AMERICA IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2281, 15 October 1914, Page 6

AMERICA IN WAR TIME

CANADIAN LOYALTY ■MR. W. R. MORRIS'S IMPRESSIONS „ M , r - W. R. Morris, secretary of the lost and leegraph Department, who lert Jiere early in July last to attend the International Postal Congress at Madrid as New Zealand's representative, returned via Australia yesterday afternoon. The reason of his somewhat litmied return was, as will be guessed, the abandonment of the Congress on ■ account of the outbreak of war in Europe. Mr. Morris was at Ottawa, in Canada, when .England declared war, ' and though no news of the official postl ponement of the Congress was received immediately, it came through a day or so later, when he had to set about making his arrangements for tho return journey. . Canada's Loyalty. Mr. Morris states that Canada re- ■ ceived the news of the war with immense enthusiasm. "One of the most inspiring scenes I witnessed," said ho, was on the terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence River, in front of that magnificent hotel, the Chateau Frontignac, in Quebec. There on that fine promenade.tthe bands played and the people sang "The Marseillaise," and our own National Anthem really splendidly. Oua , thing that this war has done is to unite the peoples of Canada as never before. There exists a well-defined-racial cleavage between i the French-' Canadians and the "now" Canadians, who l keep more or les6 apart, but on' England declaring her intention of assisting France <in the struggle with Germany, the .French folk went wild with joy, and fraternised with great glee with tho English Canadians. To ehow how tenacious the French are to their mother tongue, I only have to recall the evening I- spent at the Chateau Frontignao, where, there were'far more people speaking.French than English. The present war will mean the .wiping v out of a lot of little difference born of race, and should make the Canadians'' •. m united a people as they are loyal / to the Crown. ~ ■ . . . ; .--;.-' Opinion In the United States. "As to the feeling over the war in : the United States, continued Mf; Morris, "my impressions are that Amer- - ica:is immeusely interested in the- war, • and that a lame majority of the people favour tho Allies. ; Of course, there were certain section of, the country.' .peopled-' by Germans':'' or ~..'those' of German descent, and they.are, naturally; enough, pro-German; Chicagbl.. which is full of Germans,' was "inclined to foster a feeling . against' the/'Allies,' or perhaps I should say/the feeling-in-their favour was not so'marked as in''other places. -.. : :''-',■"' "Hind you, the United States- is'- ' very hard hit by the war.' The cdun-' try depends to a very large extent-for revenue oh her duties on imports, and these have fallen.away to almost nothing as far as Germany, Austria, and France are concerned. Tho drop in revenue was so serious that the Gov- ';. eminent struck a war tax to make up . the deficiency." New York's Wonderful CP.O. . Mr. Morris visited Toronto, the Niagara Falls, and Buffalo City en route to New York, where he was afforded facilities for' looking over the magnificent new post office there. He describes it as a wonderful building, fitted'throughout with the most modern appliances, and all. kinds of machines and apparatus to save manual labour. Of course, a great many of the' ingenious devices used there have been , necessitated from the enormous quantities of mail matter that have to ■ .be handled. Imagine the quantity in a, city of five and a half millions, as -. many as there are in the whole or theAustralian Commonwealth. What would pay there would not necessarily pay here. Included inthe great build-, ing is the Stamp-printing Bureau, where is at present installed a stampprinting machine that for ingenuity and effectiveness amazes one. • To realise ; 'the wonders of this machine a little show was arranged for me. I was ' first shown the old-time methods; of • Btamp-printing, with crowds of hands employed in large rooms, and then the. more modern system, and finally tho newest marvel. It is a machine about 3ft. 6in. broad, and almost 18ft.'in length, and it accomplishes everything, in the going-through process--tho printing, gumming, and perforating with ox'pedition and perfect "workmanship." The cost is not very great, and I was informed that the "Stickney" ma-., chine saved 80 per cent, of space (which is valuable in New York), and 70 per cent, in the cost of production. . I was also very 'interested to find that, the Government printed, its paper money in the same'department." ■.': Mr. Morris also visited Washington,' where he met Mr. Burlinson, the Post-master-General of. the United States.-; Ho did not meet' the President, as,;. Mrs. Wilson was extremely' ill when he was in Washington. There was another magnificent new post office there, which also was a model of modernity; He traveled west via Chicago, Denver,.' and the Sacramento Valley, leaving San Francisoo by th« Sonoma on Sep.tember 1.