VISIT TO U.S.A.

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 420, 3 January 1933, Page 6

VISIT TO U.S.A.

NEW ZEALANDER DESCRIBES IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA END OF PROHIBITION Returning to Christchurch after a four , months' business trip through the United States, Mr. N. H. Barlow told a Sun reporter about a riumber of things that. had interested him while he was away. His main concern while he was in America was, of course, his own business, tobacco, but he found time to notice other things too. He talked of the death sentence- of Frohibition, of flying in the States, of Japanese dumping, of tobacco, of war debts, and of the amazing hospitality of American people to visitors. He spent a week in North Carolina, at the tobacco saies, wliere the price of leaf was up, and things were looking- good for the growers. He visited Virginia, TeXas, Canada, New York, Chieago, Kentucky — some of them several times — and various other States and cities. Much of the way he flew, and he gained a great admiration for the way in which the American air serviees, still'well patronised in spite of the depression, were functioning. One day's flying of 115 hours saw 1150 miles of country pass under the 'plane; and that time included eight stops for refuelling. Two hops of 110 miles were done in 40 minutes each, in a three-engined Ford, flying at 165 miles an hour. The radio service to the 'planes is excellent. He sat with the, pilot listening to the ground stations reporting- the weather ahead, and to other 'planes reporting their positions. On one night flight the pilot lost sight of the beacons because of fog, and lost his way. He cruised round for an hour or so, and landed at Eodeo — a settlement that consisted of a shed. "Not a house, not a tree in sight," said Mr. Barlow. There they waited for dawn, when they had to put 100 gallons of fuel into the 'plane from five-gallon tins. and erank +1-1 o

jnotors. "The hardest day's work I've ever done," commented the passenger. "There is a general feeling of rej lief that the end of Prohibition is in I sight," said Mr. Barlow. "The, average American feels that it's been a farce for so long that it's a disgrace to the country. Speakeasies are flourishing — you get the best meals in Ne.w York speakeasies, and they're beautifully appointed places. It's much more fashionable to go to a speakeasy for dinner than to an hotel and you get a better dinner*. You don't have to drink if you don't want to. "The Americans think there, '11 be a big decrease in crime as soon as beer is legalised. And the money won't be gomg to racketeers." "The Japanese are dumping stuff into the States as hard as they can ship it, and at ridiculous priees. I saw a. tennis racket — rather a cheaplooking one, but we couldn't put the gut in it under 25/-; and it cost 99 cents. The Japanese know that this will be, stopped as- soon as the new Adminitration begins, so they're going for their lives now. That is one of the reasons why the four months between the election of a new President and his inauguration is a bad thing. I think they will alter that." "I don't think the Americans will ever cancel wai* debts — no Congress would he game to do it. A lot of Americans wish the debtor countries would simply say they wouldn't pay, and fix things up that way. "They know what a bad thing the debts are, but Congress daren't cancel, because the farmers would immediately say, 'You've let these

people off what they owe, why not let us off our debts.' "The average American citizen is r. very reasonable person, and while I don't lrold any brief for America I don't think the criticism that has been made of her is justified. "This talk about Shylock is quite unfair. The Americans have always been reasonable and just in their debt settlements." Americans were just beginning to realise, Mr. Barlow said, that their standards of a few years ago had been falsely high. Tremendous sums had been made, and some, of the people who made the money had "spent it like drunlcen sailors." When they had first returned to a more normal state they had thought they were ruined, but now they were beginning to realise that it wasn't so bad. One man he had known at the war told Mr. Barlow he had made 7,000,000 dollars since then. Another man who had come back from the war with 2000 dollars had built up, by stock market speculation, a fortune of 750,000 dollars. But he hadn't known when to sell, and now he was back working in the leaf department of a tobacco factory, living on his wages.