The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1027. CONTRASTS IN AMERICAN CONDITIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1027. CONTRASTS IN AMERICAN CONDITIONS.

Tun United State to-day is jxissossed of half the gold supply of the world. >inee 11)11) money Ims rolled into the t :uted Sttes Treasury in such volume tha tthc national debt has l>een reduced liy £I,7(K).(XX>,<)IX) and all Kurope is its debtor lor vast sums which will continue to flow westward for the next ■sixty years; direct taxation, has been reduced till the average wage-earner with a. family pays his Government nothing unless lie is fortunate enough to earn more than £BOO annually, and wealth per capita is tiie highest in the history of any nation. For generations past (writes the Xtav York correspondent of the London “Daily Telegraph”) America has been regarded by Europeans as the land of plenty, of high wages and extravagance, and if in popular opinion New York’s streets have, not been literally paved with gold, the acquisition of that commodity here has been regarded as a matter of such comparative ease that residents have iboen looked upon as actual or potential millionaires. Do that as it. may, your everyday American is not not nearly so sure of his own prosperity as statistics apparently declare him to he. and, although lie may ho good-naturedly tolerant of his reputation abroad as a- man of wealth, at the end of each year when he balances his books lie is generally gratified if the figures show a small .balance on the right side of the ledger. Against the American’s comparatively high income must ho set the fact that- his dollar to-day buys less than GO ncr cent, of what it did in 1913, and that the standard of living lias risen far out of proportion to the contents of his weekly pay envelope. To-day, unless he he a man of exceptional do termination, he must aspire to the ownership of a motor car, a radio, and other modern luxuries, if lie is married ho must pay a: rental for moderate accommodation of £2-3 per month insfTea'd of £3 as in pre-war days. Ho must find the means for the purchase of expensive fur coats,' of periodical “permanent” waves at £.3 per wave for his wife’s hair. Doctors cost 12s a visit, and specialists would eat up the total of one’s hank balance or mortgaged income. College education for children, whose forbears never dreamed of college arc now the recognised Obligation of the father of moderate means. Summer holidays cost, even with rigid economy, £lO per person per week. The question of whether American prosperity is real or artificial is therefore debatable. Of money there is a plenteous supply, jobs arc abundant, and no one need go hungry or destitute, and vet charity oranisntions are working overtime, hospital clinics are crowded, business failures are reported by the hundred every month, and without doubt there are more people here living on the ragged edge than ever before ifi the country’s history. To what extent American prosperity is feeding upon its nerve or itself is a question which economists are debating. Over-pro-duction in most industries is enormous and even - device and argument known to an ingenious people is used to stimulate the consumption of electrical current. Great buildings easily good for another fifty years of service are torn, down and structures many times greater containing thousands of tons of steel, brick and mortar are erected in their place. Household furnishings, kitchen utensils, heating appliances, motors, radios, etc., are cast aside for the “latest thing out.” People cannot afford them, hut they are sold on the “easy payments plan,” which means that salaries are mortgaged for a year or two in advance. If payments are not forthcoming, the article is taken back and the purchaser is out only the money ho put into it, which would have been spent on something or other in any case. It is reasoned that only in the event of cireumstonees forcing a general stoppage of partial payments will industry become choked with its own output and prosperity, as repre-' sented by steady employment and capacity production, come to an abrupt and disastrous end. America may be rolling in wealth, but the high cost ’

and standard of living has greatly harrowed the margin of saving, and the struggle of the majority to keep up with the procession and remain solvent i.s probably as difficult hero as elsewhere.