SKETCHES FROM AMERICA.
By Maorilajjdjl.
" "(Special" to the Witness.) ~" Once again Jhas America held her thanksgiving, but thig._ year .in a chastened, spirrt 3 .for evil times h^ve fallen upon her. It was in. October that the annual proclamation 1 was ma,de, " Once again the season of the year has come when, in accordance with the custom of our forefathers for generan tions past the President appoints a day as the special occasion for all our people to give praise and thanksgiving to God." So j ran President Roosevelt's message, and -in avery State the Governors took up the tale and called upon those in the territory under their control to hold thoir festival of gratitude upon the last Thursday in November. "During the year we .have been free from pestilence and famine," so continued the announcement. "We are at peace with all the rest of mankind. Our natural resources are at least as great as those of any- other nation. . Nowhere eke in the -world is there such an opportunity for free development of the powers of body, mind, and character. . •. Much has been given to ,us from on high, and much -will be Tightly expected of us in return. . . JSver throughout the ages prosperity has been fraught with danger, and it behoves us to beseech the Giver of All Things that we may not fal 1 into the love of ease and luxury ; that we may not lose our sense of moral" responsibility ; that we may not forget our duty to God and to our neighbours. ... A great democracy like ours — a democracy based iipon the principles of orderly liberty — can. be perpetuated only if in the heart of every citizen there dwells a sense of righteousness and justice. We should pray that this spirit should grow ever greater in- our hearts. . . Now, therefore, 1^ Theodore Eoosevelt, President of the United States, do set apart Thursday, the 28th day of November, as a, day of general thanksgiving and prayer. . . And on that day I recommend that the people shall cease from their daily work and give thanks to the -Almighty for the many and great blessings they have received, and to pray for strength to continue their lives so as to deserve a continuance of these blessings in the future.". And the President's recommendation was accepted, and wherever the Stars and Stripers flies people have celebrated "Thanksgiving \Day." Those who have -been left untouched by the financial crisis have offered thanks for thd mercy accorded them ; those whom ruin stares in the face have looked back over the fat years of the past and prayed for courage if the next few he lean. In the hearts of all the commercial situation has seemed the better for the day's, tessation from workiand anxiety, while its darkness has lighted at the realisation of the blackness of the "might have been" if prompt, measures had not stemmed, the rushing tide,»f panic. In, truth, optiniism "was never more required in the United Staters bhan "it ie to-day, despite the fact that recent statistics from the Bureau of Manufacturersputs the value of the annual production by manufactures in the States at 10,000,000,000d0i (£3,000,000,000). The cost of living seems rising day by day ; the value of live stock has dropped, but the price of meat is a 6 much as 10 per cent, higher in many parts of the country. All other commodities, including ice and mils, 6«e'm also on "the upward trend ; yet hardly a day passes without public notification of some important " wage cut " in one of the larger industries or railroads. The most recent is that of 10,000 men , employed on the extension of the St. Paul railway towards the Pacific Coast. A shilling 'a day has- been struck from their wages, and notice given that* a further and equal reduction will be put in effect at the beginning of the new. year. Over 150,000 men have lost their employment in four short weeks. xW Christmas their ranks will have been doubled, for though cash is easier commerce is worse. The closing up of the mines, mills, and oth&i large industries has had the effect of swamping the steamship lines, particularly those running ships to European and Scandinavian ports. The foreigners seem to have decided that it will be cheaper to' return for awhile to their native landed rather than speild the winter, wockless, in expensive American cities. Steerage rates have been Taised to such an extent that in some cases there is only some 16s difference between third and second class. One Gteamer alone eairied 3600 bound for Germany The stream to Mediterranean, and Ruesiaji ports is unprecedented — it is estimated that fully 5,000 3 000dol a week is being taken out of the country by those making the exodus. A vast proportion are gathering from Pennsylvania, where -20 . large stone cement works have shut down, as well a 6 a number of mines and steel plants. One immigrant train was. : l2 cars-long.. The 980 passengers going aTioai'd-r it' lined up "10 deep and stretched out for \ block, waiting for tne ferry. There were not half -a dozen women in the '-vast crowd. I The southern States have been hoping that when this stre'afti •> turns - towards America again it might be diverted to southern channels, " and with this end in view haye> taken every" possible step to induce those homeward bound to influence their, fellow villagers in .this direction. It is therefore most unfortunate that at this juncture unpleasant facts concerning the treatment meted out "to Italians and others I going 'to the southern States should have j been forced into prominence. Matters have I come to such a pass that the Austro-Hyn- j garian Government has been compelled to i warn its people jiot to venture, to the south, and particularly to keep away from Mijssseippi. Of course, if this feeling spreads, ifc means an enormous setback to the development of the south, which was just beginning to advance under the impetus given by the influx of labourers. Yet it is small wonder that the warning has been issued, and that Italy is prepared to follow Austria's lead. Southern pLa-uters wad null-own*rs have, taken gross Si '
| advantages at the ignorance of the immigrants ; they had been persuaded to sign contracts which have bound them to virtual slavery. The Federal Government has been obliged- to take up several of the most flagrant- cases of open peonage, but seems capable of doing little real good, despite protests from Italy and Austria. Southerners persist in counting the Italian as of the- negro class, and *as euch are making an attempt to exclude the Italian's children from the common schools, as tli© Californians did the Japanese. One Italian had the fighting spirit, and headed a band of his countrymen who I were determined to obtain legal educational adv ullages for their -little ones. On© day a mob seized him, flung a rope Tound him,- and dragged' him- -to the outskirts of the town, where he was subjected, to a terrible beating and other incfignities. The torture must have been excessive, for he was a cripple, a leg having been amputated so recently that the. stump was not healed". Small wonder is it that all those foreigners who caff are leaving a State where their personal rights are so little respected and where punishments for such outrages axe not enforced. But many cannot go — they are held prisoners for debt, as is legal according to a Mississippi statute,; and the frightened immigrants are surely including in their boycott a yet wider area of States, which, means that the enormous yearly flow must go to the slums of the northern and eastern cities. Once more have freak athletics become the order of the day in America. In one direction wagers are running high concerning the exploits of a certain group I who have set out to walk 90 miles in 60 consecutive hours. In another a couple^ who have undertaken to go 10 miles carrying lewt a-piece are the heroes of the day. The interest in such feais has been awakened by a man named Weston, who 40 years ago made a record walk of 1200 miles, and is to-day, at the age of 69, trying to lower his: own record. The journey is from Portland (Maine) to Chicago (Illinois), and 1 he made the whole distance (1230 miles) in 27 days, on the previous occasion ; his^ present ambition is to beat this by 24 hours. The longest day's trip has been 87 miles, and he never walks on Sundays. He is one of the pet illustrations used by those now engaged in the crusade against strong' Rquors, as he is a total abstainer. Every village he has passed through has had a welcoming comimittee on its outskirts to give him greeting, and a considerable degree of his vest time is always t»aken up in shaking hands ! (For two years past the appointing of Federal officers in the State of Dakota has been a thing of difficulty owing to the- fact that the two Dakota senators have been at daggers drawn, and that -each has held sufficient •influence to block the other's moves. The strained situation has now been settled by President Roosevelt in a very novel way. He summoned the two senators to the White House. They came, expecting a private interview and the gift of the much-desired patronage, and in the anti-room eaoh stopped to glower, at the unexpected meeting with the other. The President greeted them in his most friendly manner, and in the height of good humour explained his new method. He who chose the longest white slip should have the appointing of six of the public land officers in South Dakota, the drawer of the shorter slip must content himself with five! He extended' two' tightly-closed hands, and called on fne surprised senators to make their choice. The fates of Indian agents, a district States attorney, a collector of internal revenues, an assayer of the mint, and an auditor of the Treasury were decided in the same method. There remained one other appointment — that of the position of national bank Examiner, and the two senators eyed the hands with yet greater interest as they twdsted the slips of white paper. Suddenly the President, tossed^ them aside and drew a quarter from hie pocket. "Heads or tails?" he cried as the coin spun. " Heads ! " exclaimed the luckier senator, and so secured t"e coveted appointment for his nominee. | Novenibe-r 30. j
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Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 90
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1,759SKETCHES FROM AMERICA. Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 90
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