AMERICA TO-DAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19363, 21 July 1925, Page 3

AMERICA TO-DAY

U.S.A. FROM A COLONIAL ANGLE. Some trenchant remarks regarding American problems were made by Aliss C. K. Henderson, 8.A., in a lecture at Christchurch recently. Aliss Henderson has recently returned from an extended tour of the United States and Great Britain. The speaker was introduced by the Mayor. Rev. J. A. Archer, who referred to the work of Aliss Hen derson had done for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Airs A. S. Adams, vice-president of the union, was on the platform. CLIFF DWELLERS. Aliss Henderson dealt briefly with her impressions of San Francisco, her first port of call. The Americans were an exceedingly hospitable people, and from first to last she had been entertained lavishly. She had been almost paralysed by the immensity of the traffic. of San Francisco. There were two lines of moving traffic along the centre of the streets, rows of parked cars, and four tram lines. Pedestrians were j advised to walk between two white lines, which formed not only a safety ! zone, but a region of compensation. The unfortunate pedestrian shot into another word between these lines had the satisfaction of knowing that his relatives were comfortably compensated for his decease. Home life in San Francisco was almost extinct. San Francisco was a city of huge apartment houses and tenements, which had shot up like bean-stalks in a night. The people lived in one or two rooms in these buildings, and ascended, like cliff dwellers, by elevator to their apartments, disappearing at length into a hall in the wall. Little or no cooking j was done in these rooms, and whole I families dined at restaurants or cafe- j terias. The cafeterias were particu- | larly interesting from a colonial point ! of view. The guest entered, gathered [ up a knife, fork, and spoon, carefully wrapped in a table napkin. Presumably cutlery was rare in America, since the visitor was provided with but one spoon, which was frequently brought into action through successive courses. Next, he seized upon a tray, went the length of the counter selecting his dinner, breakfast or tea, from the multitude bt foods displayed, and then, the cost being calculated by a human comptometer, sat down to eat in peace. Prices were high, and salads much in evidence. A spring chicken—dinner for one man—cost about 10/-. Poultry farming was evidently a profitable occupation in the States. '

The American churches were run on up-to-date lines, and the progress of the people heavenward was shepherded in a business-like manner. On enter ing the churches the visitor was given a slip on which was published the forth coming programme of the week, Sunday school, Bible class and religious exercises all neatly tabulated. In spite of this precaution, however, the churches at San Francisco were nearly empty. In Los Angeles, on the contrary, the people turned out, like Dunedin on a Sunday morning, to the sound of bells. Aliss Henderson visited several of the picture studios, and saw romance, in the shape of heaps of snowy mountains, picturesque villages, and church steeples lying in the yards. Los Angeles was a magnificent city, with a wealthy population concentrated in a beautiful suburb.

Aliss Henderson was particularly struck with the illuminations in Alarkef Street, the principal thoroughfare of San Francisco. Every is Jubilee night there, and the Coronation glow of Christchurch would seem but a mere glitter compared with the every night flare of San Francisco. Even the smaller streets are. brightly illuminated with thousands of electric signs, and the merits of tea, coffee, newspapers, religion, and somebody’s hats are prominently and artistically displayed in the night time. The prosperity of America is evidenced by the number of motor-cars. The roads are littered with “Go Slow” notices, and in one dangerous corner the motorist is advised to “Go slow. You may meet another fool.” Hotels are booming, and 10 to 20-storey buildings are going up everywhere/

A COUNTRY OF CONVENTIONS. America is a country of convention.,. Everything and everybody convenes, from the Presidential candidates to the Associated Society of Bootblacks. V hile Aliss Henderson was in the States the annual Convention of Women’s Clubs met in California. There were 3000 delegates, representing a total of 7000 women, and tho fact of the success of Prohibition in America was demonstrated by the resolutions carried at the meetings. The convention pledged itself to stand solidly for law enforcement, and to oppose any attempt to alter the Volstead Act. Everywhere in the country Aliss Henderson was convinced of the intention of the people to stand for the Prohibition reform. America was a country great problems, and many nationalities. There were Italians, Swedes, Chinese, Japanese, and hundreds of other races. The Chinese, Japanese, and the people of the Southern European States were not desirable inhabitants, since they seldom settled with the idea of becoming American, and they were the cause of much of the law-breaking and bootlegging so largely advertised. The Republican Party had elected a Prohibition President, and Vice-Presi-dent, and had inserted a “dry” clause in its platform, and at the Democratic Convention the one “wet” candidate, the notorious Al. Smith, had received only six and a-half votes in the final ballot. Respectable hotels did not supply liquor, and there wore few who eared to take the risk of having their premises closed —signed and sealed by the State—for a lengthy period. This was one of the penalties imposed for sly grog selling. Aliss Henderson quoted the opinion of the Dean of Tennessee, who emphatically declared that in his opinion Prohibition had saved the university life of America. America was a big country with bigger problems, and if in 10 years the liquor question was fully solved tho people would have done a groat thing. At the close of the meeting the speaker was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, and the question of “wet” or “dry” was solved for the present by the serving of afternoon tea.