Affairs in America.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7716, 19 January 1905, Page 3

Affairs in America.

> BUSINESS AND POLITICS NOTES FROM THE GREAT' REPUBLIC. NEW YORK, Dec. 17. Winter weather and preparations for Christmas characterise the aspect of New York. Some four or Ave inches of snow which fell on Monday and Tuesday, is still with us, except where it has been cleared from the city streets by shovelling, cartingi and melting. 'Phis means that there is fair sleighing in the parks and suburbs, which is taken advantage of by those who can afford the leisure and expense, and by many who cannot afford either. The automobilists still cling to their machines, but look out of place amid the throng of horses and the merry jingle of the bells. Ten thousand labourers applied to the sitrcet cleaning department for work in shovelling off the snow the day after the storm, which shows that there is an aibundanoe of brawn ready to earn l.SOdol. per day or less at this joyous season of the year in the American metropolis. The retail shopping streets are thronged with sight-seers and purchasers. All of the department stores employ extra hands at the sale counters during the Christmas season, and use them to retain the best and weed out the poorest of their old force at. the end of the year. .One of these establishments is employing inorc than 700 delivery waggons, and'"at least a dozen others have more than 200 each. Taken all in all there is certainly more poverty as well as more wealth in the city than last Christinas. Ini many cespects the poverty ~ is the result of ignorance, and in- ~ competence, for every year sees the competition in all lines of city life so keen as to demand the highest degree of skill, of diplomacy, and of solid hard worß in all departments of commerce. TRADE WITH THE EAST. \\ Business on the whole may be said to be fairly good with an encouraging outlook for the new year. Although stock's are in some respects " unsettled, owing to speculation, the export trade in all staples is good, and manufacturing in most lines is active. Even the shipping business has within the last few weeks picked up very materially, and vessels are leaving port for the most part with full cargoes at very much more satisfactory rates than was the case I a few months ago. The Japjm and . China'trades are particularly on the ' [ boom, and the steamers direct cannot take all the cargo that offers. The visit to this country of Prince Fushinii, of Japan, who left this week on his return, elicited continuously warm expressions of cordial ssteem and respect for his country wd a desire for closer commercial relations, which the Japanese evidently reciprocate. The congressional merchant marine commission, appointed to inves- I tigate conditions and report recommendations for vessel-building and vessel-owing encouragement, have prepared a bill in which it is sought to extend the subsidy policy to some degree without doing anything to practically lantagonisc other maritime nations or excite their discrimination. The principle of the measure is to increase tonnage taxes on all vessels and apply the excess to subsidy disbursements. No important tariff changes are expected. CANADA. The advent of Earl Grey as Go-vernor-General of Canada has been hailed with satisfaction, and there is no doubt that he and his family . will be popular. He was sworn iii * with full ceremony at Halifax immediately upon landing, in the presence of all the important functionaries of the Dominion and the province, and after a day or two of receptions, proceeded to Ottawa. As a result of tile clean sweep made by the Literals in Nova Scotia in the recent general elections, the Conservatives made charges of bribery and corruption against eight of the members elect, but this had no effect upon the by-elections resulting ( through the former members of the I provincial parliament being elected to the Dominion House, for in every case the Liberals were elected. The protests against the return of members are on this occasion said to be fewer than usual, and none is likely to lead to the declaring va- ' ant of any seat. One of the most interesting' developments i* Quebec province in re- i Cent years has been the increase of population, said to be due to the law granting 100 acres of land to i any family consisting of twelve children or more. The official record shows t'hu't there are now 3400 fam,lies in the province that have attained the requirements. One list of 40 families shows a total of 078 living children, of whom 355 arc boys and 323 girls, the largest families (three of them) comprising 23 children each, and the smallest 15. Large families do not all belong'to Quebec, however, nor are they essentially Canadian French, for' some of the Acadian French from Nova Scotia are equally prolific. A gentleman named Douccite, now living in' Massachusetts at the age of 90, had his photograph taken the other day in company witli his daughlier uged 08, her daughter aged -10, her daughter aged 18, ami her daughter aged one, five generations gether. The old gentleman is still hearty, has 11 children living, 09 grand-children, 136 great-grundchil-ren, and three great-great-grandchil-dren. TRANSPORT IN NEW YORK. The public problem in transportation in New York is as to where 100,000 extra people come from who patronise the sub-way. It is stated that the elevated and surface lines have lost only 150,000 passengers per day since the new subway has been opened, while the swljway carries 250,000. This is one of the extraordinary things in connection with the American metropolis, however, that no matter where one I starts a public conveyance to run from or to he will speedily "have it filled with passengers. There is more money in transportation and in the providing of food and lodgings for people in this country loday than in almost any other line. While the people are enjoying the advantages of the subway, however, the health critics have conic down with the statement that the atmosphere is unwholesome amf that the road-bed is both unsafe and insanitary, owing to its being macadamised. There is a demand that the whole system be rooted up for the laying of another foundation, which would be characteristic of the Tammany style of making jobs for city favourites, but whether it will be perpetrated or not remains to be seen. The air of the subway is claimed to be Impure because there is wot sufficient means

of ventilatioa, and the cars arc never taken out of it. In this respect it is 'different from the Boston subway in which the surface cars, both electric trams and elevated, go in and out of the underground and all are for the greater part of each trip exposed to open air and sunshine. Certainly something will be done to improve the ventilation in the New [York tunnel before long-, for that is the most important apparent defect of the system. THADE UNIONISM. I

The country seems at present free from conspicuous labour troubles, and in this connection it may be of interest to quote something from the address of Dr. C. W. Eliot, ■President of Harvard University, delivered from the Schoolmasters' Association of New York on the subject of " Education in a Republic." Among other things Dr. Eliot said : "One of the chief defects of the trades union system as it exists to-day is the doctrine of Hie limitation of output which is held by so many of the exponents of the system and rigorously enforced. I happened to observe recently that a certain bit of masonry work was being constructed where bricks and halfbricks were being put in to fill up a space, but not with the precision which is required where a regular wall is being built. The masons could just as well as not have laid two bricks at a time, for it was not work which required the u»o of a trowel, but they nevertheless kept a trowel in their hands all the time, and they seemed even to have a special liking for halfbricks. It was simply the result of • systematic effort to limit the amount of work which each man should turn out. That appears to be the deliberate policy of many of the trades unions to-day. That is the really hideous feature of trades unionism. It is absolutely rotting to the'fibre of a man. I believe in the expediency of trades unions, but I know of nothing more fatal to their real success than these schemes to limit the output. What I have said applies equally to powerful trusts." Dr. Eliott also took occasion to remark in another connection that the English Government had settled the negro problem in the Island of Bermuda seventy years ago, while the United States had not yet solved. He believed that education would be a factor in the solution.