A CALL ON UNCLE SAM

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3143, 28 July 1917, Page 9

A CALL ON UNCLE SAM

MR. MAGNUS TALKS ABOUT AMERICA EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BUSINESS Mr. Godfrey Magnus, of Magnus, Sanderson and Co., lias returned to Wellington after an interesting visit to Canada and flie United States. As the result of the war business wis slack in Caua-la, except in those manufacturing centres where they were engaged in tho manuiacture of munitions'. At Toronto Mr. Magnus was fortunate enough lo meet Mr. T. A. Russell, tlio principal of a pig motor-car manufacturing business, which lind sold its rights to theAVillys-Oyorlaiid peoplo and liad converted tlio factory, employing 5000 hands, into munition works. Mr. Magnus brings back with him samples of the s'hell-heads that woro being made there, marvels of delicate mechanism, gauged to tlio two-thou-eandtli part of an inch. That was only one of many big works in Canada that wero turning out munitions for tho Allios. In tho States business was feverishly active, and tho war fever was rising steadily. "America is going into the war outright," said Mr. Magnus. In tlio West —San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City—tho awakening was slower than in the East, which _ was nearer tho war con,tre. When ho visited those places the picture theatres need to flash on the screen a picturo of ' Old Glory," and tho applauso was deafening. That would be followed by tho announcement that Uncle Sam wanted soldiers, when a pin could bo heard drop. In tho East tho response had liecii much quicker. Everywhere business mon were doing their utmost for their employees and placing absolutely no impediments 111 the way of their talcing up military service. They had conscription there from the jump, benefiting no doubt from tho experiences of other countries. Everywhere tho sale of Liberty Bonds was being pushed. Tho campaign was ically wonderfully organised ut Washington by tho brightest brains in the country. Tlio whole of the States had been blocked out in sections, and each section was supposed to purchase so many bonds. The Government had secured tlio services of the most brilliant salesmen to take charge of sections, and tho keenest rivalry had been created as lo which would do the best for his country. At the Dodge Motor-par Works in Detroit alone the principals and employees mid taken u,p 2,500,(100 dollars' worth of lwnds when ho was there. As the result of the perfect organisation there were cases whero some sections had purchased two and tlireo times tho amount of their allotment, and still the game went 011. It was most exciting. The Export Trade. "One thing I noticed in particular was the attention the manufacturers were givin" to the export trnde. Hitherto America had had such an enormous domestic trade that the export trade was merely a contingency. In ears, for example, tho manufacture was ?o finely standardised that to diverge from the set gauge pattern or colour in 'the slightest degree meant a lessening of tho output, and orders for a special kind of car could not bo entertained. Hut tlio war had pushed'on to the States nil enormous export trade in many lines, and the manufacturer was now very much olive to the wisdom of being able to hold that, trade (duo to other countries nril: being ablo to supply) after the war. They have actually instituted schools to train the minds of the manufacturers and departmental heads to realise the vast importance of a world trade. Tlio Dodge works which T visited were turning out #0 cars a day, with the assistance of It,ooo hands, and were fulfilling orders for overseas, whilst local agents were unable to obtain the supplies they needed. When I was there they were considering tho advisability of con-

verting one of their factories for the manufacture of aeroplane engines." Mr. Magnus was at Washington when General Joffre and Mr. Arthur Balfour visited tho capita], and ho says that he could not pretend, lo gauge the enthusiasm that prevailed. Under tho courteous guidance of Senator Colt, ho visited the Senate and Congress when both Houses were sitting, and in Washington ho also met Mr. R. B. Price, the vicepresident of tho United States liailway Company, who had thrown aside every other interest in order to concentrate on war work in Washington. He communicated with Mr. Price on the subject, of the paucity of laiowledge of the world outside flie States possessed by many peoplo he met, and in the course of an interesting reply Mr. Price attributed it largely 'lo the inadequacy of the text hooks in tho schools, whicli dwelt oil America, and contained very scant information, geographical or historical, on other countries, which made for a selfcontained nation. Mr. Price had written that it' tho Irish question could he settled it would be a great step forward, as tho influence of the discontented Irish in the States was great, hut tho subject would be brought under the'notico cf the patriotic societies. President Wilson was regarded by . all sections as "the safe man." Ho was tremendously popular, and there was an aggressive sanity about everything he did and said that appealed wonderfully io all good Americans in the present crisis in tho affairs of that great nation.