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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 204, 5 February 1915, Page 4

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THE BEST BRAND OF PATRIOTISM. The best brand of patriotism, like charity, begins at home. Writing on this phase of the question, "Industrial Tramp" (Auckland Star) says that "a great wave of sentiment is sweeping over every British community, and, even in New Zealand, local bodies that used to let contracts for supplies of all kinds from the lowest tenderers, irrespective of nationality, are passing resolutions in favor of machinery and articles of British manufacture only. I would like every British worker to act on the same lines, and refuse to take any article that is not of British manufacture. It

' may be a trifle dearer in initial cost for a time, but there is more value to be obtained in the long run. British and Colonial manufacturers will also have to do their share in encouraging this ' proper sentiment by turning out a better article than heretofore, while the cheaper trade, hitherto catered for by the Germans and foreigners, will have to be secured. Last week a wharf laborer showed mo a pair of boots, made I in Auckland, that he had worn only a few days, that were absolutely useless [ as a working boot. He paid the sum of J 13s 6d for what should have been a fair ' working boot, but when the rain came on last week the edges of tho soles looked as if they bad been made of sheepskin unshorn. With good materials, and good workmanship, the local article haa nothing to fear, and New Zealand will lose the habit of asking for English or American boots, and our local industries will benefit considerably." OUR FORTUNATE LOT. Mr. M. Ziman, well-known for many years past in connection with mining matters, has returned to New Zealand after an extended absence, states the Post. "In London," he said, "you see nothing but crepe and khaki, khaki and crepe, wherever you go. The people of this country can't appreciate in the slightest the condition of things that oxists at tho other end of the world. Almost everyone has a near or distant relation at the front, or in hospital, or in the cemetery, or 'missing,' and private letters describe the condition of affairs in the fighting line as something awful. I On the Continent," Mr. Ziman continued, "lhing3 are worse by far. Belgium and France are bad enough, but in Poland the condition of things is far worse. Tens of thousands havo left Belgium, but iu Poland there is no place lor them to go; the supplies of food are practically exhausted; those who have not died by the bullet are dying, or havo died, of starvation. Where I was born (Russian Poland) the country is practically devoid of humanity; those who are left alive are starving, and in some parts the ground is covered oy 20ft of snow. Letters from Berlin, Hamburg and other places received in Lon- | don stated that there is scarcely a \ family there that is out in mourning.One j letter contained the particulars of a very sad case. A widow had five sons, all of whom went to the front, Four I were killed, and she wrote to the Kai- : ser beseeching him to release the fifth ! from service. The Kaiser issued the 1 necessary order, but before it reached I the authorities her last son was killed. [ This is tho brightest spot on the world's surface that I have seen," said Mr. Ziman in conclusion. "I am astonished to find that there is one part of the world where people are living their ordinary lives, carrying on their ordinary business, and evidently enjoying a considerable degree of prosperity." GERMANS IN AMERICA. Tho attitude of the United States in the recent war appears to be influenced to a large extent by the German element, but how large that element is is perhaps scarcely appreciated by casual readers of the cablegrams. The Literary Digest in a recent issue gives the following analysis of the United States foreign population:—Germany, 5,250,000; Ireland, 4,500,000; Canada, 2,750,000; Russia, 2,500,000; England, 2,250,000; Italy, 2,100,000; Austria, 2,000,000; Sweden, 1,300,000; Norway, 1,000, 000; Hungary, 700,000; Scotland, 650,000; Denmark, 400,000. German stock, therefore, very largely predominates over that of any other single nation. There are in all about twelve million people of German and Austrian stock in the States, about one-seventh of the entire population, and ten million British, Irish and Canadian. These figures certainly provide food for thought read in conjunction with President Wilson's cordial birthday telegram to the Kaiser.