LIFE IN AMERICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 248, 13 October 1908, Page 4

LIFE IN AMERICA.

A NEW ZiOALANDEI! liN THE STATES. HAS SOJIE HARD EXPERIENCES. REVOLVERS, LYNCH LAW. AND STRIKES. TIIE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE. Mr Arthur L. Kuff, of Bunm+liorpe, who has just returned form a. sojourn iu the United States of America, gave to a l-'eildiiij Star representative au iuijertisiing review regarding the life iu that progressive country. Jlr Hull' is a painter, having learnt his trade with .Mr G. J. Harford, of Fcilding, and consequently when lie arrived in San Francisco iu May, 11)07, he set about looking for a job with the brush, lie was one of the fortunate ones, ootaining work at once at 5 dollars (£1) a day; but he found that there were linlidreds of men out of work: He had sonic rather hair-raising experiences in Sail Francisco. Strikes were numerous there. As Mr lluff pointed out, they don't .believe in arbitration in America —they prefer to strike. "The paintiers." lie said, ''who had a lilir-m, were getting 4'/. dollars a day, ami struck lor 5 dolars. After holding out for a lew weeks, they got the increase demanded. Then tdiey worked tor a month or two, and struck for li dollars! Me Ruff, wko was in the Painters' Union, pointed out to its members the benefit of anbitration, but they would not listen to it. The street car strike in San Francisco afforded some exciting incidents. Mr Kulf saw revolver shots fired imd bricks Hying about the ears of the non-union car-drivers. It was no common thing to see a man drive a waggon across the tram line

and wreck a car. Then a riot would follow.

Building* 'from ill toon to twenty storeys high wero being erected in the principal business parts of the city. Steel frames, filled in with brick, were used, and the main thing was quick erection. "Anything to get it. nip," is the builder's moito. it is nothing unusual to see a building collapse about tihe workmen. While in San Francisco, Mr Huff also experienced employment as nightwatchman for a large hotel. The pay was good ( £1 per day), but the work was risky. He had to prowl about at n%ht with a revolver. Ho relates one adventure with a burglar. Shots were exchanged, each man ucrag hit, but the burglar got the severe wound—and ho was taken a-way in an ambulance. From this job tins New Zcalandcr was drafted into the municipal special police. In this work, also he carried a revolver and a big club; and while on night duty took the precaution of always walking in the centre of the streets, lie was tllo.i oil'ered a job by a certain notorious candidate for the mayoralty of the city, but the conditions were that Ire should be piepared to commit perjury straight away. 80 he declined that way to wealth. The work likewise entailed the shadowing of men aiid the catching of votes iiy iiook or ■by crook. "The American," said Air liufl'. "has a passion for shooting. When 1 was in the special police, my orders were to shout on sight anyone 1 saw on the premises I was watching. I had to be careful not to let the other lellow shoot first. All through tliei States, I found life cheap. AVhile, X was in Xcvada, in a mining township, a man was shot dead one night for alleged cheating at cards. It was then found that lie had not been cheating, and his friends took the murderer outside and lynched him.'' "Holding up'' was a fVeipient occurrence in Sail Francisco, and the New Zealander experienced this once, being robbed of 75 cents. All foreigners are hated by the Americans, "Foreigners" • includes

.Britishers, as well as Chine-e. .Japanese. and others not born in the country. The negroes were very badly treated. It was a common practice to see a shot down in the street simply because lie had a black skin. Chinese were also roughly handled. The Japanese. 011 the other hand, were respected, bci-aiiM' they showed tight when molested. At the time of the persecution of the Japanese in Sail Francisco, their registry olliees were wrecked, and they were hunted from the schools; but vorv soon the Americans made amends

allowing Japanese to go to the schools and paving for the damage done to their buildings. Mr Rulf saw .a great deal of (lie unemployed trouble in the States, lie travelled from Texas to Chicago, and iii every large city there were triou sands of men out of work-. He was in Chicago in January of this year, and in that city alone there were 00.-

000 men out of work; wllile in New York, there were 120,000 men waiting about the streets looking for work. 'This occasioned a great increase of

crime. There was always a rush for the newspapers in tile mornings, and free fights to got till! papers first, in order to lind out what, jobs were advertised. '"Wlini is my opinion of the American?" he repeated to a question put ■by the interviewer. "The Americans have all swelled heads. They imagine fliat theirs is the only country in the world. The. papers take up much of their space praising up their own country, -and give no space, to other countries. They are hard to get on with,

because they know too much. Tllev are all after file dollar, and they don't valuv it wlien tliey get it. Tliev hate Englishmen, because they are foreigner* and beeau.se they will not submit to being bullied. The New Zealand Government had spent thousands of pounds entertaining the American fleet, il>ut they should have expended it in bringing home the New Zealanders who are stranded in the States." Reverting to tliv.se New Zealanders. Mr Ruff *aid he had found in Fan Francisco the British Consul busily engaged in getting New Zealanders passages on New Zea iandwhouiid vessels.

Mr RuH' never forgot he was a Now Zeis lander. although lie found that the average American had never heard of the dominion. Consequently., he was very much incensed to hear his own land spoken of contemptuously. Dr. Btarr Jordan, head of a great Cg'ifornian University, who visited New Zealand, recently, publicly ridiculed New Zealand when he got back to San Erancisco. paying it. was the slowest place he had seen, that it was al-wa.v behind the times, and the University professors there were hardly entitled to ne called professors, so ignorant- were they. Mr. Ruff replied to these criiieisius of Dr. .lonian bv medium of a letter in a city paper in which he refuted the allegations, and challenged the professor to prove them, lie aho wrote a letter to Or, .lonian directly challenging liim to prove his allegation* against New Zealand; but. the doctor did not- deign to reply to the letter. Mr Ruff considers thai he gained so much experience while in tile States that he could hold his own against the native horn, and he intends to again visit America within the next twelve months. |