- ITS. PEOPLE. It is always encouraging, to a -lecturer to have -a- good, audience, : and last evening the Rev E. G. Guthrie- must have felt particularly gratified when. Chalmers Hall was filled to overflowing :to- listen to his,lecture oh "The: American People." iur J. G. Gow presided. v ■ Mr Guthrie spoke at--some length in' a most instructive. and interesting, manner and covered much ground. He spoke of. the: people politically, commercially and socially, and concluded with. a resume of what, constituted the hope of the Demo- 1 craey. Under the first heading he gave a lengthy description ;of the methods of " government, the; powerful controlling machinery of the partks, and the of corruption. He had often been assured : before going to America that the country was rotten in its' politics, ana he would not altogether -deny this. Tite-' evils were almost inevitable, and were due more/to the system than to' the people;. there' were two dominant parties, and it was practically impossible for. an '"inde-v pendent" candidate to political" honours to; succeed the . support; of - one' .or other of these partks, the' extent and power of which were distinctive' characteristics «of-' American life. -The- Republican and Democratic parties bore.no resemblance now to what they were originally, and on' great questions there, was little difference .between them. ■-■ The partks consisted-of an ; inher and" an outer circle, the inner .drawing in:the aspirants for offi-' ces and ranging from the small- ward : pali--ticians r (generally recruited from, the ranks of saloon keepers),, lawyeisy arid 'party managers, of a fairly high average.ability ; and' the outer, smaller. inVnumbers,, cousisting mainly -of men riot - aspiring, to pflSces. ' As,a rule, rbbe" best'men did not coriie -forwardi for : politics .in America, were relatively uninteresting. to • what they were ; . in European cuntries,; and ; itherfe were j other careers open' to them. :He detailed:the working.'of the party hiachin-ery,.-'ahd said -the.Successful • party always had:many lucrative offiixts to 'give away after, .each ~ , Funds .were obtained by "-subscriptions, anil taxes oji.the sala- ; ries' of the officials /placed; in.- position by the parties, and 1 it wus'mainJy diie to this iniquitous' system that-so much corruption prevailed. . As- a-. rule,: however, though many unscrupulous /men. got -into power, the "boss" was not always a; bad riian in , a financial.sense; ;he was generally after power more than wealth; .There had' been 'and would be. many, riioi-e fights to cleanse politics in. America, and he hoped the'-issue 'of .these'fights_ would be (to da away with the Tammany • system. But because, this system prevailed and was alt powerful it' did not. indicate uiat the massof the peoples were '. corrupt;' this was shown-, in the election for tne position of President, a candidate -for which, to be successful, must be fit both politically and morally. The commercial activity of the people" was. next 'touched upon, and the speaker- quoted Fosted Eraser's dicllum that the people of England must realise, that before, long America: would -be predominant commercially.; While not altogether agreeing .with thisj he. pointed, put that the United States had resources- that. could swamp competition', and vast .progress had- been made ■ in the use/ -of machinery.; but against this it should be remembered, that the big busintsses in the States were mostly in the hands of the first generatioon and heiqueb'tioned if the second or third generation could control industries like their fathers. The truefts and combines, .-were a curse./ to the countryj /and led. to 'commercial corjuptipri; they were simply human' blood-thirsty-.tigers, .and the only way.to rid... the country of .them was .to. lower the tariff, "which was made protective/in the first place'to give industries a'. start. Dealing , with 'the American - people socially the.lecturer asid-it was not correct to picture them as' being '. always after 'the almighty; dollar ;•'it applied to some .'people but not to all, for 'many• desired ' power more than wealth:- The people- w<-ie educated arid cultured •'■arid the wbriien were acknowledged to be the queens of culture ; 'the homes were filled with everything tending to make 'for refinement.;' .the people, were idealists more than materialists; they were charitable, possessed, a ' sunny,:genial good nature (even in lynching), juries were, generally lenient (except in .cases of offences {against /women), they were moral, and well-conducted (except .in, /mining, camps, whence .most Of the Englishmen's- pictures of American! life emanated), i. were religious, impressionable without being., fickle; 'were socially democratic, excep_f.in their relatipr.s with the negroes, and on the -nhple : there / were: more

"gentlemen and WW in Americi than in any other country. Some words on the hope of the democracy conclude! this interesting lectin e., the greatest hope being given as a desire to purify pditical life and to' crush thfr blood-bucking trusts, and combines, which were- sapping the very life blood of the people. Many times during his discourse Mr Guthrie recounted anecdotes u> pjiirtiay ,the more pronounced characteristic of the American people; and at the- conclusion he was heartily applauded and thanked on "the motion of Messrs Gow and Mnndell, as also were Messrs G. Andrews and Wotheispcon, who , ha<l ab.y rendered songs.