SKETCHES FROM AMERICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 81

SKETCHES FROM AMERICA.

Bx Maorilanda.

(For tie Witness.)

The birth of the New Year was heralded in the United States in the usual way Ihe naval observatory flashed a signal at the crucial instant to the four standard time belts of the country. Each city then announced the n»ws in its own nay, some by the hnng of cannon, some by the sending up of coloured balls from the highest tower in the place, yet others by means of steam whistles. Then pandemonium broke loose— factory and boat sirens screamed, giant crackers were exploded g T* u d ' aaid bells r«ng— and for considerably longer than the ten minutes or so allowed by law. In the greater cities the wide thoroughfares showed densely blocked masses of humanity singing, shouting, and showering confetti. In the lower districts bladders and feather "ticklers" were the order of the day, or, rather, night. Ten pounds was a moderate sum to pay, as a mere retaining fee, for a small table in a fashionable restaurant, and here the fun was fastest and most furious about 1 o'clock in the morning. Everywhere champagne flowed ; money shortage was a thing forgotten. Somehow a humour got abroad that the various restaurants were to permit women to smoke, thereupon the various "Purity" and "Law and Order Leagues" became "wroth, and engaged large detachments of detectives to manoeuvre their way into the cafes and "secure information" against the revellers. They . discovered few women smokers, but J handed in strange reports of dances upon the tables, and various acrobatic performances indulged in by the gilded classes for the amusement of their friends. I There has been a general review of the I conditions of the past 12 months, and also j an issruing of optimistic forecasts for the j forthcoming year. In both the period of 1 panic was necessarily referred to. For the first 10 months of 1907 commercial activity almost exceeded that of any other year, bank exchanges and railway earnings were higher, immigrants flowed in in yet vaster multitudes, foreign commerce increased, the amount of gold in the Treasury rose to the enormous figure of | 950,000,00Cd01. Then there came the sudden wave of panic, 126,000,000d0l was withdrawn from. 6ome of the largest trust companies in New York alone within a few days, and to prevent general ruin there was a universal but temporary closing of the banks of the country and a j suspension of business on a cash basis. j The tide of immigration turned, the | foreign element fled back whence they had ' come, industries closed on all sides, and imports of luxuries dropped sxiddenly. In the last weeks of the year it was estimated that not more than 33 per cent, of the iron and steel industries were in operation. The last blow of 1907 was the news that the New England ;otton mills ; had decided' *o curtail their output by 25 per cent, in order to avoid glutting" the j market witn cotton goods. Fully 150,000 j workers will be affected, j For the other side of the matter, there . have been fewer cases of lynching than for j 20 years past, but the number of people committing suicide has passed the 10,000mark very considerably, while other deaths , by violence — such as those occasioned by , quarrels, riots, strikes, and highwaymen — are less than usual, being under 9000. , Some 250 people have met death in pursuit of pleasure, and 4258 have been inI jured ; those who "didn't know thA pistol was loaded" have killed 43 and injured | hall the number, and the "idiots who rock ; boats" have drowned 15. As for honesty, I it seems on the increase, only 11,000,000d0l being appropriated in the past year by persons who had no right to it — 4,000,000d0l less than in 1906. Thds total comprises forgeries, bank- wreckers, and 1 embezzlements. But 1907 should be called a red-letter 1 year by many, in as much as more money than ever before has been given away, in all a splendid total of 150,000,000d01, and of this 108,000,000d0l has been given by living men and women, led by John D. Rockefeller with 45,000,000d0l and Mrs R\issell Sage with 14,000,000d01. For once Carnegie comes third upon the list, though if past years were included his total would faT surpass that of any other philanthropist, leading Rockefeller by close on. 100,000,000d01. The greater part of the donations of 1907 have been given to advance the cause of education. General charities claim second place, museums and aTt galleries third, religious objects fourth, and libraries fifth. Some 135 women figure on the honc-ur roll of gift-givers, and among; them have given almost 31,000,000d01. A " rent strike" has been begun in New York, and threatens to become quite serious, 30,000 families being already on the List of strikers, while fully 100,000 are expected to join. The demand is for a 20 to 30 per cent, reduction on account of the present industrial conditions. Mass meetings have been held, and lawyers have ac\hessed the assembled thousands as to how much a fight may be legally fought. A young girl, hailed already as the "Jean of Arc of the East Side," has organised a band of women to go on a house-to-house canvas and obtain written j)l edges that rent reductions will be demanded. It is sa.id that the Socialists are organising the whole campaign, but that is a stock kind of a parrot cry in such cases. Some 84 eviction notices have been served by two or three landlords on the occupiers of certain tenements. A few tenants have already been turned out into the streets together with all their worldly belongings. Room was immediately found for them in the homes of members of the "union." There is in America a partictilarly powerful secret society known as the

j " Black Hand." Pew of its members have ever been discovered, yet a large proportion of murders, especially thoee in the I Italian section of the community, are j laid at the door of this gang. When a j man is killed by the society, some mark i or paper is always Jeft, bearing' the sign | manual of the association, -hence the terror it has inspired. As a rule blackmail is demanded. In scores, or, rather, hundreds, of cases people pay. rather than expose themselves to the danger of dynamite or to the risk of having their children kidnapped. New York, Pittsburg, and Chicago suffer particularly from the machinations of the gang. The most influential Italians in these cities have now organised a society called the "White Hand," with the express object of huntin? out the officers of the Black Hand. Fifty thousand dollars is the nucleus of a fund collected in one city to pay expenses incurred in the attempt. One of the most widely-known of.- all Italian detectives — a man thoroughly acquainted with Italian criminals and fugitives from justice — has been attached to the new vigilance committee. One of his main duties will be to go among the secret and fraternal societies and let it be known to all how the insidious attacks of the Black Hand can be betrayed to the White Hand io a manner that will not bring unnecessary danger to those attacked. On the first day of the organisation of the new society nearly 20 cases of the receipt «f threatening letters, purporting to have been writ1 ten by the unscrupulous gang, were turned in to the secretary y{ the White Hand. It is hoped that practical good will be achieved in a very short space of time. Ex-president Grover Cleveland has startled all Americans by coming forward ! with the suggestion that men who have , once occupied the Presidential chair should become, in a sense, wards of the nation, inasmuch as they should draw a pension. He points out that a certain dignity is expected from them in after yeans, and I that this is costly to keep up. In several I instances Presidents have been anything but rich men, and they have retired to find many avenues closed to them in virtue of the position libey had occupied. Jefferson was driven by poverty to sell bis cherished library, and finally was forced to accept money collected by his friends in private subscription. " I have spent three times as much money and, given my whole life^ to my countrymen ; now they, nobly come forward to save aji old servant from being turned out of doors like' a dog," he wrote in justification of has acceptance. John Quincy Adams was another who faced financial difficulty when going out of office. Nothing can be saved, for the Presidential salary is only 50,000d0l a. year. France pays her executive 125,000d01, with a further allowance of 60,000d0l for the expenses of travel and entertainment, and a generous allowance for the refurnishing of the official residence. No move has yet been made to adopt Mr Grover Cleveland's suggestion. Shortly after Judge Landis had imposed h,i« famous fine upon the Standard Oil Company, James A. Moffett, president of the corporation, issued a statement in pamphlet form contending that his organisation was being persecuted by the Government, that it had never knowingly violated any laws, and that its so-called illegal acts were " common practices." Judge Landis immediately directed the Federal Grand Jury to make an investigation, and the Secretary of Commerce and Labour ordered an official report upon the matter. This has now been turned in, and another blow has been struck at the Standard Oil Company. Mr Moffett's allegations are called "evasions," and his acts are characterised as " links in a chain of illegal practices." "Most emphatically," so ends the report of the Grand Jury, "the imposition of the great fine was entirely justifiable."'