AMERICAN LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11027, 16 March 1914, Page 7

AMERICAN LIFE.

GOOD FOR BIG MAN. SYNDICATE TO FIGHT TRUST. NEW ZEALANDER'S LEiTER. "Under the Stars and Stripes, in the land of 'graft,' trusts and combines." Thus a Now Zealandor, at present residing in San Francisco, prefaces his remarks to a friend in Canterbury. "This country is all right for the 'big' man," ho says, "but New Zealand offers better opportunity for the individual. Everywhere ' graft' is prevalent. Trusts and combines control the state and national legislatures.

I havo been making a special study of ( political conditions and methods of 1 government, and I must say I have not i been favourably impressed, i The elec- i tion of judges is an instance. Since I my arrival here there has been an elec- ; tion of a police judge. Various can- < didates addressed meetings and re- ] ceived the support of various political 1 organisations, and immense bill-posters : were observable every where proclaiming the merits of the respective con- < testants. One of them read as follows : _< M r ———, the People's Champion. . Always for justice.' Fancy voting for a man one day and getting sentenced perhaps the next by the same man! The police, well, 1 must leave them till later. It would encroach upon too much space at present, but suffice it to say that they are under the direct control of the Mayor and belong entirely to the particular city over which the mayor has jurisdiction. CLOSING THE SALOONS. " Prohibition is'makiug great strides. The State of Arkansas (southern State) went ' dry ' the other day. Two thousand five hundred saloons were closed in the State of Ohio, while the State Of Wisconsin closed two thousand. At the general eleotioiie this year in Call-' . fornia the ' prohibition' issue will be on the-ballot paper and remember, the women of California have the vote*, scured in 1912. .In the above States where the saloons have been closed the. women are striving to secure'the vote. Although the saloons in 'Frisco keep open until 2 a.m. and re-operi atQ. a.m. every day of the week, and although theatres of all varieties do their usual 'stunts' on Sundays, yet horse racing !is absolutely forbidden. In several. States, New York one, .racing, is allowed but no betting is allowed on the course. THE MEXICAN WAR. " Civil war is still in progress m Mexico and the rebels are steadily gaming. The 'yellow ,press' has been clamouring for United States intervention, but President Wilson says, one American life is worth, more than all the property, mostly oil interests, in Mexico. Wilson is a great man ;and i Australia and New Zealand ought to be very thankful that the' Democratic Party after an absence of < twenty years -was returned to power in, 1912 with President Wilson at the head. He has removed the duty on wool, meat and butter, thus .opening ,up .another market for Australasia.' 'At the-very moment of writing, January _ 18, a syndicate has completed negotiations for a supply of meat from Australia and New Zealand, and it is the intention of those in the syndicate to 'buck' against the . American Meat Trust. Over two million pounds of meat on consignment has been- brought into 'Frisco from Australia, but the meat interests simply .' cornered' and made more profit than ever. BLOW FOR WALL STREET,

"Wilson has also secured the passing of the Currency Bill, which is. destined to relieve Wall Street of its absolute- control of money'and thus prevent a panic, such as that of 1907, from eventuating. Under the scheme several federal reserve banks are to be established and 'Frisco is to have one. Financiers and bankers were at first- strenuously, opposed to the Bill, but now they have reconciled themselves to the inevitable' and are, clamouring for participation in. the. scheme. In the 'man in the street language they are feeding out of his hand, which indicates another triumph for one of the greatest of American presidents. (

"QUITTING." " A very important announcement emanated from Wall Street the other day, statin? that Morgan and Company we're to quit from the many directorates of corporations in which they are interested, thus eliminating interlocking directorates. Public sentiment against interlocking directorates was announced as the reason ior quitting, but the real. reason for their decision was that it might act as a 'sop' for President Wilson ;a,nd Congress and thus stay Wilson's"contemplated probing into the workings and other peculiarities of the Trusts. Yesterday the Kodak camera trust announced that it intended, after considerable litigation and correspondence with' the Department of Justice at Washington, to dissolve, and let us hope that the dissolution will be more effective than the 'dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust."