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AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 Hon. h. y. braddon 
 
 Member of the Legislative Council of Neiv South IVales ; sometime 
 
 Co)innissioner for the Comniotniealth of Australia to 
 
 the United States of America 
 
 SYDNEY 
 
 ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD. 
 
 f ublis^ew to t^e Inibexsitg 
 
 1920 
 

 Printed by W. C. Penfold & Co. Ltd., SS Pitt Street, Sydney 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Mr. Braddon has honoured me with an invitation 
 to write a foreword to his "American Impressions." 
 So far as I am aware, I have two qualifications, 
 and two only, for the slight task imposed upon me. 
 One is that I have visited the United States 
 several times. The other is that I am imbued with 
 the earnest hope that, with the lapse of time, 
 relations between the two great English-speaking 
 nationalities will become more and more friendly, 
 and that their interests will come to be regarded as 
 more and more common interests. 
 
 Before visiting the United States the first time 
 I was in the habit of saying that I had no desire 
 to visit America. When leaving it the first time 
 my feeling was that I would rather go there a 
 second time than anywhere else a first time. Chiefly 
 responsible for that feeling was the view that from 
 many, and especially the utilitarian, standpoints, 
 America was, to an Australian, the most interest- 
 ing country in the world. In many respects the 
 United States presented themselves to me as an 
 Australia many time multiplied, abounding with 
 
6 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 valuable lessons to every Australian interested in 
 the development of his own country. Like Aus- 
 tralia, it is a country of magnificent distances, and, 
 despite its amazing industrial achievements, it may 
 be regarded, in comparison with the great countries 
 of Europe, as still only on the threshold of its 
 development. 
 
 As Mr. Braddon makes sufficiently evident in his 
 "Impressions," America has her share of troubles 
 to face. The greatest and most interesting of 
 these undoubtedly arises from the gathering 
 together in such large numbers, and under one 
 flag, of so many nationalities. It was this 
 characteristic, in the possession of which the 
 United States is, of course, sui generis, that led one 
 of her own great men to describe her as "an inter- 
 national boarding house." More than upon any- 
 thing else, perhaps, America's future depends 
 upon the results that will flow from the melting 
 down of all her white nationalities into a common 
 stock. At the present they are far from that. In 
 probably every important department of American 
 life and work, people of British stock are the 
 dominating force; but to get America into true 
 perspective, especially in her relations to foreign 
 affairs, one must never overlook the fact that she 
 lacks in an essential degree the homogeneity of 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 such countries as Great Britain, France, Italy, 
 Japan, and Germany, and that foreign affairs in the 
 United States must be continually discussed by 
 large sections of her population, not from an ex- 
 clusively American standpoint, but from the stand- 
 point of racial origin. 
 
 In criticising America's attitude at different 
 times towards the great war many people entirely 
 overlooked this point — entirely failed to make 
 allowance for the fact that it was practically im- 
 possible to find a point of view common to all the 
 numerically important sections of the community. 
 We in Australia experienced difficulties serious 
 enough. But what would our difficulties have been 
 had Australia been an independent power, com- 
 prising in the same ratios nationalities as diverse 
 in interest and sympathy as those of the United 
 States? America's interest in the issue of the war 
 was, no doubt, very great. But at no stage, in 
 my judgment, was it so vital and direct as that of 
 Great Britain and her dependencies. The British 
 communities are, in the main, racially homo- 
 geneous. The population of America is, of all the 
 great powers, the most heterogeneous. And yet, 
 with almost complete unanimity, both houses of 
 the United States Congress voted in favour of 
 conscription. That fact presents itself to my 
 
8 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 mind as one of the most remarkable happenings 
 in history, and in my judgment argues the opera- 
 tion of a remarkably powerful moral influence 
 throughout the American nation. Bearing in mind 
 that amongst the people of no other great Power 
 did there exist the same sectional differences and 
 conflict of racial interest, I feel that we must con- 
 cede that the statesmen who were responsible for 
 America's casting her weight into the scale in 
 favour of the Allies accomplished a task of peculiar 
 difficulty and magnitude, the successful perform- 
 ance of which has placed the people of the 
 countries with which she allied herself under a 
 debt of gratitude which they may never be able to 
 discharge. 
 
 I have read with the greatest pleasure and 
 interest Mr. Braddon's impressions of America, 
 her institutions, and her people. They furnish a 
 picture both accurate and interesting, and must 
 contribute to a much better understanding amongst 
 Australians of many phases of life and thought in 
 the United States. Reading between the lines one 
 is irresistibly led to the conclusion that, just as in! 
 this booklet Mr. Braddon is helping his fellow Aus- 
 tralians to understand America, so, during his all 
 too short sojourn in the United States, Mr. Brad- 
 don must have done an immense deal to assist 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 Americans to understand Australia. Throughout 
 his long and valuable record of public service, it is 
 probable that Mr. Braddon has done nothing more 
 valuable than the work he did as Australian Com- 
 missioner in the United States. Certain it is that 
 his booklet leaves the very distinct impression that 
 no work he has done has yielded him more personal 
 interest and enjoyment. 
 
 James Ash ton. 
 Sydney, 
 
 2nd December, ipiQ. 
 
SECTION I 
 Characteristics and Resources 
 
 In days now regrettably distant we occasion- 
 ally played a certain parlour game. The guests 
 were taken one by one into a small room, where 
 they found a covered tray. The cover was 
 whisked away; the victim was given exactly 
 sixty seconds to study a multitude of trifles 
 collected haphazard on the tray. Then he or she 
 wrote out a list, as far as recollection would serve, 
 and the longest list of correctly named articles won 
 the prize. Writing one's impressions of a great 
 country, after so short a stay as nine months, rather 
 resembles that game. The recorder realizes how 
 limited were his opportunities for acquiring really 
 sound knowledge, and is painfully aware that in 
 the final enumeration he possibly overlooked more 
 than he set down. At the same time he has seen 
 a few things very clearly, and about these he 
 writes with the courage that often accompanies 
 comparative ignorance. As Winwood Reade has 
 it: "Doubt is the offspring of knowledge; the 
 
12 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 savage never doubts at all." The transient visitor 
 to the States is not hampered by a knowledge of 
 minute conflicting details, such as might puzzle his 
 pen if he had stayed nine years instead of only 
 nine months. 
 
 The following jottings do not pretend to be 
 comprehensive. Only a few outstanding aspects 
 are treated, such as are likely to interest Aus- 
 tralians. I had exceptional opportunities for 
 gathering impressions ; for I met many Americans, 
 and they were as a rule good enough to speak with 
 great and illuminative frankness. 
 
 One note by way of preliminary. No modern 
 nation monopolizes the virtues, or is exempt from 
 a percentage of undesirables. No doubt that per- 
 centage exists in the United States throughout the 
 various grades of the social structure, and is as 
 large as in any other branch of the English-speaking 
 peoples. That almost amounts to a truism. I 
 only mention it because I personally met very few 
 "rotters" in the States, though I encountered great 
 numbers of people. Quite possibly I met folk who, 
 taken as an aggregate, were rather above the 
 average; that does not much concern me. All I 
 am concerned with is to set down as honestly and 
 faithfully as I can the impressions gathered during 
 a brief but entirely wonderful stay in the United 
 States of America. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 13 
 
 If these notes seem very appreciative, I can only 
 say they honestly reflect what I saw and ex- 
 perienced. I was not there to seek blemishes with 
 a microscope; neither did I close my eyes when 
 anything of the kind showed itself. The unvary- 
 ing kindnesses and hospitalities which my wife and 
 I enjoyed no doubt induced us to be friendly 
 critics; but I do not think they clouded our judg- 
 ment. Surely a sense of friendliness will have 
 enabled us to understand America far better than 
 we should have done if we had gone there in a 
 spirit of hypercriticism or veiled hostility. We 
 came away with a very cordial feeling for our 
 many friends in the States. 
 
 Some estimable people are apt to -entertain a 
 rather poor opinion of other nations — almost as 
 though this were a duty arising out of patriotic 
 appreciation of their own. The flimsiest evidence 
 in depreciation of foreigners readily impresses 
 them ; while proofs strong as Holy Writ in com- 
 mendation would leave them unimpressed. Such 
 people speak of the United States as if it were a 
 country v/here 
 
 1. Blatant millionaires abound. 
 
 2. Trusts grind the faces of the poor. 
 
 3. Architecture expresses itself in skyscrapers 
 
 which touch the stars. 
 
 4. Municipal life is degraded. 
 
14 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 5. Divorces are rapid and frequent. 
 
 6. The daily papers are violently sensational. 
 
 7. Lynching of blacks is a recognized pastime. 
 That is a fairly complete catalogue of the crimes 
 
 usually and carelessly imputed. Let us examine 
 them briefly. First let it be said that there are 
 elements, tiny fractions, of truth here and there; 
 but to exaggerate these particles into masses in- 
 volves the aspect of essential untruth almost as 
 much as if there were no truth there at all. As 
 someone aptly expressed it : such particles amount 
 to "that sediment of truth which promotes error." 
 
 1. The typical successful American business 
 man is no more a coarse-mannered vulgarian, 
 scattering dollars as a Catherine wheel scatters 
 sparks, than the typical Englishman is a blase 
 monocled idiot who calls everything "rippin','' and 
 ultimately marries a chorus girl. 
 
 2. Several Trusts in the States are at this 
 moment on trial, for combinations in alleged 
 restraint of trade. Laws have been passed with 
 the design of preventing these undesirable 
 practices ; but such laws, as other countries are 
 aware, are not easy to administer. I touch on 
 Trusts again a little later in these notes. 
 
 3. The skyscrapers are mostly in the very con- 
 gested area of "down town" New York — say the 
 last half-mile of the Manhattan peninsula. In 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 15 
 
 that section several structures rise to over thirty 
 stories; while the Woolworth Building soars 
 majestically to some fifty-five stories. Rapid lifts 
 diminish the time factor to a trifle; no one resents 
 climbing into the skies to visit another; the loftier 
 stories place the tenant in a delightfully clear 
 atmosphere, above the smuts and dust and noise of 
 the lower levels. The Woolworth is, notwith- 
 standing its enormous height, a beautiful structure. 
 It stands as a fine perpetual monument to the pluck 
 and industry of the man who made a success of 
 the "5-cent store." The Equitable Building, No. 
 120 Broadway, is said to house daily, for working 
 purposes — i.e., apart from visitors — about 15,000 
 people. 
 
 4. Municipal life — in New York, perhaps, 
 peculiarly — has its bad features, usually envisaged 
 under the title of Tammany; but even Tammany 
 has good phases not always so well known. 
 Periodically a movement of protest cleanses the 
 civic atmosphere; and at any time Tammany in- 
 cludes certain useful Friendly Society machinery, 
 while making itself distinctly helpful to the be- 
 wildered immigrant. Some quite good men belong 
 to the organization, and do not share in any way 
 in its traditional iniquities. The impetus Roose- 
 velt gave to the police, when over twenty years ago 
 he created amongst them both prestige and esprit- 
 
i6 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 de-corps, is said still to survive; and I fancy I can 
 claim personal experience in proof. 
 
 A policeman came to the office one afternoon, 
 w^ith a message from a young Australian soldier 
 
 then in the prison, who had to answer a 
 
 charge of theft at 9.30 a.m. the next day. Half- 
 an-hour before that time I visited the prison, and 
 asked to be allowed to see the prisoner. I 
 mentioned that I represented Australia, but that I 
 was not a legal man. I passed at least four police- 
 men, all courteously ready to be helpful, but all a 
 little puzzled, because only lawyers were allowed 
 down there. However, they kindly passed me 
 along, and I had a talk with the prisoner. It was 
 merely a case of an injudicious drink or two, and 
 an inebriate frolic; but the point was to convince 
 the court. I reached the court in time to take a 
 place at the legal table as the Australian lad was 
 brought in. The complainant was there, with his 
 lawyer; and, after I had again explained my 
 position, and the evidence had been taken, I was 
 permitted by the Judge to address the Court. No 
 one objected; and presently the Judge discharged 
 the prisoner. Now comes the pleasant side of the 
 recital. I asked the complainant, an elderly man, 
 to allow me the privilege of compensating him for 
 lost time and legal fees; but not a bit of it. He 
 gave the lad some fatherly advice about the evils 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 17 
 
 of over- frequent birthdays, and added that he was 
 very pleased the case had ended as it did. I next 
 endeavoured to give the arresting policeman a 
 little present for his kindly help in calling at my 
 office, but he too declined to accept anything, and 
 added his congratulations on the youngster's 
 discharge. 
 
 5. Divorces are fairly frequent, and in certain 
 States the procedure is rapid. Yet I would hesi- 
 tate to affirm that the institution of marriage 
 amongst educated Americans is on the whole less 
 respected than, for instance, in England. There is 
 a collateral question of serious import for the 
 States — I mean the very low birth-rate among 
 the true-blue American society people; whereas 
 that of the foreign immigrant is, I understand, 
 fairly high. Where is a two-sided movement of 
 that kind likely to lead America — say fifty years 
 hence ? 
 
 6-^. About the daily papers I will write 
 presently; and anyone who feels inclined to con- 
 demn the occasional lynchings of blacks should, in 
 fairness, first study the "colour" problem in the 
 States — a feature fortunately non-existent in Aus- 
 tralia. 
 
 No one can stay many weeks in the States with- 
 out appreciating the intense patriotism of the 
 people. They are as spiritual and intellectual as 
 
i8 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 the best elsewhere ; more natural and ready to show 
 enthusiasm than most ; generous in their estimate 
 of others, and wonderfully hospitable if they like 
 you. There is nothing blase or decadent about the 
 typical American. As the late Mr. J. L. Griffith 
 expressed it — (he was their Consul-General in 
 London) — the American likes to be liked, and him- 
 self readily expresses his liking; whereas the 
 Englishman thinks it rather doubtful "form" to tell 
 you frankly that he likes you. 
 
 No modern nation can afford to be judged, or 
 should in fairness be judged, in the light of im- 
 pressions made by its globe-trotters or casual hotel 
 occupants. The private home life of its people 
 must be investigated before any fair pronounce- 
 ment can be made. A feature which greatly struck 
 my wife and myself was the refined courtesy we 
 found in American home circles. We visited all 
 kinds of homes — rich and humble — but in all alike 
 the conversation was always skilfully directed to 
 include and interest the visitor. Surely this is a 
 very true type of that courtesy to which Dr. Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes referred as "Surface Christianity." 
 Elsewhere -I have encountered another convention 
 . — that it was rather poor form to embarrass the 
 visitor by "entertaining" him. The American 
 hostess runs no risk of embarrassing her guests; 
 she is far too skilled for that. The women study 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 19 
 
 the art of being gracious, lively and charming. 
 They are, as a rule, well read and travelled — often 
 more so than their husbands, who usually carry 
 heavy responsibilities and have little leisure for 
 touring. 
 
 Americans intensely admire achievement or 
 success, but not unworthy success. They appreci- 
 ate wealth, but only wealth wisely and generously 
 used. Many are keen to amass means — especially 
 the younger men with careers still in the making ; 
 but even these seem as a rule more intent to 
 become "somebodies" in the community, than 
 merely to acquire cash : and nearly all are generous 
 with money. They honour culture and character; 
 if you have these qualities, they do not care a straw 
 whether your bank account is colossal or tiny. As 
 Philip Gibbs found on a recent visit, they are keen, 
 vital and intense. On the eve of his departure he 
 wrote about that "generous emotion which he 
 found stirred so easily among the people of the 
 United States." Elsewhere he said : "So far from 
 being hard and material, they seem to me the 
 greatest idealists in the world at the present time, 
 and to be emotional almost to the point of senti- 
 mentality. In any public gathering, at any private 
 table, the idealist takes all the applause, finds it 
 easy to put a spell over his company, and can ex- 
 press his own sentiment with a simplicity and 
 
20 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 emotion which would cause a smile or an ironical 
 shrug in the sophisticated circles of England or 
 France." 
 
 The American plays baseball, and cannot 
 imagine himself playing cricket; with the English- 
 man it is the reverse. Cricket has a certain solemn, 
 conservative, deliberate ceremonial, while baseball 
 is impulsive, rapid and spontaneous. These 
 national pastimes in a curious way typify certain 
 emotional differences between the two nations. 
 
 One feature Australia enjoys in common with 
 America — elbow room. We have less than two 
 persons to the square mile; America, say thirty- 
 five; and the United Kingdom about 625. As a 
 "nation" Australia is very juvenile; so is America. 
 So it comes about that the American instinctively 
 feels a sort of elder-brother sentiment towards the 
 Australian, but never quite gets out of his mind 
 the notion that the Englishman may possibly be 
 rather looking down on him as a comparative new- 
 comer amongst the nations. 
 
 As in Australia, so in America there are no 
 hereditary aristocrats, and there is little regard for 
 the moneyed idler. Most of the wealthy men re- 
 main in active business, because they like to feel 
 themselves still well in the current of affairs. 
 With the Americans education is, up to the popular 
 standard, free and compulsory — as with us. They 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 21 
 
 have the same fresh vigorous outlook that' we have, 
 and the word "conservatism" is not in their 
 business lexicon. Comparing them with England, 
 Philip Gibbs wrote: "Not so fettered by old 
 traditions of thought, nor by old superstitions of 
 class and caste. Every man has, consciously or 
 unconsciously, a sense of opportunity which does 
 not belong to our people, and that opportunity is 
 there." Fortunately for Australia, it is also here 
 — for any man who honestly strives. 
 
 For the Englishman his home is his castle, and 
 his privacy is sacrosanct. He unconsciously gives 
 expression to this fetish by walls or fences round 
 his garden, to keep it unprofaned by stranger eyes. 
 While expecting others to respect his privacy, he 
 pays invariable respect to theirs. He may feel 
 intense pride in his people or their performances ; 
 but he has had it drilled into him from boyhood 
 that it is bad "form" to express that pride. All 
 this explains a certain shy aloofness and almost 
 stolid unboastfulness ; attitudes which the stranger 
 is very apt to construe as stiffness or assumed 
 superiority. Even Australians are apt to mis- 
 understand this mannerism — though deep down 
 they may know well enough what a really good 
 fellow is often hidden behind that veil of shyness. 
 For the American it is not so easy to understand 
 the reserve of some Englishmen — especially at the 
 
22 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 outset of an acquaintanceship. The American is 
 not hampered by over-rigid traditions of "form." 
 He is always ready cordially to reciprocate friendly 
 advances, whether casually encountered or under 
 the ceremonial of introduction. If he honestly 
 considers his people to have done well or ill, he 
 does not hesitate to praise or blame; at the same 
 time I hardly remember one instance of a fairly 
 cultivated American talking boastfully in such a 
 way as to be disagreeable. His home is his place 
 of entertainment, where he enjoys meeting friends ; 
 and he readily joins in a scheme under which front 
 gardens are handled from a community rather than 
 a private point of view. 
 
 Contrast one of England's beautiful villages in 
 summer time with a selected American residential 
 village. The English village appeals to our sense 
 of the historic picturesque with its quaint little 
 shops and cottages, and its old thatched roofs; its 
 narrow, winding road, walled on both sides, with 
 little gateways giving peeps into tiny flower gar- 
 dens bright with blooms, where grand old trees 
 spread overhead. We stand to gaze at the grey 
 stone church of Norman architecture, all thick 
 with clinging creepers, and round about it the 
 mounds where "the rude forefathers of the ham- 
 let sleep" ; the squire's ancestral manor ; and the 
 inevitable "Red Lion" tavern, ripe with age and 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 23 
 
 tradition. Over all there broods a peculiarly un- 
 changing serenity and charm. 
 
 The American village is often run as an in- 
 corporated concern, and is a model of neatness, 
 with a certain uniformity of architecture. The 
 gardens have no walls or fences ; every householder 
 keeps his front lawn trimly cut. The roadway is 
 flanked by footpaths, and these again by wide grass 
 lawns dotted with trees. The effect in summer- 
 time is very beautiful, for you drive through a 
 vista of park and lawn, the homes well back on 
 either side. Every owner not only enjoys his own 
 "front," but has also a commvmity interest in all 
 other fronts on that street. The hotel will be up- 
 to-date in architecture and fittings, and every bed- 
 room will have a bathroom. 
 
 Both pictures are beautiful, each in its own 
 peculiar way. One expresses an old civilization 
 and charm of association, the other modern 
 efficiency, with another kind of charm. But after 
 all these are merely surface distinctions, and rise 
 from different physical and historical conditions. 
 The essential human nature underneath is much 
 the same east or west of the Atlantic. Scratch 
 the surface of the true-blue American, or of the 
 Britisher, and you disclose the same dogged, in- 
 domitable type. Both are the lineal descendants 
 of that heterogenous racial medley of the old days 
 
24 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 — the Pict, Scot, Celt, Angle, Saxon, Dane, 
 Norman, and possibly something of the grand old 
 Roman of Caesar's day. 
 
 Some of these surface distinctions (or are they 
 resemblances?) are illustrated by the story of the 
 American and the Englishman walking into the 
 drawingroom of a mutual host. The Englishman 
 walks in as if he owned the place; the American 
 as if he did not "give a damn" who owned it. 
 
 Directly I landed on the wharf at San Francisco 
 
 the unkind Fates introduced me to Blank. 
 
 Possibly it would be more accurate to say that 
 Blank carefully guided the Fates, for he saw to 
 it that I encountered him with embarrassing fre- 
 quency. He was more than middle-aged, and very 
 voluble. He knew all the really big men in the 
 States — Wilson, Roosevelt, and the rest — knew 
 them fluently, and could give me letters to them. 
 He knew Australia and my proposed work in the 
 States better than I did, and he suggested I should 
 employ him as a kind of advance guard, to work 
 up interviews for me with the elect. When I 
 arrived on the scene I was to have little more to 
 do than collect the scalps. For these overwhelm- 
 ing services he did not seek payment ; nothing so 
 sordid as that; merely a kind of retainer, at iioo 
 per month and first-class expenses. The day I 
 left San Francisco he intercepted me on the ferry, 
 
THE PRESS 25 
 
 and handed me letters to two or three of the 
 potentates in the East. I was ungrateful enough 
 to drop these letters quietly overboard once he had 
 diverted the sun of his countenance. Later on in 
 New York I met one of those big men, and told 
 him the story. He faintly remembered Blank; had 
 met him once, years back, in the character of a 
 rather crazy reporter. 
 
 I had heard that the American press representa- 
 tives were most ingenious in compiling a "story," 
 full of vivid points, out of the most commonplace 
 remarks of a newcomer; and that in this story the 
 exercise of ingenious fancy was likely to play a 
 greater part than dull literal accuracy. The ex- 
 perience with Blank rather accentuated my alarms ; 
 but these fears afterwards proved to be quite 
 groundless. 
 
 The Australian Government had requisitioned 
 two very capable and loyal Australians in New 
 York to assist me with Australian "publicity." The 
 moment I arrived in New York there arose 
 numerous requests for press interviews with the 
 new Australian Commissioner. These two good 
 friends deftly stemmed the current for a day or 
 two, so that we might get the thing done in "one 
 fell swoop." On the agreed day the Press repre- 
 sentatives arrived in such numbers that the furni- 
 ture was insufficient, and some of them had to 
 
26 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 picnic on the window-sills, the floor, and all over 
 the place. I invited them to put any questions 
 they liked; these I engaged to answer frankly up 
 to the limits of my knowledge — but all this not for 
 publication. Then we would discuss what might 
 reasonably be published ; as to the rest I asked 
 them to respect my confidence. 
 
 They fairly bombarded me with questions, while 
 the two Australians watched over me with almost 
 maternal solicitude. We got through somehow ; 
 and not one paper, either then or afterwards, 
 attempted to go one inch beyond the matter agreed 
 on for publication. Incidentally it should be added 
 that they helped the Australian publicity work very 
 generously at all times. 
 
 On the whole the leading New York papers 
 impress one favourably — though, in comparison 
 with the leading Australian "dailies," they perhaps 
 aim rather more at the sensational. Their political 
 articles are apt to be more vitriolic than ours ; but 
 their readers are quite accustomed to discount these 
 as much as may seem necessary. Altogether, in 
 any reasoned comparison, we have no grounds for 
 complaint about the standards and capacity of our 
 Australian press. 
 
 In the United States there is a remarkable 
 readiness to learn about Australia. In point of 
 fact, there is a wonderfully comprehensive readi- 
 
GEOGRAPHY 27 
 
 ness to listen to anyone about anything. This does 
 not include sheer nonsense ; but sometimes their 
 thirst for information undoubtedly gives unmerited 
 audience to interesting "cranks." 
 
 They always seemed surprised to learn that Aus- 
 tralia covered about the same square mileage as 
 the United States — bar Alaska ; and they were al- 
 ways prepared to listen with infinite patience to 
 recitals about Australia's sunshine, spaces, re- 
 sources, peoples, and customs. 
 
 They know nothing about the six States of Aus- 
 tralia as States — it is just "Australia" that interests 
 them. After all this is not so very remarkable, 
 when you come to think of it. We know very little 
 about Massachusetts, Illinois, Iowa or any of the 
 other States ; and we too are apt mentally to 
 realize the forty-eight States as just "America." 
 If we make exception it is in favour of California, 
 the nearest State to us, just across the Pacific. 
 
 Occasionally this lack of exact geographical in- 
 formation leads to curious confusion — for instance, 
 as between the Commonwealth of Australia and 
 the Dominion of New Zealand. One merchant in 
 the States wrote to me in sorrow rather than in 
 anger, the burden of his lament being that some 
 Melbourne customs regulation was creating em- 
 barrassing difficulty about his landing certain goods 
 in Auckland! 
 
28 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 With so large a country the cHmate naturally 
 varies very greatly; that of New York is unique. 
 The mean summer temperature is some two 
 degrees hotter than Sydney; the mean winter 
 temperature is about twenty-two degrees colder. 
 As there is always moisture in the air, New York 
 City suffers the most trying type of heat at one 
 period of the year, and collaterally the most Arctic 
 kind of cold at the other. I have shivered in New 
 York with the whole-souled abandon of a criminal 
 awaiting execution. 
 
 The native wears thin underclothing in winter- 
 time for the hot central heated indoor life; but 
 when he goes outside into the blizzards, he puts on 
 thick furs — if he has them. Outdoor games become 
 largely impracticable during the winter months in 
 places like New York, owing to the cold and the 
 snow. The devotee of exercise can, however, get 
 a pale kind of substitute in the indoor games of 
 the Clubs — such as squash tennis, squash rackets, 
 gymnastics, etc. 
 
 In addition to the original train journey across 
 the Continent, from San Francisco to New York, 
 I visited^some of them more than once — places 
 like Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, 
 St. Louis, Albany, Northampton and others. 
 Certain work took me up to Montreal, Ottawa and 
 Toronto in Canada ; and I also enjoyed a motor- 
 
RESOURCES 29 
 
 car ride from Little Moose Lake in the Adiron- 
 dacks into New York — about three hundred miles. 
 These excursions gave me a very vivid impression 
 of the apparently illimitable resources of the 
 country and its vast possibilities in the way of 
 primary production. Lakes, rivers, and canals 
 occur every few miles. They have a desert in the 
 west, but not so large as ours; and it is flanked by 
 mountains which yield melted snow waters in the 
 spring. Irrigation systems are converting some of 
 these desert places into productive areas. 
 
 Winter snows in many of the States are a detri- 
 ment, in the sense that they necessitate hand-feed- 
 ing of stock, and interrupt several forms of outside 
 employment. But there is a compensation, in that 
 the spring sun, melting the snows, starts the spring 
 growth with abundant soil moisture. 
 
 Nature has been kind to the United States in 
 other respects, for coal and oil and ores abound. 
 Cotton grows richly in the south, while the 
 northern states grow wheat and stock and all the 
 other farm products. Their coal is nearer the sur- 
 face than the British — or most of ours — and they 
 utilize more machinery. Their production of 
 nearly three times more per man does not necessarily 
 mean, therefore, that in the States the individual 
 miner toils three times as hard as the Britisher. 
 Another very great advantage is the vast internal 
 
30 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 markets created by a population of about 
 107,000,000, with a high-spending power per head. 
 This renders easy the great industrial capitaliza- 
 tions with which the country abounds, and particu- 
 larly their standardized "mass" production. Their 
 internal possibilities, capital requirements for 
 development, their great railroads and industrial 
 ventures, keep them busy. Before the war they 
 were undoubtedly over-absorbed in purely Ameri- 
 can affairs, with some inevitable loss of wider 
 vision. These conditions may possibly have pro- 
 vided rather too much scope for the big Trusts ; 
 that is a matter of opinion, upon which one heard 
 conflicting views in the States. The average 
 business opinion seemed to be, that while possibly 
 some of the Trusts had taken advantage of the 
 situation, on the whole they had not inflated prices, 
 and that the value to the community of highly- 
 skilled management and initiative was too great to 
 be lightly risked by abolishing the Trusts — better to 
 "regulate" them. I have an idea, founded on little 
 more than rather vague surmise, that some day 
 yet several of the central States may commercially 
 combine and throw off their allegiance to New 
 York and other eastern ports. They may utilize, 
 to a far greater extent than at present, the 
 Mississippi and its tributary streams for water 
 carriage to the south, and some day New Orleans 
 
HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS 31 
 
 may become a great despatch port for goods going 
 south as well as for those going west via the 
 Panama Canal. 
 
 Between August, 1914, and April, 1917, while 
 the great European nations were at death-grips in 
 France, Belgium, Italy, and the East, the United 
 States accumulated huge profits ; and their bigger 
 men realize that they owe a duty towards the war- 
 stricken countries — especially to the smaller peoples 
 — ^because of these accumulations. Quite possibly 
 shrewd business methods will characterize their 
 efforts, but if the bigger men prevail, they will yet 
 use some of their wealth with the definite idea and 
 aim of helping those impoverished and exhausted 
 combatants to their feet again. 
 
 England is rich in its grand retrospect of states- 
 men, soldiers, sailors, scientific men, scholars and 
 writers. The Englishman must be very sluggish of 
 imagination who can stand beside the tombs of the 
 great undying dead without a deep stirring of his 
 national pride and patriotism. Superficially one 
 might be apt to regard the United States as by com- 
 parison poor in historical background. A visit to 
 the country tends rather to dissipate such an im- 
 pression. They venerate the memories of the sturdy 
 Mayflozver pioneers, whose spirit of independence 
 drove them, three hundred years ago, to unknown 
 territories where they might possibly suffer untold 
 
32 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 physical hardships, but where they would be free 
 to express unhampered the spiritual faith that was 
 in them. That spirit was a potent factor in the 
 War of Independence, and survives to-day in 
 their descendants. The American venerates 
 Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, Hamilton, and other stalwarts of that era of 
 struggle for separate national existence. One of 
 the interesting features to a visitor is the extra- 
 ordinary strength of the Washingtonian tradition 
 at this moment — the tradition, that is, that he bade 
 them keep clear of entanglements abroad. Several 
 of their Presidents rank very high in popular 
 appreciation ; also writers and thinkers ; also the 
 great generals of the civil war of i860; and above 
 all towers the figure of Abraham Lincoln, the 
 simple great-souled patriot, the greatest democratic 
 leader of any time or country. 
 
 With his undoubted capacity for generous 
 emotion and enthusiasm, the American makes the 
 most of these historical traditions, and very wise 
 he is to do so. But he does more. As a cousin 
 he is beginning to realize that he also shares in 
 the earlier national heroes of England. 
 
 It is a circumstance to note that several bright 
 American plays produced in late years in Aus- 
 tralia dealt with the modern "crook." For two 
 acts he was ingeniously busy in "skinning the 
 
BUSINESS CIRCLES 33 
 
 boobs," and generally establishing his exalted rank 
 in the hierarchy of turpitude. In the third act he 
 usually suffered a rapid moral reformation. He 
 was always a lovable "crook," and Australian 
 sympathy pervertedly went out to him in his "get- 
 rich-quick" antics, while it almost sighed a regret 
 when finally he became converted to the relatively 
 uninteresting paths of rectitude. I have some- 
 times wondered whether such plays — backed by 
 exaggerated press reports about vampire trusts and 
 "fake" financiers — tended to spread the idea, 
 amongst the untravelled in Australia, that America 
 was a happy hunting ground for "crooks." In 
 exactly the same way the manners of the stage 
 American detective no doubt severely libel that 
 force. For purposes of histrionic effect it seems to 
 be regarded as necessary for the detective to enter 
 a drawing-room with a cigar in his mouth and his 
 hat on the back of his head, while in a raucous 
 voice he subjects ladies to a violent "third degree" 
 interrogation. 
 
 You cannot measure "crookness" (or is it 
 crookedness?) with a tape, for statistical compari- 
 sons. Possibly in the States the occasional business 
 ^'sharps" use more novel and startling methods 
 than in most other places; but it remains probable 
 that the proportion of sharps to reputables is about 
 the same there as elsewhere. It is unfortunate that 
 
34 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 in any civilized country a few men in every 
 thousand will be tempted to try devious tricks in 
 order to acquire wealth more rapidly than by the 
 unexciting methods of plodding merit. That 
 seems inevitable — until the curtain of the millen- 
 nium shall be rung up. 
 
 The best brains of the country go into business. 
 Many of their vniiversities and schools have special 
 courses and degrees in economics and commercial 
 subjects; and many of these institutions enjoy very 
 generous endowments from business benefactors. 
 For some years their young men have also had the 
 opportunity of specialized training in the ditties of 
 citizenship — citizenship as yet with an American 
 horizon, but not a bad foundation for a higher form 
 of teaching in international citizenship possibly to 
 follow. The commercial houses encourage these 
 studies by giving positions of value to successful 
 graduates. 
 
 The leaders of the business world are, as a 
 rule, fine men — keen, capable, honourable and 
 courageous, and with a distinct tendency in many 
 cases towards idealism. Each individual expo- 
 nent does not every day and always act up to the 
 higher traditions — after all, who does? It is, how- 
 ever, a national asset that the tendency is un- 
 doubtedly there. It is combined, no doubt, with 
 great shrewdness, but the general direction seems 
 
BUSINESS CIRCLES 35 
 
 to be increasingly towards humane methods in the 
 relations between employer and employed, and to 
 a sense of service due to the community. They 
 have the usual percentage of rigid employers of the 
 old school ; men who are loth to yield an inch and 
 who readily invite a contest. Here I am writing 
 rather of the general trend than of particular 
 persons. 
 
 Some of the younger men are apt at times to talk 
 rather ordinary humanitarianism under the im- 
 pression that they are handling profound psycho- 
 logical questions ; still, one would make a grave 
 mistake to deride these efforts, because in the last 
 analysis they show a movement in the right direc- 
 tion. 
 
 One almost concludes that Americans are at 
 times too ready, in their zeal for efficiency, to 
 adopt new methods in mechanism; but it would 
 require more detailed knowledge than I possess to 
 do more than very tentatively suggest the thought. 
 They will not tolerate the obsolete or the second 
 best, and so far they are undoubtedly right. No 
 archaic process lags superfluous on the stage; no 
 likely prospect is hampered for ten minutes by lack 
 of funds. Whatever else may be wanting, they 
 can always find the money. 
 
 The bigger corporations, banks, and businesses 
 are constantly on the watch for capable young men. 
 
36 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 who are paid salaries enormous from the Aus- 
 traHan point of view. To some extent high 
 remuneration is necessary to compensate for the 
 very high cost of living; but on any "weighted" 
 comparison with Australia the salaries paid are 
 much larger in the States. Many of these young 
 men work very hard, to the possible detriment of 
 health, and also of their interests in the home, 
 literature, travel, etc. I came to the conclusion 
 that the majority were by no means mere con- 
 firmed dollar-chasers. In a country which looks 
 coldly upon the wealthy idler and which greatly 
 admires achievement and efficiency, these young 
 men strive hard for success — no doubt also for 
 money ; but the dominant idea is to attain the status 
 due to success. The older men, who have 
 "arrived," do not as a rule work either so hard or 
 for such long hours. Both young and old — I mean 
 the typical men — are generous with money, 
 especially to their women folk. 
 
 In the States the friendly visitor regrets that in 
 one or two instances there seems to exist some lack 
 of reciprocity. For instance, their copyright laws 
 do not protect foreign writers as adequately as the 
 American author is protected in, say, Australia. 
 Their Banking Laws do not, in a number of States, 
 enable the "foreign" Bank to take deposits, though 
 as a rule such banks can, subject to minor restric- 
 
BUSINESS , CIRCLES 37 
 
 tions, do other kinds of banking business. This 
 is a pity; and such blemishes, one hopes, will soon 
 be cleared away. 
 
 If New York is to be taken as typical of most 
 big American cities, then one may readily compli- 
 ment the Americans upon the efficiency of their city 
 regulation systems. Anyone who, in New York, 
 once understands that houses are numbered east- 
 wards or westwards from Fifth Avenue (and he 
 should do this in a few hours) can hardly have 
 difficulty with any address in Manhattan. The 
 avenues run north and south, and it is practically 
 impossible to miss, say, No. 43 East 123rd Street, 
 once you know that you must get off any north- 
 bound car at that clearly-numbered cross-street, 
 and then make for No. 43 on the right-hand side of 
 Fifth Avenue. All numbers are consecutive, odd 
 on one side and even on the other. One series goes 
 east of Fifth Avenue, beginning at No. i, and 
 a similar series goes west. No slow heavy traffic 
 is allowed on such avenues as the wonderful 
 "Fifth," and few horses are seen there in carriages 
 or cabs. The traffic is mostly petrol-driven ; it 
 whizzes up and down at a terrific pace along the 
 blocks, subject only to police stoppage every now 
 and then at the street intersections. If you cross 
 the street anywhere except at an intersection, you 
 void your policies in the event of accident. The 
 
38 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 risk is too great for any Insurance Company to 
 take. 
 
 Several of the bigger hotels have subterranean 
 passages into the underground electric traffic 
 systems; and, while I stayed at the "Biltmore" 
 (43rd Street), I could, if necessary, go down 
 to my office at No. 61 Broadway, some miles 
 away, without putting a toe into the open street. 
 I was not aware of this during my first few days 
 in New York, and on one occasion, in order to 
 keep a one o'clock "down town" lunch engagement, 
 I innocently took a Ford "taxi" outside the hotel 
 at about twenty minutes to one. It had a disc in- 
 side indicating its birthday — eight and a half years 
 before. It was a mere hundredweight or so of 
 assorted ironmongery, only clinging together by the 
 grace of God, and only travelling by virtue of the 
 ingenuity and enthusiasm of a Hibernian chauffeur. 
 We were stopped many times by the traffic, and 
 we in turn often stopped the traffic while 
 the chauffeur got out and coaxed the weary 
 machinery. I arrived "down town" nearly half an 
 hour late; and, if I had only known, I could have 
 got there by the Subway in about fifteen minutes! 
 New York is not, however, uniformly up to the 
 "Fifth Avenue" level. There are also densely- 
 populated poor quarters, such as the eastern side 
 of "down town," where the foreign element congre- 
 
OUTDOOR SPORTS 39 
 
 gate by the thousand, and where they tend to pre- 
 serve their alien, and sometimes hostile, nationality. 
 
 I have already mentioned that the severities of 
 winter rather interrupt outdoor sports in the snow 
 States. In the warmer weather there are innumer- 
 able baseball grounds, tennis courts and golf links 
 always in full occupancy. Good baseball is mainly 
 professional or collegiate; the crowds who watch 
 the senior professional league games are often 
 enormous, while the carefully trained skill of the 
 players is astonishing. Senior football is hardly 
 played, except at the universities, where the close 
 and distinctly dangerous "gridiron" game is to-day 
 virtually universal. Cricket is played very fairly 
 at Philadelphia, but not seriously in many other 
 centres. Golf and tennis clubs abound. Some of 
 the former are remarkably well laid out, with 
 magnificent club houses, and the standard of 
 amateur play is high. Rowing is on an amateur 
 basis, and mostly confined to the universities. 
 
 American amateurs have been attacked for 
 taking their games too seriously, and for practising 
 too thoroughly — thus infringing, in some way, the 
 canons of amateurism. To me, I must confess, 
 such an argument seems rather strained. I like 
 to see any youngster thorough in his games, if 
 only because slackness there is apt to be duplicated 
 in his work. The American, temperamentally, is 
 
40 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 never satisfied with existing- conditions. His cease- 
 less endeavours to improve the mechanism of 
 games led him to invent the rubber-cored ball at 
 golf, as well as the more compact "socket" driver. 
 He discovered the screw-serve at tennis, and the 
 "monkey seat" in racing. In track and other out- 
 door athletics the teaching and training are 
 systematic and thorough. What canons of ■ 
 amateurism can be assumed to be broken by 
 genuine thoroughness of that kind I confess I can- 
 not see. In the American it is consistent, for it is 
 the exact counterpart of his thoroughness in other 
 phases of endeavour. 
 
 In the collegiate football game the greatest care 
 is taken to train the teams in the intricate signals 
 and manoeuvres of the game, and this involves use- 
 ful aspects of team play. I cannot say I personally 
 admire the rules of the game they have evolved. 
 The "gridiron" play seems to me to have lost the 
 beauties of the "open" play of Rugby, and to offer 
 too great a premium to mere brute force. They 
 play it with wonderful dash and courage; but far 
 too many get hurt. 
 
 I shall, I hope, be pardoned if I record the 
 following incident connected with the Davis Cup 
 contest of January, 1920 — Australia being the 
 holders. America chivalrously refrained from 
 challenging, because none of their prominent players 
 
OUTDOOR SPORTS 41 
 
 had been lost in the war; and it was thought that 
 AustraHa, in this respect, was at a disadvantage. 
 A prominent Aus'tralian tennis man, then in New 
 York, went with me to the tennis authorities, and 
 we endeavoured to persuade them to allow us to 
 bring about a belated entry for the States — since 
 England, France, and others had challenged. We 
 put it broadly that Australia would wish the best 
 team to win, no matter whence it came. I need 
 not detail all the arguments ; it suffices to say that 
 we could not shake their decision — a decision 
 entirely creditable to American sportsmanship. 
 
SECTION II 
 
 Political and Constitutional 
 
 I DO not propose anything so ambitious as even an 
 abbreviated description of the American Constitu- 
 tion. I shall merely touch very lightly, and without 
 any attempt at elaboration, upon one or two fea- 
 tures which readily strike the newcomer. 
 
 Under the British Cabinet system the Premier 
 and his colleagues are necessarily members of 
 Parliament. If a Parliamentary majority is at any 
 time recorded against them, out they go. If any 
 special matter is ventilated in Parliament, the 
 particular Minister concerned usually explains it 
 on the floor of the House. There is a certain 
 admirable compactness about a system under which 
 the men who are responsible for both policy and 
 administration are members of the legislature, and 
 personally answerable to it. 
 
 In the States the electors every four years 
 determine who is to be President ; the entire 
 House of Representatives and one-third of the 
 Senate are elected every two years. As votes are 
 
POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL 43 
 
 on strictly party lines — Democratic and Republi- 
 can — the probabilities are that the newly-elected 
 President will have a majority in both Houses. 
 He selects his own Ministers (they are called Secre- 
 taries) usually outside the Legislature; in effect 
 they are really great Departmental heads rather 
 than Parliamentary "Ministers" in our sense of the 
 term. If they are members of the Legislature 
 they forfeit their seats. They are directly respon- 
 sible to the President and not to Congress. At the 
 outset the President "nominates" his selection to 
 the Senate, and unless the Senate records an ob- 
 jection within a day or so, the nominations stand. 
 It is not customary to object to the President's 
 nominees. Presumably the circumstances would 
 require to be very exceptional to justify objections. 
 
 Two years after the Presidential election the 
 Representatives again face the electors, with 
 another third of the Senate, and, if public opinion 
 has in the meantime strongly swung round, the 
 President's party may be in a minority in both 
 Houses for the last two years of his term. That 
 is indeed President Wilson's position to-day, ever 
 since the elections of November, 1918. A rather 
 awkward situation is thus set up, for Congress 
 can veto anything the President puts forward, 
 while he, in turn, can at any rate once veto any 
 legislation the Houses may pass. If the Houses 
 
44 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 afterwards so desire, they can again pass the 
 measure, and, if it secures a two-thirds majority 
 in each House, it is carried, irrespective of the 
 President's wishes. A President can only be dis- 
 missed by "impeachment" for treason, bribery, or 
 other high crimes and misdemeanours. But the 
 term has not quite the sinister meaning it attained 
 in earher British history. In America it signifies 
 the legal process for questioning a President's use 
 or abuse of his powers or position, and in the event 
 of an adverse decision his term thereupon ends. 
 In all their history only one President has been 
 impeached — President Johnson in 1867. The 
 Senate sat as judges, not bound by the ordinary 
 rules of evidence. The trial was on political 
 grounds, and failed to establish the charges by a 
 narrow majority. 
 
 Among political devices growing in favour in the 
 States is one which has a special interest for Aus- 
 tralians. This is the "recall" of public officials 
 before the end of their term of office. Though 
 occasionally used in Switzerland, the provision is 
 esssentially a product of the Western United 
 States ; there it is very popular both in the muni- 
 cipal and in State Government, but few States of 
 the Middle West, and hardly any east of the 
 Mississippi, have adopted it. 
 
 The method of it is this: Whenever a certain 
 
POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL 45 
 
 percentage (from ten to twenty-five per cent.) of 
 those who voted at the last election sign a petition 
 for the removal from office of any public official, 
 a fresh election to that office must be held, at which 
 the impugned official will be a candidate unless he 
 prefers to resign. The interval between presenta- 
 tion of the petition and the new election varies 
 from three weeks to five months. The election is 
 decided sometimes by a simple majority, sometimes 
 by a majority of all votes polled. It is interesting 
 to note that executive officials have six months' 
 grace before they can be recalled ; while legislators 
 may be petitioned against as soon as five or ten 
 days after the first session of the legislature opens. 
 
 The full American practice, which generally in- 
 cludes judges of the State Courts (Federal 
 Judges are not elected officials), would hardly 
 appeal to Australians ; but its application to mem- 
 bers of Parliament might be occasionally useful. 
 Should, for instance, a Minister of the Crown be 
 so severely criticized by a responsible official body 
 that his colleagues have to get rid of him from the 
 Ministry, this can be accomplished constitutionally, 
 as we know ; but the constituency that elected him 
 cannot get rid of him so easily. It may have to 
 wait nearly three years — in the case of a Federal 
 Senator, nearly six — before it can express an 
 opinion on his behaviour. That is neither fair to the 
 
46 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 constituency nor to him ; and some form of "recall" 
 might be found advantageous. 
 
 There is always, throughout the States, a strong 
 sentiment of loyalty to the President as such. 
 This entirely admirable feeling comes under 
 terrible strain when, for instance, a keen Republi- 
 can feels a deep political antipathy to a Demo- 
 cratic President. The proprieties prescribe a 
 certain restraint in attack upon the President of the 
 day; while human nature may clamour to be let 
 loose with an axe. 
 
 If a special question is ventilated in Congress or 
 Senate, the Cabinet cannot personally answer, for 
 they are not members. They get political friends 
 who are members to reply for them; not so satis- 
 factory a method as ours. 
 
 Most of the latter-day Presidents used to address 
 the legislature by written communications. Presi- 
 dent Wilson has introduced rather an innovation 
 by delivering his "message" in person. It sounds 
 the better way; but there are adverse critics, per- 
 haps not so much of this as of other alleged inno- 
 vations of his. The Houses conferred very extra- 
 ordinary special powers upon the President in 
 April, 1917, when the nation came into the war; 
 but they did not abrogate the established rule that 
 the President can make treaties only in conjunction 
 with the Senate. President Wilson might reply 
 
PRESIDENT WILSON 47 
 
 that he has not yet made a treaty ; that he has merely 
 discussed and suggested one. Still, many people 
 I met in the States rather regretted that the Presi- 
 dent had acted so much alone in the negotiations, 
 to the neglect of the Senate's co-equal powers. 
 
 Finally, the Senate in the United States is a body 
 with far greater powers than, for instance, our 
 Federal Senate in Australia. Take, for example, 
 the Senate's "Foreign Relations Committee," at 
 this moment handling the enormous issues of the 
 Peace Treaty and League of Nations. It has the 
 power — if a majority in the Chamber supports it — 
 to turn down the President's programme. The 
 situation to-day is distinctly awkward, because the 
 President is a Democrat, while the majority of the 
 Foreign Relations Committee, since November, 
 1918, are Republicans. 
 
 Even if I had fairly complete first-hand know- 
 ledge, it would still be a very undesirable thing on 
 my part to express opinions about the President. 
 At any time it would be extremely difficult for an 
 outsider to disentangle the man from the official. 
 A tremendous prestige attaches to the office; but 
 at the same time a very fierce light beats upon the 
 Presidential chair, and the occupant of it cannot 
 expect to escape censure from political opponents. 
 In public life the only protection against attack is 
 obscurity; a President can never be obscure. Ex- 
 
48 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 treme views about him are expressed both by 
 political opponents and by supporters; the truth 
 may lie somewhere midway, and is not easily deter- 
 mined. Here I confine myself to the average views 
 I heard from all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 It goes without saying that no one would be 
 likely to attain the position without some qualities 
 of greatness. One readily recalls Mr. Wilson's 
 fine action upon the issue of the Panama Canal 
 tolls, and the moral appeal of his war addresses in 
 April, 19 1 7, as illustrating some aspects of great- 
 ness. Add to this that he is a capable historian, 
 and a fine writer and speaker, with a certain genius 
 for turning sonorous idealistic phrases. That is 
 how the Democrats would describe him ; and they 
 would add that their political chief must obviously 
 be a far greater man than the Republicans concede, 
 otherwise he could not possibly have occupied so 
 commanding a position in the recent councils of the 
 nations at Paris. Nor would they accept the Re- 
 publican suggestion that possibly the prestige of the 
 office, and the great economic strength of America, 
 to a large extent furnished the real explanation. 
 
 Even among strong political supporters there are 
 at times candid critics. Very occasionally one met 
 Democrats who admitted a certain uneasiness about 
 some of the President's speeches before April, 
 1917; for instance, the phrase "too proud to fight"; 
 
PRESIDENT WILSON 49 
 
 the advice that Americans should be neutral in 
 thought as well as in deed ; the fact that he seemed 
 to recognize no differences in the war aims of the 
 two sides. Even Homer was said to nod at times, 
 and here and there a Democrat seemed prepared 
 reluctantly to admit that these were fairly strong 
 Wilsonian nods. Finally, they would say that cer- 
 tain internal difficulties strongly suggested caution 
 in declaring war, whereas Mr. Roosevelt in power 
 would have declared war prematurely, and so 
 possibly have incurred grave troubles which 
 President Wilson ingeniously avoided. 
 
 The Republicans were strong in condemnation, 
 and their list of political crimes imputed to the 
 President lacked nothing for completeness. The 
 following rapid summary must be read with the 
 consciousness that no President, however perfect, 
 could have escaped some incrimination of the kind, 
 under the existing conditions of political contro- 
 versy: — That President Wilson discouraged before 
 April, 1917, the "preparedness" for which Mr. 
 Roosevelt and Gen. Leonard Wood were clamour- 
 ing; that war should have been declared, at the 
 latest, after the sinking of the Lusitania in May, 
 1915; that he won the November, 1916, election on 
 the peace ticket, and soon afterwards yielded to 
 public pressure by declaring war on Germany in 
 April. 1917; that he conducted the war on political 
 
50 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 party lines, excluding men like the two great Re- 
 publicans mentioned above; that his war adminis- 
 tration was ineffective — as witness the delays with 
 guns, shells, aeroplanes, shipping, etc. — and this 
 notwithstanding enormous expenditures ; that the 
 internal control of railways, post and telegraphs, 
 telephones, prices and wages was equally ineffective; 
 that he took too much authority into his own hands, 
 to the neglect of the co-equal powers of the Senate 
 on certain important aspects, and this notwithstand- 
 ing that the elections of November, 1918, virtually 
 censured his administration. 
 
 Now that the Senate (since November, 1918) 
 has a Republican majority, the Senators composing 
 it would be something more than human if they 
 neglected the opportunity to embarrass the Presi- 
 dent over the Peace Treaty and the League of 
 Nations. It will be a pity if large issues are to 
 be coloured by local politics or personal considera- 
 tions, but such considerations will continue to 
 weigh with human beings until men cease to be a 
 little lower than the angels. 
 
 This is not the place to attempt any real dis- 
 cussion of the League of Nations, but it may be 
 pointed out. as a matter of interest, that President 
 Wilson, to secure its adoption by the United States, 
 has bigger obstacles than mere personal animosities 
 to surmount. First there is the strong Washington 
 
THE SENATE AND THE LEAGUE 51 
 
 tradition ; to keep dear of European entanglements. 
 It is as strong among Americans to-day as if their 
 great national hero were still moving and speaking 
 among them. A doctrine which had everything to 
 commend it one hundred and twenty-five years ago 
 — as wise guidance for a small population of some 
 two millions in thirteen struggling States — still re- 
 mains potent under totally different conditions. 
 Whether forty-eight States, with their financial and 
 commercial ramifications all over the world, should 
 still cling to that tradition is matter for grave con- 
 sideration. A great people of 107,000,000 can 
 hardly to-day keep entirely aloof from the troubles 
 of a sick world. Quite apart from international 
 ethics, it can hardly afford to do so for commercial 
 reasons. Expanding American trade requires buy- 
 ing power and security abroad, and these things 
 have yet to be laboriously re-established in the war- 
 stricken nations. If Americans are to help the 
 oppressed and see justice done, it will not suffice 
 to utter occasional words of protest ; they 
 must be prepared for strong remedial action. The 
 American readily acquires a sense of "service," 
 though at present with reference mainly to his own 
 country. Later on he will see his duty with a 
 wider horizon, embracing mankind, and then the 
 Washington tradition will vanish with yesterday's 
 morning mists. 
 
52 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 The "League" issue is for the moment rather 
 splitting the political parties; for all Democrats do 
 not support it, while some leading Republicans 
 (like Taft and Wickersham) strongly advocate it. 
 America, like other countries, realizes the need to 
 have some machinery to prevent such another war ; 
 but (a little illogically) some Americans seem to 
 desire to incur no responsibilities themselves. 
 
 Their Spanish war brought responsibilities in the 
 Philippines, which are still greatly disapproved of 
 by the hard-shell Monroe-doctrine American. The 
 idea of possibly vastly greater responsibilities under 
 the League rather appals that type of citizen. As 
 the Monroe doctrine is not always exactly under- 
 stood, here are the crucial sentences in President 
 Monroe's historic pronouncement : — 
 
 "The two Americas are henceforth not to be con- 
 sidered as subjects for colonization by any Euro- 
 pean power. . . . We should consider any attempt 
 on their part to extend their system to any portion 
 of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and 
 safety." 
 
 While the Eastern States — at any rate the 
 majority of the educated individuals in those 
 States — are friendly to England on most questions, 
 and incidentally on that of the proposed League, 
 in the Middle West and West I was told there is 
 unfortunately some distrust of English motives, 
 
THE SENATE AND THE LEAGUE 53 
 
 while they dislike the idea of having the United 
 States dragged at Great Britain's chariot wheels, 
 as the anti-British propagandists put it. There is 
 erroneous comment about the so-called preponder- 
 ance of British voting power, because the 
 Dominions each secured a provisional vote. There 
 is an inclination, carefully fostered no doubt, to 
 believe that England emerges from the war the 
 greatest gainer of all, and that the League is a 
 cleverly conceived British scheme to drag America 
 across the Atlantic as a participant in future 
 British quarrels. 
 
 That this is all as grossly unjust as it is essen- 
 tially ridiculous does not alter the fact that such 
 sentiments exist, and that strong, temperate, ex- 
 planatory statements in refutation should be pub- 
 lished. The huge British effort, both on sea and 
 land ; the staggering financial obligations cheer- 
 fully assumed, and largely utilized to assist the 
 Allies ; the terrible losses of young manhood, and 
 the saddening numbers of the maimed; the 
 tremendous work and risks cheerfully undertaken 
 by women in the munition factories ; the gradual 
 conversion of Britain into a huge arsenal ; the in- 
 vincible tenacity and dogged resolve of the nation; 
 all these need to be put fully and clearly before the 
 public in the middle west and western States. 
 Meantime the misrepresentations about Britain 
 
54 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 form another of the factors which President 
 Wilson has to combat in his campaign to pass the 
 League scheme successfully through the American 
 legislature. And, finally, there is the important 
 consideration that he does not appeal to a nation 
 of one racial origin — but to a nation of very diversi- 
 fied racial origins. 
 
 The following opinion was expressed to me by 
 an American who has held distinguished political 
 positions, and who remains a very keen student of 
 affairs : "The mass of the people are strongly and 
 widely in favour of some League of Nations, but 
 without clear ideas as to the appropriate structure 
 for this new authority. The principal factors in 
 opposition would rank in the following order (i) 
 The traditional policy of isolation, or non-inter- 
 ference in Europe; (2) strong local political an- 
 tagonisms; and (3) Irish and German propaganda. 
 
 President Wilson is not all academic austerity; 
 one of his relaxations is that of the humorous 
 raconteur — for he is said to have a large store of 
 telling (and publishable) stories. Here is one: 
 A well-known citizen visited a hotel, having 
 recently looked upon the wine when it was 
 red, and noisily demanded a room. He was 
 assigned to No. 120. Shortly afterwards he re- 
 appeared, and still more noisily demanded another 
 room. The manager signalled quietly to an 
 
THE SENATE AND THE LEAGUE 55 
 
 attendant to pacify him and conduct him personally 
 to No. 119. The attendant did so — and then, out 
 of sheer curiosity, asked: "What's the matter with 
 No. 120?" 
 
 "Why, the damned thing's on fire!" replied the 
 citizen. 
 
SECTION III 
 Racial 
 
 I do not propose to discuss the Irish question 
 as such. I do not regard myself as an 
 authority on that vexed issue, and I had no time 
 to give it any very special investigation in the 
 States. I propose to do little more than set out its 
 manifestations in that country, as they more or less 
 inevitably strike an impartial sojourner who keeps 
 his eyes and ears open. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain the exact number of 
 Irish in the United States. It is on record that 
 the numbers of those born in Ireland, or whose 
 fathers or mothers were born in Ireland, totalled 
 about four and a half millions according to the 
 census of 1910. To these must be added those 
 who have come upon the scene since 1910, also 
 those of more remote Irish parentage. The full 
 total may possibly run up to fifteen millions, or 
 thereabout. In any case they are unquestionably 
 numerous enough to carry great weight in national 
 and civic affairs. Many Irishmen have achieved 
 
THE IRISH 57 
 
 deserved success in various grades of the social 
 scale, and of these a large proportion keep clear 
 of anti-British propaganda. On the contrary there 
 are other Irishmen, of the agitator type, who are 
 ceaselessly active in that work. 
 
 Let me endeavour briefly to sketch the points of 
 view of a typical loyal Britisher, and of a respon- 
 sible American, in relation to this Irish question. 
 
 The views of Britishers, as I often heard them in 
 the States, would be something like this : — 
 
 1. That the majority of Irishmen in the States 
 have never seen Ireland, while many are the lineal 
 descendants of Irishmen who lived in the black 
 days of the middle of last century. That the 
 agitators carry in their hearts the hatreds of their 
 forebears, and ignore the transformations of the last 
 twenty-five years. England remains in their eyes 
 the bloody-handed oppressor of the bad old days. 
 
 2. That they must be well aware that England 
 has in recent years spent millions on measures to 
 enable the native tenants to buy out the so-called 
 "foreign" landlords, on workmen's homes, and the 
 like. That to-day more than two-thirds of the soil 
 is in the possession of small proprietors who are 
 slowly paying the purchase price to the British 
 Government. That these peasant proprietors have 
 enjoyed excellent prices for their farm products 
 during the war. 
 
S8 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 3. That the agitator makes capital out of the sup- 
 pression of every rebellion, but never admits that 
 the Sinn Feiners start the rioting, or that the Eng- 
 lish corrective action is always applied too tardily 
 rather than too readily. 
 
 4. That the violent language of Irish extremists, 
 at meetings all over the States, would be over- 
 strong if applied to Russians conducting a "pog- 
 rom" against the shrinking Jew, or to Turks ad- 
 ministering indiscriminate death to the Armenian. 
 
 5. That the strategic unity of the United King- 
 dom, with the interlocking affiliations of trade and 
 finance, render it impossible to grant independence 
 to an island geographically so close. That there 
 are the additional considerations that some of the 
 people do not desire "independence," while others 
 (who do) were recently in league with enemy 
 Germany during war time. 
 
 The attitude of the average educated responsible 
 American would be roughly as follows : — 
 
 I. He would say that he is constantly bom- 
 barded, in the press and at meetings, with extreme 
 Irish views, but rarely sees or hears the authorita- 
 tive British case in reply. He may dimly suspect 
 that the agitator case is overstated, but he has no 
 exact data by which to check the statements. He 
 is aware that in the Middle West and West the less- 
 educated American is apt to fall an easy prey to the 
 
THE IRISH 59 
 
 Irish propagandist, largely because the case in 
 rebuttal is rarely presented. He is on the whole 
 bewildered, and he often subscribes to Irish funds, 
 because his sympathies are readily touched by the 
 apparent fervour of the appeals, without really 
 understanding the questions at issue. 
 
 2. He would admit quite frankly that he does not 
 know much about England's ameliorative work in 
 Ireland during the past twenty-five years, or about 
 the complicating case for loyal Ulster. He is 
 puzzled because the Irish agitator the other day 
 wanted Home Rule and to-day insists upon an 
 independent Republic. He has heard about some 
 intermediate alternative, styled "Dominion Home 
 Rule," but he is not very clear what that precisely 
 means. 
 
 3. The League of Nations' proposals have riveted 
 the world's attention upon the rights of small 
 nations and "self-determination," and arguments 
 derived from these proposals are ceaselessly pre- 
 sented in the States, as applying to Ireland. The 
 American would admit that he is temperamentally 
 and historically prone to look with sympathy upon 
 a people who (superficially) seem to him to occupy 
 something of the position of the thirteen American 
 States in 1776. He would experience a little diffi- 
 culty in admitting that the Irish issue might as 
 readily suggest to him his own civil war of i860, 
 
6o AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 waged more to prevent secession and preserve the 
 Union than to emancipate the negro. 
 
 4. Early in the war he was for a time rather 
 disgusted with the Sinn Fein attitude in Ireland 
 towards enlistment; but after April 1917 this feel- 
 ing was to some extent mitigated by the ready en- 
 listment of Irishmen in the States. 
 
 5. "Why don't the British give the Irish their 
 freedom ?" — is a question the American frequently 
 hears from people who are often genuinely anxious 
 to know the real answer. He hesitates to formu- 
 late judgment against England, but he is growing 
 impatient. The ceaseless Irish agitations in the 
 United States spill over into local affairs, and the 
 American is getting rather tired of it all. 
 
 The Irish vote is an important factor in Ameri- 
 can elections, and many of the newspapers conse- 
 quently give prominence to Irish views. The 
 American would argue that it is easy for the out- 
 sider to place far too much importance upon such 
 publications, for the matter is, as a rule, intended 
 only for home consumption, like the periodical 
 twisting of the British lion's tail as election times 
 approach. He himself knows how to discount all 
 this ; but he is aware, in relation to Irish propa- 
 ganda, how dangerous are half-truths and untruths 
 constantly published, especially where there is little 
 or no official reply. He would quote the inimitable 
 
THE FOREIGNER 6i 
 
 Mark Twain in support : "One of the most striking 
 differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has 
 only nine lives." 
 
 6. He is rather keen upon more s)mipathetic 
 relations between the two great branches of the 
 English-speaking peoples, and to him the perennial 
 Irish agitation is an anxiety and a hindrance. He 
 does not presume to suggest a solution to Britain; 
 he does not know enough about the matter to 
 justify that; but he does very sincerely hope that 
 one of these early days British statesmanship will 
 find the right way. 
 
 7. Finally, he is inclined to think there may be 
 something in the famous epigram about the Irish : 
 "They don't know what they want, and they won't 
 be happy till they get it." 
 
 That is, roughly and broadly, how the Irish 
 question impresses the visitor to the States. At 
 any time it is not easy to interpret exactly the minds 
 of other men, or to boil down a thousand recollec- 
 tions of talks, conversations, articles, speeches and 
 incidents into a brief categorical series. However, 
 I don't think the foregoing summary is very wide 
 of the mark. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain the exact number of 
 "foreigners" in the States. As a preliminary, some 
 fairly exact definition of the term "foreign" would 
 be requisite. The position is complicated by such 
 
62 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 considerations as naturalization, which outwardly 
 converts the newcomer into an American citizen, 
 but inwardly may leave him, in all essentials, a 
 foreigner. One estimate put the number of people 
 of foreign parentage at one in seven of the total 
 population, say fifteen millions. Add to this the 
 people of partial foreign parentage, or with foreign 
 affiliations of one kind or another, and the total, 
 loosely classifiable as "foreign," would be much 
 greater. 
 
 Most Australians have a general idea that for 
 years hordes of people, from south-eastern Europe 
 particularly, flowed into the States, always filling 
 the unskilled labour market with cheap labour, and 
 causing some industrial unrest by the incidence of 
 this rapid immigration upon wages and the 
 standard of living. The Australian has wondered 
 how far these people could, at the pace of arrival, 
 really fuse with the American people. The obser- 
 vant visitor to a place like New York could not be 
 otherwise than struck by the frequent Jewish and 
 German names ; the East Side "down town" 
 colonies of foreigners, hardly able to communicate 
 with other national segregations across the street; 
 and the many newspapers printed in foreign 
 languages. A coal-mine owner told me that, in 
 order to give effective legal notice to his miners, 
 he had to put up notices in some fifteen languages. 
 
THE FOREIGNER 63 
 
 Before the war the patriotic American was 
 apparently under the impression that as soon as 
 the foreigner came in at Sandy Hook, saw the 
 Liberty Statue, and landed on American soil, some 
 subtle alchemy worked in his soul and converted 
 him, there and then, into a citizen imbued with the 
 admirable principles of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. The American now knows better; and 
 there is a strong movement on foot to "American- 
 ize" the incomer in some more effective way. It is 
 realized that the great "melting pot" cannot per- 
 form these sudden miracles, and that the pace of 
 immigration has been too great for real absorption. 
 One or two friends admitted to me that they now 
 regarded racial fusion as unlikely on the part of the 
 average foreign parent ; but they thought the 
 schools would successfully "Americanize" the 
 children. (Primary education, by the way, is ad- 
 mirably conducted in the States — and in excellent 
 structures). Also, there was some talk in New 
 York about disallowing the printing and circula- 
 tion of newspapers in foreign languages, since these 
 tended to foster non-American sentiment. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the "melting pot" has 
 not by any means been a total failure. As a rule, 
 in the long run the newcomers "Americanize," 
 though not really as rapidly as was supposed. It 
 may be added that the undoubted trend of civiliza- 
 
64 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 tion in the States is towards Anglo-Saxon 
 standards. 
 
 There are one or two collateral considerations. 
 In connection with this question of Americanizing 
 the immigrant, Secretary Lane stated that 
 illiteracy affected some ten per cent, of the popula- 
 tion. This is a very serious statement. Take out 
 the big proportion of educated Americans, and the 
 percentage of illiteracy among the others becomes 
 extraordinarily heavy. It is fortunate for Aus- 
 tralia that our people are almost wholly of British 
 stock, and that we have no serious foreign or negro 
 problems to solve. 
 
 In the States there was some discussion about 
 authoritatively stopping immigation for a year or 
 two, and I fancy from recollection that something 
 of the kind was immediately in prospect. The war 
 had already stopped the influx for the time being, 
 and the idea was to prevent a rapid resumption for 
 a year or two ; this partly in order to leave room 
 for repatriating the returning soldiers. At the 
 same time it was said that large numbers of 
 foreigners in the States were voluntarily returning 
 to their native countries, attracted by the new con- 
 ditions and new frontiers set up by the peace 
 treaties. With immigration restricted, and emigra- 
 tion fairly free, the double movement may some- 
 what alter the incidence of the "foreigner" question. 
 
THE NEGROES 65 
 
 The sojourner in New York is likely to be im- 
 pressed, early in his stay, by the numbers of 
 coloured folk in the streets, the trams (trolleys), 
 and the subways. They are usually well dressed, 
 quiet and good natured; happy children tempera- 
 mentally, until they get really angry or drunk — and 
 then they are apt to become distinctly awkward. 
 Most of the railway attendants in the passenger 
 cars are blacks, as well as a proportion of waiters 
 in hotels and clubs, hat and cloak room attendants, 
 and the like. This kind of personal service, and the 
 rough work in the open, they secure; but not the 
 orchestra stalls or dress circle seats in the industrial 
 theatre, for the native American keeps the skilled 
 artisan work largely to himself. 
 
 In one or two New York centres there are whole 
 streets occupied by negroes. After a few of them 
 secure lodgement by purchase, the whites leave the 
 district, and their houses are bought up by the 
 blacks at heavily depreciated prices. 
 
 I had heard of the excellent attention given to 
 travellers in the railway cars, but I confess I was 
 a little disappointed. The blacks did the work well 
 enough, but their manner was at times distinctly 
 casual. I made enquiry, and was told this had 
 arisen since the Government took control of the 
 railroads. The negroes regarded themselves as 
 no longer servants of a company, but rather as 
 
66 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 Government officials, and so comparatively secure 
 from dismissal. 
 
 The coloured soldiers have been praised and 
 petted on their return from the war, though I 
 gathered that, while fairly good in attack, they 
 were somewhat unreliable in the more protracted, 
 cold-blooded and stubborn business of defence. 
 On the Continent and in London many of them had 
 been allowed entry to the so-called gay life of the 
 cities, and had come back with exaggerated ideas 
 of their own importance. The parade of a returned 
 "black" division occurred before I left New York, 
 and was a tremendous event. If the onlookers 
 contained a biggish percentage of the dusky- 
 skinned, it remains that the general enthusiasm was 
 very marked. Quite right too, in a way; but 
 whether the effect on the negro was entirely salu- 
 tary is another question. 
 
 In the south, in the cotton States, the negroes still 
 do not generally vote, notwithstanding the result 
 of the Civil War. It is not that they are to-day 
 forcibly prevented ; but it has become a sort of 
 recognized custom that they shall not exercise 
 their ballot-box rights. In the southern States they 
 are more or less accustomed to restrictions, and 
 have not hitherto seemed greatly to resent this ; 
 but when large numbers recently migrated to the 
 north, attracted by war work and war wages in the 
 
THE NEGROES 67 
 
 munition factories and the railroads, tiiey 
 instinctively looked for better civic privileges than 
 they had enjoyed in the south. Had not the north 
 fought in order to grant them these very things? 
 Were not all the States to-day acclaiming their 
 valorous performances in France? Certainly in 
 the north they could freely vote; but even there 
 they had to take a lower rung in the industrial 
 ladder; and it is hardly to be wondered that they 
 did not quite like it. 
 
 Knowing these things, I asked several friends — 
 thinkers who weigh the questions of the day — how 
 they regarded the case, especially in view of the 
 prolific black birth-rate, and the total black popula- 
 tion of some twelve or thirteen millions. As a 
 rule they did not regard the question as a serious 
 one. A particularly well-informed legal man said 
 that if the black birth-rate was high, so was their 
 juvenile death-rate, with the consequence that the 
 coloured total was not rapidly growing. I had a 
 vague impression that these good friends rather 
 deliberately closed their eyes to the trouble, and 
 that their views expressed their hopes quite as 
 much as their convictions. 
 
 I was not really much surprised, a month or two 
 after I left New York, to read about the serious 
 "coloured" riots at Washington and Chicago, when 
 the military had to be called out, and quite a 
 
68 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 number of deaths occurred. In Washington the 
 trouble seemed to have started over unwelcome 
 attentions pressed by blacks upon white women, 
 and in both cases the deeper underlying sentiment 
 seems to have been, a sense of injury because equal 
 civil rights were not accorded. 
 
 My wife and I were privileged to visit a great 
 military camp near New York, capable of accommo- 
 dating some 85,000 trainees, and we were kindly 
 shown round by the Commandant. As we went 
 the rounds we passed a negro corps, headed by 
 their band. The evident delight of the men with 
 their uniforms and the music and the "show" 
 generally was both amusing and interesting. The 
 Commandant said they were just good-natured 
 children, "tickled to death" with the military pomp 
 and circumstance. He told us one or two amusing 
 yarns about these men. 
 
 Of one big black soldier he asked this question : 
 "What would you do, Sam, if you suddenly saw a 
 big German in front of you, armed with rifle and 
 bayonet, and ready to go for you ?" At once came 
 the reply : "I just done quick, Boss, what he told !" 
 — this with a broad grin. 
 
 A returned coloured soldier, in response to a 
 query, said that he had been a "door-keeper." 
 Asked to explain, he said he opened a little door at 
 the butt end of the gun, while his comrades slid in 
 
THE NEGROES 69 
 
 a shell. He added that after the shot he used to 
 jump on the gun-carriage, and defiantly call across 
 No Man's Land : "Kaiser, count yo' men !" 
 
 I spoke of these men doing hat and coat 
 attendant work in clubs, and some of them exhibit 
 quite extraordinary proficiency in their duties. 
 One well-known negro never gave identifying 
 discs or tickets, trusting wholly to memory. To 
 test him, a club member one day said : "Sam, how 
 did you know that was my hat?" Sam replied 
 that he did not know it was the member's hat. The 
 latter then said: "Well — why did you give it to 
 me?" "Cos, Boss, you gave it to me." 
 
SECTION IV 
 
 Industrial and Financial 
 
 The world-war has released spiritual forces as yet 
 incalculable, both in their scale and in their inci- 
 dence. Old-established ideas have disappeared for 
 ever; new conceptions of rights and wrongs 
 have not yet crystallized. The psychology of the 
 Labour world has undergone its changes too, and 
 the old answers will no longer suffice ; the necessary 
 readjustments still remain to be determined. The 
 immediate symptom is universal industrial unrest, 
 and America is no exception to the rule. But the 
 Australian reader will misunderstand the American 
 situation unless he first masters the essential 
 differences between American and Australian 
 labour problems. 
 
 In Australia the manual workers are almost 
 wholly British, the "foreign" percentage being 
 negligible in point of numbers. These workers, too, 
 are as a class educated up to the primary standard 
 (often, individually, well beyond it), while the per- 
 centage of illiterates is insignificant; they are 
 
INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL 71 
 
 mostly unionized; they have developed a powerful 
 political organization; and they have taken part in 
 a twenty years' experiment of Compulsory Arbitra- 
 tion. 
 
 In the United States the complications to which 
 I have already referred are set up by the foreigner 
 and the negro. These people do the unskilled 
 rough work, leaving skilled work as a rule to the 
 American-born. The latter are always surprised 
 to hear that in England the British manual worker 
 does the rough work. The American at home ex- 
 pects to enjoy a higher standard of wages and of 
 living than the foreigner; and he considers him- 
 self as to some extent losing caste if he works 
 alongside foreigners or negroes. He has usually 
 enjoyed educational advantages like those available 
 in Australia — illiteracy characterizes rather the 
 other two sections of American labour. Also he is 
 to a large extent unionized, whereas the unskilled 
 workers as a rule are not. Less than three million 
 workers in the United States are as yet unionized; 
 they are the aristocrats of the labour world, and 
 exercise in the industrial sphere a strength out of 
 proportion to their numbers. They usually succeed 
 in carrying, sooner or later (at any rate of late 
 years), their demands for improved conditions. At 
 the same time (as I have mentioned elsewhere) 
 they have hardly begun to develop the political side 
 
72 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 of the movement. Nor have they sought — they do 
 not seem even to desire — any Compulsory Arbitra- 
 tion machinery. 
 
 The United States are utilizing automatic and 
 labour-saving machinery to a greater extent than 
 other countries, and this explains their large out- 
 put per man as compared with Europe. Com- 
 paratively, in the States mechanism plays a greater 
 part than muscle. 
 
 Furthermore. I fancy piece-work is practised in 
 America to a far greater extent than in Australia, 
 Piece-work and bonus systems automatically re- 
 ward the more skilled and rapid worker; but our 
 Australian Unions seem to resent rewards of that 
 kind, preferring that all unionists should move 
 together, the brisk and capable operator along with 
 the dullard. I have the impression that in the 
 States these systems are in places attacked by 
 unionists as tending to overwork men and to de- 
 crease the number of jobs. Still, I think I am 
 correct in the broad idea that there is more piece- 
 work there than in Australia. 
 
 I was asked to speak about the Australian phase 
 of Compulsory Arbitration at one of the periodical 
 dinners of a Society which cultivates the discussion 
 of such topics. I stated that the system was one- 
 sided in application, and basically a failure, since 
 it had encouraged rather than prevented strikes. 
 
INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL -jz 
 
 Mr. Gompers, who was present, cordially agreed, 
 and said that he regarded it as an impracticable 
 method of settling industrial differences. In this 
 he apparently represents the general view taken by 
 Unionized Labour in the States. 
 
 In Canada also I inquired into the local system 
 of Compulsory Arbitration, and there the punitive 
 provisions cover individual fines, whereas ours pro- 
 vide possible imprisonment. However, a recog- 
 nized expert on their Act admitted to me that, 
 when it came to big masses of men, they could no 
 more successfully extort the fines than we could 
 gaol the men. In this sense legal compulsion seems 
 bound to break down wherever it is attempted; for 
 it is useless without punitive provisions, and such 
 provisions cannot, as a rule, be enforced against 
 big Unions. 
 
 The United States appeared to be moving 
 towards the "get together" method — "round table" 
 discussion — in the spirit of the British Whitley Re- 
 ports. Here and there big employers are showing 
 a readiness to co-operate with their workmen. 
 While retaining final control, these employers 
 readily recognize that the men are entitled to know- 
 much more about the industry in which they toil 
 than has hitherto been the case. Many employers, 
 too. have made some headway in humanitarian 
 provisions for their work-people — such as subsi- 
 
74 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 dized benefit and pension schemes, libraries, 
 gymnasiums, and the like. This movement is not 
 universal, but it is growing, and likely to be success- 
 ful ; and that is more than can be said of our Com- 
 pulsory Arbitration. With us the artificial antagon- 
 isms and delays of court hearings tend to create 
 bitterness and to keep the parties asunder ; whereas 
 the humanizing atmosphere of direct discussion, 
 round a table, by the parties concerned in the 
 particular industry, must surely lead to more rapid 
 and satisfactory results. The one good feature of 
 our Australian system is the basic living wage ; but 
 that can be independently secured. 
 
 America is no more free from strikes and the 
 "go-slow" cancer than we are. The "go-slow" 
 trouble is a very difficult one to measure exactly, 
 or to express quantitatively. I propose, therefore, 
 to say no more than this. I often enquired about 
 its extent in the trades based upon day wages, and 
 my general conclusion was that it was not quite so 
 severe as irritated men of affairs were inclined to 
 assert; on the other hand, if a direct comparison 
 could be instituted, it would probably be found 
 worse, on the whole, there than in Australia. Em- 
 ployers in the States do not hesitate to pay big 
 wages, and naturally want a fairly commensurate 
 production. They realize that the "go-slow" evil, 
 if protracted, must lead eventually to financial ruin 
 
INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL 75 
 
 for employers and employed alike; while it exer- 
 cises a terribly deteriorative influence on the 
 character of the worker who deliberately "slacks." 
 
 During the war — i.e., since April, 19 17 — the 
 United States Government has done its utmost to 
 secure continuance of work, and to prevent strikes ; 
 but by the doubtful expedient of frequent and 
 heavy increases of wages, and the ready granting of 
 other demands made by the workers. Conse- 
 quently wages are now at a very high level, and the 
 labour bodies have virtually thrown down a general 
 challenge to anyone in authority, Governmental or 
 private, who may seek to reduce these rates. 
 
 Since the Armistice there have been several 
 serious strikes, on various grounds. They are, as 
 a rule, the work of the "foreign" agitator, rather 
 than of the unionized American workman ; but 
 behind them all is widespread discontent with the 
 extremely high cost of living and with "profiteer- 
 ing." There has been profiteering in the States, as 
 in other countries, and no doubt the workmen hear 
 very exaggerated tales of the profiteer's doings. 
 The recent big strike in the steel trade is said to 
 have been largely the work of the foreign element, 
 coupled possibly with some restiveness at what is 
 regarded by the men, rightly or wrongly, as the 
 unapproachable attitude of the steel magnates. 
 One of the Labour leaders recently wrote: "We 
 
76 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 have a democratic form of Government, but an 
 aristocratic control of industry. So we now ad- 
 vance to the new crusade with all the fervour of pil- 
 grims." There is probably just enough truth in 
 such a statement to render it awkward to contest. 
 
 Mr. Gompers is quite a remarkable old man, and 
 a very able one. He would have made a consider- 
 able mark on his time, apart from his recent 
 association with President Wilson at Paris and 
 elsewhere. The labour world is led by the "Ameri- 
 can Federation of Labour," and that Federation is 
 led by Mr. Gompers. It contains awkward and 
 fractious elements — I.W.W.s and Bolsheviki — and 
 these unruly elements Mr. Gompers kept in strong 
 and salutary check during the war, though at any 
 moment now trouble may break out. Mr. Gompers 
 has no easy task. He is a wise man, with no sym- 
 pathy for "go-slow" or revolutionary methods. 
 One wonders on whom his mantle will fall. 
 
 Farm labour was said to be already scarce when 
 I left the States in June, 1919, and this applied also 
 to the blacks in the southern cotton-fields. The 
 war had stopped the incoming stream of 
 "foreigners" : many of those who had already 
 arrived were heading back to Europe, and some 
 had risen in the social scale. In a city like New 
 York domestic servants were becoming almost as 
 extinct as the dodo or the moa ; wages, for the few 
 
INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL "77 
 
 available, were consequently high, ranging from 
 £2 to £5 per week. People on the smaller 
 salaries cannot pay such wages, and the future pre- 
 sents some undoubtedly serious problems. Since 
 I left the States I have seen estimates showing the 
 probability of a large shortage of labour generally 
 in the early future, notwithstanding the repatria- 
 tion of their soldiers. If so, then it is a virtual 
 certainty that wages will not fall : they may even 
 rise yet higher. 
 
 Before the war, wages in the unskilled trades 
 were about 6s. per day, now they are about 14s. 
 For ordinary skilled work before April, 191 7, 24s. 
 to 30s. a day was paid ; to-day in some cases it com- 
 mands £3 or more. Possibly there will be some 
 downward adjustments of the exceptional rates, 
 but it is hard to forecast anything in that connec- 
 tion. Early this year the cost of living was, 
 broadly taken, nearly double that of Australia, 
 while the purchasing power of money was little 
 more than half ours. In their industries mass pro- 
 duction and standardization — with plenty of the 
 most modern machinery — enabled employers to pay 
 high wages with a fair amount of ease. They were 
 also assisted by the huge profits they made during 
 the earlier stages of the war, before America was 
 in it. At the same time they have to solve (just as 
 we have) several grave Labour problems before 
 
78 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 they can regard the industrial outlook as reason- 
 ably secure and serene. 
 
 When a great nation of 107,000,000 people 
 suddenly goes "dry," there are likely to be both 
 questionings and anxieties amongst neighbour 
 nations. To the United States it means a loss of 
 revenue from Customs and Excise of some 
 £300,000,000 annually; and it also brings about a 
 serious situation in one or two Western States, 
 such as California, whose wines were beginning 
 to be exported in fairly large quantities. It also 
 means a material loss of business to England, 
 whence spirits were freely exported to America — 
 and similarly to France, in respect of wines. 
 
 I was in the States when the national referen- 
 dum decided the matter. The curious feature was 
 how very unexpected (at any rate in New York) 
 the decision seemed to be. The average citizen did 
 not appear to have thought much about it, and 
 seemed to be taken completely by surprise. The 
 position was accentuated by the fact that the 
 decision (which takes effect from the i6th January, 
 1920) provided for no compensation. Not only 
 was a traffic, which had grown up under the 
 law, to be extinguished without notice or com- 
 pensation, but the sudden cessation of the many 
 trades and occupations directly and indirectly con- 
 
THE LIQUOR QUESTION 79 
 
 nected with liquor must obviously create a large 
 number of unemployed; and this did not seem to 
 have been particularly considered in advance by 
 anyone I encountered. 
 
 Actually the country went dry on the ist July, 
 1919, but that was a temporary six months pro- 
 vision under special war powers, to cover the 
 period of demobilization. It was hoped by many 
 that President Wilson would intervene, and miti- 
 gate the rigours of the six-months fiat by making 
 an exception in favour of light wines (in the 
 interests of Calif ornian vignerons) and beers con- 
 taining 2.75 per cent, of alcohol or less. In the 
 event this proved a vain hope, and on the date 
 named the United States went "dry" as regards the 
 public sale of alcoholic liquor. 
 
 This temporary arrangement expires on Dec. 31, 
 and the "national" decision will then apply. In 
 Australia, a national referendum would be voted on 
 by all electors in the country, and would require to be 
 carried not only by a majority of all votes, but 
 also by a majority of States. In the United States 
 the reference is to the legislatures of the forty-eight 
 States, and if three-fourths ratify, the question is 
 deemed carried. It has been alleged that the 
 American temperance fanatics did not hesitate to 
 bring something very like undue pressure to bear 
 
8o AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 upon legislators, not only with regard to future 
 voting support, but also by raking up personal 
 records from incompletely buried pasts. However 
 that may be, it is a certainty that the ardour and 
 organized work on the temperance side were wide- 
 spread and efifective. Many of the churches aided 
 the movement ; in places, it is said, business boy- 
 cotts were utilized to press the cause. The "wet" 
 counter campaign seems to have lacked anything 
 like the same scope or cohesion. Many of the 
 brewers were Germans, and their voices in protest 
 were, at that particular time, hardly raised, and 
 would in any case have been ineffective. The 
 nation's decision came literally with the unexpected- 
 ness of a thief in the night. 
 
 More than the necessary three-fourths — in fact 
 45 out of the 48 — of the States ratified, and 
 the requisite Enforcement Bill has lately been 
 passed. This measure prohibits the sale (save for 
 medicinal purposes) of all liquor containing over 
 one-half per cent, of alcohol. Citizens may keep 
 liquor privately ; but they may at any time be called 
 upon to prove that they do not hold it for sale. 
 Finally, there is to be no domiciliary search. The 
 nation is deemed to have spoken, and the national 
 voice has to be obeyed. It will need a reverse 
 decision at another referendum to turn the United 
 
THE LIQUOR QUESTION 8i 
 
 States "wet" again; but another referendum in the 
 early future seems rather unlikely. 
 
 What then were the main arguments utilized 
 during this extraordinary campaign? Some were 
 of course mossy with old familiarity; but let us 
 classify the two sets after the fashion of the 
 sagacious Burleigh when he was advising good 
 Queen Bess on the questions of the day. 
 
 Against Prohibition. — i. To the American the 
 idea of reasonable personal freedom is peculiarly 
 dear, for his separate national existence is based 
 upon a struggle for freedom one hundred and forty 
 years ago. Why — he would say — should ninety- 
 nine moderate drinkers be denied an occasional 
 glass because the hundredth sometimes indulges in 
 that "beggarly damnation drunkenness?" Why 
 not be stricter with that one man, and with the 
 saloons which over-supply him? Why deny the 
 genial host the reasonable pleasure of entertaining 
 his guests on traditional and strictly moderate 
 lines ? 
 
 2. He would add that the excessive drinker lacks 
 self-control. If the delinquent is debarred from 
 liquor, he will inevitably break the conventions in 
 other and probably more harmful ways (e.g., by 
 the use of drugs or by patronizing illicit stills) 
 with worse effects on health and character. 
 
82 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 3. He would also urge the danger of unemploy- 
 ment and the Californian aspects of the case, to 
 which references have already been made. 
 
 4. The Bible does not interdict moderate drink- 
 ing, say the "wets." 
 
 5. If prohibition is to be the new law of the land, 
 why not honestly compensate activities which have 
 grown up under the sanction of the old law ? 
 
 6. Total prohibition converts into a crime that 
 which the honest convictions of masses of people 
 refuse to consider as such. 
 
 For Prohibition. — i. Increased industrial 
 efficiency, with decreased crime and pauperism, was 
 predicted. In a country like America, where 
 efficiency is especially appreciated, this argument 
 carries far. The "wets" say that many criminals 
 plead "drunkenness" in order to mitigate sentences, 
 whether they were really drunk or not. If, how- 
 ever, the quoted statistics of decreased sentences 
 and reduced pauperism in States already dry are 
 correct — as the "drys" strongly assert — they are 
 difficult to argue away. The "drys" add that, in 
 order to attain the more blessed condition indicated 
 by the statistics, the moderate drinker should be 
 ready to "forswear sack." 
 
 2. The "drys" dwelt on evils such as the two 
 hundred New York night cabarets and dancing 
 
THE LIQUOR QUESTION 83 
 
 saloons, where young girls were plied with liquor 
 by old men of the Silenus type. Also, they urged 
 the danger to the community when negroes over- 
 indulged in alcohol and became satyrs or assassins, 
 with the inevitable consequence of "white" 
 reprisals. 
 
 3. In answer to the "wet" arguments, about sly 
 drinking and drugs, the "drys" suggested stringent 
 legislation to suppress private stills and the illicit 
 sale of drugs. (Something has already been done 
 as regards drugs.) 
 
 4. No great amount of unemployment — the 
 "drys" added — need result from abolition. The 
 breweries, they said, could turn to the manufacture 
 of ice-cream and candies, for which a greater de- 
 mand would arise when alcohol was abolished. 
 
 5. Why trouble to compensate an unholy traffic, 
 said the "drys." (A poor argument: but freely 
 used. ) 
 
 After all, the prohibition movement was nothing 
 new. A number of States were already "dry" ; 
 several others had local option. The juxtaposition 
 of "dry" and "wet" States did not lend itself to 
 ready enforcement of the law in the former ; but 
 national "dryness" is quite another matter. Im- 
 ports can now be effectually barred ; the rest is a 
 question of countering private ingenuity and deter- 
 
84 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 mination. The W.C.T.U. have been at active work 
 since 1873, and the Anti-Saloon League since 1893. 
 On the whole the women were "dry"; for it is they 
 who feel the burden of the trouble when the bread- 
 winner wastes his wages and dissipates his health 
 in saloons. In the Middle West and West the 
 better educated classes were also very largely "dry" 
 advocates, because in those regions the saloon 
 typified all that was worst in social and political 
 life. In the East — for instance, in a city like New 
 York — these classes do not personally encounter 
 the saloon, and its influences as they do further out. 
 
 "Will the States remain 'dry'?" was a question 
 often asked. The answer is not easily supplied. 
 The nation will do rather extraordinary things in 
 response to any moral plea which appeals to its 
 emotional side: but in this particular decision one 
 had the idea that the majority was more surprised 
 into it that really convinced. At the same time 
 there it is: technically a national decision, and one 
 not easily reversed. 
 
 Most wealthy people, no doubt, have started the 
 new era with well-stocked cellars. Manual toilers 
 may yet have something to say, since there are now 
 no saloons to supply them with "long beers" after 
 heavy work in dusty or hot surroundings, while the 
 more fortunate owners of cellars can indulge at ease, 
 
THE LIQUOR QUESTION 85 
 
 at any rate to the limit of the stocks now on hand. 
 One wary New Yorker of sixty-two is said to have 
 consulted a physician about his reasonable expecta- 
 tion of life. Upon being told "about ten years" he 
 went off and laid in stocks of assorted liquors esti- 
 mated to last twenty years. 
 
 In the Dominion of New Zealand the National 
 Efficiency Board reported in July, 1917, on the 
 total prohibition question, and recommended that, 
 in the event of prohibition being carried, compensa- 
 tion was "manifestly" necessary for all whose 
 legitimate interests were abolished. Incidentally 
 the report foreshadowed as results of prohibition 
 decreased crime and pauperism, with increased 
 national efficiency. 
 
 The United Kingdom seems quite unlikely to 
 attempt total "dryness." 
 
 In the United States it was freely said (whether 
 by way of joke or seriously was not always 
 apparent) that there was at any rate one mitigation 
 ahead. Pure grape juice, unfermented, with a 
 pinch of yeast and a couple of raisins, would pro- 
 vide all the hilarity any festive occasion could 
 reasonably require. 
 
 During the war the world's shipping suffered 
 losses — from enemy action and sea perils — aggre- 
 
86 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 gating some fifteen million tons, of which the 
 British share was about nine million tons. 
 
 Here are some significant figures, collected from 
 the annual report (1918-19) of the Chamber of 
 Shipping in the United Kingdom : — 
 
 British losses of shipping during Tons, 
 
 the war . . . . . . , , 9,031,828 
 
 Gains — British construction 4,342,296 
 Purchase abroad 530,000 
 
 Enemy ships captured 716,520 
 
 5,588,816 
 
 Net loss . . 3,443,012 
 
 Comparison of British and American Pre-war 
 AND Post-war Shipping 
 
 July 31, 1914, British gross tonnage 
 
 (steam) . . . . . . . . 20,523,706 
 
 Oct. 31, 1918, British gross tonnage 
 
 (steam) . . . . . . . . 16,859,936 
 
 A decrease of 17 per cent. 
 
 July 31, 1914, United States, gross 
 
 tonnage (steam) . . . . . . 2,069,637 
 
 Oct. 31, 1918, United States, gross 
 
 tonnage (steam) .. .. .. *5, 116,521 
 
 An increase of 147 per cent. 
 
 *No indication is given whether this total includes 
 captured German tonnage. 
 
THE MERCANTILE MARINE 87 
 
 British construction is proceeding again, and 
 very skilled construction it is. One of these bright 
 days the old total tonnage will be restored: but, in 
 the new world-situation, how are we to revive the 
 old profusion of cargoes? 
 
 For some years Americans have felt worried 
 about their comparatively shipless condition, in- 
 volving as it did the result that a microscopic pro- 
 portion of American goods was carried in Ameri- 
 can vessels. There was, too, possibly an inclination 
 to glance enviously at the extensive British tonnage 
 and its wide-spread utility. In July, 1914, America 
 owned about two million tons ; rather more than 
 four years later she had over five million tons, and 
 there were about 340 shipbuilding yards scattered 
 about the country, all capable of a vast total output. 
 No wonder the public mind was full of ambitious 
 programmes for the future. There are, however, 
 some obstacles to be overcome before America can 
 stand high on the list in the friendly rivalries of 
 the world's ocean carriage. 
 
 At enormous cost and in great haste the States 
 during the war built wooden and steel vessels. At 
 the same time, in order to avoid stoppages of work, 
 Government increased wages and prices of 
 materials freely and frequently. In the wooden 
 vessels unseasoned timber was used. When I left 
 in June, 1919, the Government was wisely doing its 
 
88 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 utmost to sell these comparatively ineffective ships, 
 and was paying huge compensation to cancel 
 wooden construction contracts. Government steel 
 construction is, no doubt, improving in quality : but 
 I was told that the earlier vessels were not regarded 
 by experts as specially successful. The rapid 
 establishment of enormous shipyards is compara- 
 tively an easy matter ; but shipbuilding is no simple 
 science, and it may require many years to evolve 
 the requisite surroundings for high-class construc- 
 tion such as that at Belfast and on the Clyde. 
 
 When I left the States, the American Govern- 
 ment seemed likely to go out of the shipbuilding 
 business : for there was a strong feeling abroad that 
 only war justified Governmental construction. 
 Now the war was over, there was a very general 
 sentiment that the sooner Government ceased such 
 work the better. If this cessation comes about, 
 somg yards may be rather left "in the air" ; and, in 
 any case, the original heavy cost of construction 
 will require large sums to be written off in order 
 to put the vessels built in war-time on a reasonable 
 capital basis. * Feeling is equally strong against the 
 running of vessels by the Government, and no doubt 
 the new Governmental tonnage will presently pass 
 into private hands. 
 
 The conditions secured by the Seamens' Union, 
 and translated into Governmental regulations, 
 
THE MERCANTILE MARINE 89 
 
 render it difficult for the American mercantile 
 marine to compete successfully with other tonnage. 
 More men have to be employed in the vessels than 
 are strictly needed ; wages are comparatively high ; 
 and there are very special rules as to food and 
 accommodation. Owners in consequence often 
 sought foreign registration. I heard, too, doubts 
 expressed whether the States could find enough 
 American sailors for a really big tonnage, for the 
 opportunities on land — especially the railways — 
 attracted men away from the sea. If these con- 
 ditions are to remain, the shipping interests will no 
 doubt suggest Government subsidies to counter- 
 vail the less onerous "foreign" regulations. There 
 is a strong sentiment in favour of private owner- 
 ship and management ; but the idea of subsidies in 
 such matters is not popular. If subsidies were 
 granted, there would no doubt be added collateral 
 conditions about Governmental supervision and 
 regulation of freights. 
 
 It will be seen, then, that the ambition to possess 
 a great mercantile marine is likely to require very 
 careful adjustment before it can be consummated. 
 The States are keen to capture more of the South 
 American trade, and to that end have been adver- 
 tising some of the big captured German tonnage as 
 a special inducement. The Panama Canal also 
 opens up vistas of possibilities yet to be fully 
 
90 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 tested. The American shipping men I met in New 
 York were not, as a rule, very sanguine about the 
 future ; but the war had only recently ended, and it 
 was too early to form final conclusions. Too many 
 important factors were still undetermined. The 
 nation is so ready to undertake big projects, and 
 its monetary means are so great, that one hesi- 
 tates to say that it is unlikely to achieve anything 
 in reason which it specially desires. 
 
 Everyone has heard of "Hog Island." Let me 
 give a few salient details about it. A little more 
 than two years ago it was a tract of waste land on 
 the Delaware River. By September, 1918, it had 
 become the biggest shipyard in the world, with 
 accommodation for 34,000 workmen, and with fifty 
 shipways for 8,000-ton steel vessels. All this was 
 roughly one year's work. The money put into it 
 was enormous ; all sorts of denunciations were 
 hurled at it in the press and the legislature, without, 
 however, disclosing any maladministration. It was 
 war-work, carried out at breathless speed and quite 
 regardless of cost. 
 
 There are some points in this connection which 
 competing nations would do well to study care- 
 fully. American experts claim; (i) that they can 
 secure the requisite steel more cheaply than other 
 nations; (2) that they can complete an 8,000-ton 
 vessel in twenty-five weeks; (3) that standardized 
 
RAILWAYS 91 
 
 construction of a maximum of fifty vessels at a 
 time reduces the cost of each very materially, as 
 against construction by threes and fours ; (4) 
 finally, they cite the increasing skill and efficiency 
 of their yard labour. This last feature, they claim, 
 is attested by the entirely satisfactory running of 
 nearly fifty vessels so far launched. Construction 
 has slowed down since the Armistice ; but where 
 exactly will such a yard figure in the future ship- 
 construction of the world? Though the largest 
 yard, it is yet only one of many yards in the States. 
 Whether you entirely accept the claim to first-class 
 construction on the American system or not, here 
 is matter to give any nation pause. It may be that 
 the "fabricated" vessel has not quite the finish and 
 "soul" of the vessel built in the historic yards. On 
 this point I am not personally capable of pro- 
 nouncing; but he would be rash who would affirm 
 that the American tonnage is unlikely to sell well 
 enough, or to work well enough for all reasonable 
 sea-carriage requirements. 
 
 In Australia the railways have been always State- 
 owned; not as the outcome of any particular 
 economic doctrine, but because there were no 
 private funds to undertake the work. The State 
 capitals were hundreds of miles apart ; and as each 
 State began, years ago, its modest programme of 
 railroad building, it did so on any gauge deemed 
 
92 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 suitable at the place and moment, with little thought 
 for the awkward situation likely to arise when the 
 rail systems met at the State borders. For their 
 main lines Queensland and West Australia adopted 
 the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge; Victoria and South Aus- 
 tralia the 5 ft. 3 in.; and New South Wales the 
 4 ft. 8^ in. The "transcontinental" Federal section, 
 one thousand miles long, which connects Adelaide 
 with Perth, has the 4 ft. 8^ in. gauge. There 
 have been many discussions about unifying the 
 gauges, but the cost would be heavy, and the 
 war has postponed such work sine. die. Strategi- 
 cally these breaks of gauge may be gravely dis- 
 advantageous, but for goods and passengers the 
 trouble is not so serious in practice as it might 
 seem. Most goods pass from capital to capital by 
 sea, rail transit being too costly for such long haul- 
 age. Passengers suffer some inconvenience where 
 one system meets another of different gauge ; but 
 even so it amounts to little more than crossing a 
 platform with the light luggage, while the railway 
 people see to the heavy "booked" luggage. 
 
 In the United States the railways are all privately 
 owned, and under normal circumstances privately 
 managed. The gauge is the standard 4 feet 8^ inch 
 practically throughout. Rates were under State 
 control for some few years before the war, with 
 considerable clamour from the corporations con- 
 
RAILWAYS 93 
 
 cerned that the schedules were too low to permit of 
 profitable working. Unfler the Anti-Trust laws 
 these lines were unable to co-operate or combine 
 for purposes of rate maintenance. On the whole 
 the management was good, and the systems were 
 well run ; but latterly the reduced earning power in 
 some cases had led to deterioration of the perma- 
 nent ways. 
 
 As a war-measure the Government on the 31st 
 December, 191 7, took over the management of the 
 railways, mainly in order to cut out needless ser- 
 vices, and thus save labour and coal. Owners were, 
 in the meantime, to receive compensation equal to 
 standard returns, and for a time were able to sit 
 back without anxiety and watch the Governmental 
 manipulation of their lines. Notwithstanding the 
 advantages of centralized control. Governmental 
 management was very largely condemned as un- 
 satisfactory, and in its hands the permanent ways 
 have further deteriorated. The wages of railway 
 operatives were increased with almost feverish 
 readiness, thus adding to the burden on the public 
 Treasury; but low railage rates were maintained, 
 and the owners in the background began to be 
 anxious. About the time I left the States (June, 
 1919) a .very vexed issue had arisen — in the legis- 
 latures and elsewhere — over the question whether 
 Government control was to be protracted, and, if 
 
94 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 not, on what terms the lines were to be returned to 
 owners. For the latter the situation had become 
 distinctly awkward, since the ways had been "let 
 down" rather badly, and the rates chargeable were 
 said to be as a rule insufficient under the new con- 
 ditions of wage-rates and cost of materials. Also, 
 many millions were needed to restore the condition 
 of the tracks. 
 
 Many plans came under discussion, but it would 
 be profitless to examine them in any detail here. 
 Broadly, it looked as if the lines would presently 
 be returned to private ownership, under some kind 
 of Governmental control as to rates, but probably 
 with increased rate schedules. 
 
 Since I left America the labour bodies connected 
 with the railroads have put forward a strong 
 demand for nationalization of the lines, ivith labour 
 participation in both management and profits. 
 The idea of Governmental ownership and manage- 
 ment is not, however, palatable to the average 
 responsible American mind. They believe very 
 strongly in the superior efficiency of experienced 
 private control — supervised, if necessary. Labour's 
 demand for participation in profits is curiously 
 illogical. It starts with the notion of ousting the 
 present private owner, whose capital, initiative and 
 brains created these railway systems, so that he 
 shall not participate in profits : while the railroad's 
 
FINANCE 95 
 
 manual workers, who did none of these things, are 
 to participate. 
 
 When the Government assumed control of the 
 railways, it also, about the same time, took over the 
 Telegraph and Telephone systems. In these cases, 
 too, the comparison between Governmental and 
 private management seems to have been markedly 
 in favour of the latter. The systems were recently 
 handed back to the owners — on the eve of a 
 serious strike declared by the operators in both 
 sections. 
 
 The world's trading and financial interests are 
 so interconnected that a nation prospers best when 
 all other nations are prosperous. Under the spur 
 of necessity and by dint of much ingenuity the 
 nations had gradually and laboriously worked 
 themselves into a fairly sound position for mutual 
 trading. Supplies of gold, with its concomitant 
 credit, were not evenly and proportionately divided, 
 because nations differed widely in thrift and skill, 
 and in business qualities : still, these things were 
 distributed in a way tolerably efficient for purposes 
 of interchanges. Then came the great war, and the 
 carefully built structure disappeared. The United 
 States emerged with too much financial power, 
 completely upsetting the old healthy balance. The 
 United Kingdom is still financially strong; but its 
 
96 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 influence on international finance is somewhat cur- 
 tailed for a time. One or two neutrals prospered 
 during the war, but are negligible from any large 
 point of view : while the other belligerents are 
 seriously crippled for many a day to come. Mean- 
 time the United States have more gold than they 
 know what to do with, and trade balances are so 
 strongly in their favour as to upset rates of ex- 
 change and discourage other countries from pur- 
 chasing their exports. It may be a long and weary 
 pilgrimage before the world's resources will be once 
 more healthily distributed for purposes of inter- 
 change. Patience and courage and skill will be 
 needed to bring about a really sound international 
 business basis. 
 
 How it was calculated I do not know, but I 
 recently read a statement of apparent authenticity 
 — at any rate it was made in a well-weighed and 
 responsible article. It was this : — 
 
 1. In igi2 the United Kingdom did nearly 2 J 
 per cent, of international trade. 
 
 (We know she was a great creditor nation, and 
 was said to have invested outside Britain over four 
 thousand millions sterling.) 
 
 2. In that same year the United States did nearly 
 10 per cent of international trade. 
 
 (They were a debtor nation, with a capital 
 mainly absorbed in their great internal markets and 
 
FINANCE 97 
 
 shares and industries. Before the war they were 
 not serious investors in foreign securities.) 
 
 The war has greatly widened the outlook for 
 American moneyed interests, and the future is 
 likely to disclose a readiness to expand abroad 
 which has been comparatively absent in the past. 
 
 Before America came into the war, her external 
 investment movement started with the successful 
 Anglo-French War Loan of i 100,000,000, notwith- 
 standing strong German opposition and thinly- 
 veiled threats. That the loan was a remarkable 
 success becomes apparent when it is realized that it 
 was not only contrary to their pre-existing 
 tendency to confine themselves to American invest- 
 ments, but that the money market was at the time a 
 little strained by buying back American securities 
 which the Allies were selling in order to stabilize 
 the exchanges. First and last some £600,000,000 
 of such securities were bought back during the war, 
 and in addition the Allies sent across some 
 £240,000,000 in gold. All this was not enough to 
 pay for war materials bought by the Allies, and 
 special loans were made by the States in order to 
 redress the trade balances and assist the Allies. 
 Up to the date on which America entered the war 
 (April, 1917) the Allies had borrowed from her 
 about £600,000,000; while the whole of the war- 
 borrowings amounted to about £2.000.000,000. .A.s 
 
98 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 against this a total of only £9,000,000 was lent to 
 Germany — of course before April, 19 17. 
 
 This might be styled the external financial war 
 contribution of the United States. Super-added 
 was the internal effort. I was in the country when 
 two or three war loans were floated. The 
 thoroughness of the canvass and the general 
 enthusiasm were alike admirable. The great 
 bankers patriotically assisted, while the concentra- 
 tion of resources in the fourteen Banks of the 
 Federal Reserve System made comparatively easy 
 the carrying through of large money operations. 
 Taxation became heavy, especially income and ex- 
 cess profits taxes ; for the United States were said 
 to have raised about one-third of the war costs by 
 taxation. 
 
 Great Britain started the war with a national 
 debt of £645,000,000. In March, 1919. her total 
 debt had risen to £7,435,000,000, of which 
 £1,350,000,000 represented external debt. As 
 against this £1.350,000,000, the Allies and 
 Dominions owed Great Britain £1,739.000,000. The 
 United States Government in 1914 had a trifling 
 debt ; the people made tremendous profits from 
 August, 1914, to April, 1917; then they came into 
 the struggle themselves, and began to spend money 
 like water. They now owe (internally) some 
 
FINANCE 99 
 
 £5.200,000,000, of which about £2,000,000,000 was 
 lent to the Allies. 
 
 I have already mentioned the great resources of 
 the forty-eight States in products of all sorts : the 
 initiative and industrial courage and efficiency of 
 their people: the large accumulations of gold, and 
 the almost unlimited extensibility of their credit. 
 With all these favouring circumstances, will New 
 York displace London as the world's money centre 
 — as the recognized clearing-house for international 
 exchanges of goods? Some American financiers 
 probably have this ambition : and they may think 
 that the recent transfers of very large money re- 
 sources to New York render it a certainty. Behind 
 the ambition there is, no doubt, a little jealousy of 
 the extraordinary position hitherto occupied by 
 London in this connection. Other American 
 financiers, I think, have a wider and a juster view. 
 They realize the inevitable interdependence of all 
 great money centres, and they recognize that the 
 geographical situation of London — next door to 
 Europe — gives it a great natural fitness for the 
 work it has so admirably performed. 
 
 London had (and has) some very remarkable 
 recommendations. The United Kingdom bought 
 from all countries and sold to all. She lent funds 
 to all who were able to offer reliable securities, and 
 this — as a rule — without imposing onerous trading 
 
loo AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 conditions. London was the one really free gold 
 market in the universe. The insular position of 
 the country was a security, rendered doubly secure 
 by our unmatched navy. The short loan market 
 was unique: the steady interest rates, wisely regu- 
 lated by the Bank of England, rendered time trans- 
 actions as a rule closely calculable: and the world- 
 wide reputation for integrity of the great money 
 houses, gained in three hundred years of trading, 
 had no parallel elsewhere. Some of these features 
 may be inpaired for a while; but the majority re- 
 main, and will continue to operate when normal 
 conditions recur. 
 
 New York has not yet evolved a short loan 
 market in any sense comparable to that of London ; 
 and it is yet very young, as a leading banker 
 frankly admitted to me, in the machinery and 
 knowledge of international trading. The money 
 rates are not regulated by any such system as that 
 supervised by the Bank of England ; and the mar- 
 ket is consequently rather at the mercy of 
 occasional attacks of nerves on the part of the 
 public. British interest rates remained almost 
 without alteration throughout the war, and notes 
 were freely accepted as legal tender — exhibiting a 
 wonderful proof of the nation's confidence in its 
 money Institutions. American rates have altered 
 frequently, and sometimes (for a day or two) to 
 
FINANCE loi 
 
 levels unknown in England. At any moment, in 
 one of those sudden flurries characteristic of the 
 New York market, the rates may rise to lo, 15, or 
 even 20 per cent, per annum for day to day money. 
 
 Possibly some little diversion of the international 
 clearing-house business may yet result, so that it 
 will not be quite so exclusively a London job as it 
 was in the past. But that London will be seriously 
 superseded in the early future is by no means likely. 
 
 I encountered men in New York who were quite 
 aware of the great profits amassed by the United 
 States in the earlier stages of the war, and they 
 realized two resulting obligations. One a sort of 
 duty laid upon them to assist the war-stricken 
 European nations ; the other a necessary extension 
 of credit to those nations, to enable them to pur- 
 chase in the States the materials for reconstruction. 
 One trusts the views of such men will prevail, 
 rather than the ideas of exponents of the doctrine 
 that every loan must carry strict trading advant- 
 ages for the States — in other words, that here is 
 America's chance to exploit the sore necessities 
 of impoverished Europe. 
 
 I deemed it only right to speak frankly in the 
 States, more than once, about certain phases of 
 future Australian-American trade. An Australian, 
 speaking in New York just before I arrived, had 
 (possibly without intention) given the impression 
 
I02 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 that a commanding proportion of Australian trade 
 was America's for the asking. I pointed out: — 
 (i) that our sense of patriotism — not to mention 
 our monetary obhgations — would always direct a 
 large proportion of our trade to the United King- 
 dom; (2) that this United Kingdom trade had been 
 interrupted, in many directions, by war urgencies, 
 but would certainly be resumed presently; (3) that 
 Australia would not desire to expand trade with 
 any nation to the detriment of her trade with the 
 United Kingdom; (4) that America's opportunity 
 lay in the direction of the trade previously done 
 with Germany. 
 
 Americans, in my experience, never resented 
 frank honest statements : and they did not in the 
 least resent the foregoing: though these must have 
 sounded a little disappointing in their ears, after 
 the glowing periods of that previous Australian 
 speaker. 
 
 Pre-war Germany was a free buyer of nearly all 
 Australian products, and we shall now need to look 
 round carefully for buyers, and especially for 
 buyers able to pay cash. There, too, America can 
 come in ; but if the States buy freely from us, they 
 will also expect to sell something to us. 
 
SECTION V 
 
 General and Final 
 
 You instinctively say "damn," for the sake of the 
 mental relief, when you bang your shin against a 
 kerbstone. In somewhat the same way the 
 ordinary man needs occasional relief from the try- 
 ing and tedious processes of linguistic correctness. 
 vSlang is the result. Much has been said about 
 American slang: sometimes suggestions that it 
 borders upon vulgarity. Let us briefly examine the 
 question. 
 
 American slang has the qualities of directness, 
 brevity, and humour. Their first-class speakers do 
 not in formal addresses use slang, except very 
 occasionally and for special emphasis : but in 
 ordinary conversation one hears plenty of it — 
 singularly apt, as a rule, but rarely vulgar. Very 
 occasionally one hears an expression which grates 
 on the unaccustomed ear, but what nation's slang 
 is entirely free of such? 
 
 If you have work to do — "go to it" or "get 
 busy"; if you succeed you have "put it over," or 
 
I04 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 you have "delivered the goods." If one is restless 
 they will say of him that he will not "stay put" : if 
 he is peevish they may ask "What's biting you ?" — 
 and so on. There is no vulgarity in such expres- 
 sions : but, as the American employs them, a cer- 
 tain quaint fitness. I often heard their after- 
 dinner speakers wax hotly indignant about the 
 war-crimes of Germany and her Kaiser: they 
 would add that just punishment must be meted out 
 to the latter, for it would never do, in the interests 
 of Germany herself, to allow the arch-criminal to 
 "get way with it." 
 
 In England one hears certain words tortured by 
 repetition until they cease to have any meaning, 
 e.g., absolutely, rotten, ripping, priceless, and the 
 like. It is a singularly unenterprising kind of 
 addendum to language. It adds no vivacity to talk 
 — rather the reverse. There is far more "punch" 
 in the American method. 
 
 Baseball in the States has a terminology all its 
 own, and the more capably humorous reporters 
 receive high salaries for reports which read like 
 Choctaw to the British stranger. "Rooters" and 
 "fans" are the folk who supply the frenzied 
 excitement of the onlookers. The discerning 
 philologist w-ill see at once that "fan" is short for 
 fanatic. The "bleacher" is the onlooker in the 
 cheaper outside seats, with no roof over him. 
 
SPEAKERS AND PRONUNCIATION 105 
 
 That too is clear enough ; also such terms as "two 
 baggers" (two runs) : and "spitball," when the 
 pitcher salivates a section of the ball to attain a 
 certain spin. But why a left-hander is a "south 
 paw" is not so clear. 
 
 I well know the value of a column in such a 
 paper as the Nezv York Times, as I occasionally 
 sought it for Australian publicity. It was as 
 difficult to place ordinary "stuff" in that sacred 
 region as for the wealthy man to pass through the 
 eye of the needle. But baseball is the chartered 
 libertine of journalistic space. So I was not sur- 
 prised, just before the season opened, to read 
 lengthy daily reports about popular idols practising 
 for the approaching contests. Great interest 
 attached to a particular pitcher, who, two seasons 
 before, had been the terror of batsmen, but in the 
 last season had unaccountably "faded away." Half- 
 columns described his practice, and told exactly 
 how his biceps and triceps and other muscular 
 accoutrements were working. The nation's excite- 
 ment grew daily : then, in the first match, came the 
 disastrous anti-climax. He was banged for five 
 runs — and "Ichabod" was written over his base- 
 ball record. A whole nation sighed its regrets. 
 
 American pronunciation seems odd to the Eng- 
 lish ear; but one soon ceases to take particular 
 notice of it. "Boston" is almost always "Borston." 
 
To6 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 The "o" is often pronounced more like "ar" : as for 
 instance "starp" or "staap," where we say "stop." 
 "New" and "due" become "noo" and "doo" : while 
 "schedule" is always "skedule." These are, after 
 all, only trivialities : and for aught I know "skedule" 
 may be technically more correct than the other 
 method. Their high-class speakers usually pro- 
 nounce very much as our best speakers do. Our 
 pronunciation in turn often puzzles the American, 
 especially in family names — and no wonder. 
 
 The American's thirst for information is 
 apparently insatiable: and his appetite for speeches 
 cannot, in New York, be quenched short of i a.m. 
 The Toastmaster (our "chairman" or "president") 
 is responsible for the function, and is very grateful 
 to any speaker who adds to its success. I found 
 the audiences very generous in their appreciation 
 of any fairly good speaker. Few tedious speakers 
 are put up — at any rate twice ! The quality and 
 humour of the speaking are on the average fine. 
 
 At some of their important society banquets the 
 ceremonial customs are very interesting, and the 
 toastmasters' costumes quaint. Sometimes one or 
 two of their recognized humorous speakers are put 
 up last, no doubt in order to send the belated guests 
 away in a happy frame of mind. Very cleverly 
 they accomplish this charitable purpose. These 
 humorists are permitted the widest range of sub- 
 
AMERICAN WAR EFFORT 107 
 
 jects; the only expectation is that they shall be 
 epigrammatic and funny. This they succeed in 
 doing by characteristic methods, and no doubt 
 much thought and care are put into the preparation. 
 
 Our terrible anxieties and bereavements during 
 the first three years of the war made us increasingly 
 wonder when the United States would enter the 
 bloodstained arena. Most of us were unaware of 
 the full measure of their internal difficulties, as, for 
 instance, their large German population : we did 
 not know the strength of the German and Irish 
 propaganda — nor the full tale of the official Ger- 
 man lies and promises. We did not sufficiently 
 appreciate the strength of the Washington 
 tradition in keeping the nation clear of European 
 entanglements. On this tradition they had built for 
 one hundred and twenty-five years, until it had be- 
 come warp and woof of the fabric of the national 
 mind. Even when they did come in, it was thought 
 in the Eastern States that the West might hesitate 
 a little — or at any rate enter in a Laodicean spirit. 
 Actually, the Middle West and West came in 
 if anything more whole-heartedly than the East, 
 both as regards enlistments and loan subscriptions. 
 This was not because they more easily shed the old 
 traditions, but because President Wilson's appeal to 
 war was based upon broad moral grounds which they 
 accepted fully, enthusiastically, and immediately. 
 
io8 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 The actual national fighting contribution was 
 (compared with the British or French or Italian) 
 no very great matter, as their own intellectuals 
 freely admit. They entered towards the end of the 
 third year of the war: and their numbers, 
 with the promise of ample additions, gave edge to 
 Marshal Foch's strategy. Such actual fighting as 
 they shared at a critical time was done with success 
 and fine courage, if with unavoidable inexperience. 
 Their men largely lacked equipment of their own : 
 the Allies assisted them with big guns, shells, aero- 
 planes, and transport. There were mistakes in 
 their home work (as with us), notwithstanding 
 enormous expenditures : for instance, their output 
 of new shipping during the war was disappointing. 
 They had been unprepared (as we were) : and the 
 administration of their war work not unnaturally 
 developed delays and errors. After all, these are 
 features unlikely in any case to have been wholly 
 avoided under the peculiar circumstances : and to- 
 day it would be both ungenerous and futile to dwell 
 on them. 
 
 The great thing — the thing which must have 
 struck any reasonably observant visitor — was the 
 almost unthinkably stupendous scale of the war 
 effort they were preparing, in case of need. Let 
 me briefly recite some of the points upon which 
 we may preferably dwell : — 
 
AMERICAN WAR EFFORT 109 
 
 1. The bold adoption of conscription soon after 
 they came into the war: and the prompt and 
 thorough internment of Germans deemed 
 dangerous. 
 
 2. Over two milHon men sent across to France in 
 eighteen months, with another three milHons in 
 training camps at home. Behind these the 
 muster-rolls covered still another twenty 
 millions, aged 18 to 45, from whom to select 
 additional drafts if needed. 
 
 3. Some 370 war vessels in European waters, with 
 about 80,000 men : inter-working admirably with 
 the British navy under unified control. At home 
 another 320,000 men in training. 
 
 4. Huge organizations for shipbuilding, munitions, 
 aeroplanes, guns, foods, finance, etc. : and a new 
 gas of a quality about which rumour only fit- 
 fully whispered — so terrible were its alleged 
 lethal powers. 
 
 5. To prevent stoppages of work during the period 
 of their participation in the war, the Govern- 
 ment raised wages, and commandeered materials, 
 in every direction. The aftermath of all this has 
 yet to be faced. 
 
 6. The food administration involved huge organi- 
 zation, and included control of all imports and 
 exports of food stuffs. The broad idea was to 
 save at home so as to export more to the Allies. 
 
no AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 No laws were passed, but the people were asked 
 voluntarily to restrict their consumption of 
 white bread and sugar. They submitted to these 
 self-denying ordinances with admirable loyalty 
 and temper, as I personally observed both in 
 clubs and hotels. 
 
 7. The "American Protective League" embraced 
 about 350,000 volunteers all over the States, 
 with a small central paid staff. The service in- 
 cluded leading men in all the professions and 
 avocations — anyone, in fact, whose loyalty and 
 discretion were beyond question. They watched 
 for enemy propaganda or machinations, and did 
 their secret work most capably. After the 
 Armistice several good friends "owned up" that 
 they had been members ; but during the war they 
 did not speak of their work. 
 
 8. Americans are a peace-loving people : and many 
 of them regard war as both stupid and sinful. 
 They are not imbued with the British idea 
 that war provides a field of honourable en- 
 deavour : or with the family tradition which 
 directs so many sons to the Navy and Army. 
 
 9. The United States had no territorial ambitions 
 by way of inducement to come into the war. 
 
 Germans in centres like Chicago and Milwaukee 
 — where there are large numbers of them — were, 
 before April, 191 7, clamorously anti-British. They 
 
AMERICAN WAR EFFORT iir 
 
 were suppressed with drastic completeness ; after 
 that date they did not openly "bat an eyelid." The 
 educated American seemed to me much more 
 righteously indignant with the Germans than were 
 the British. The American was especially angry 
 over the crimes and attempted crimes of Germans 
 in the States after April, 1917. Possibly the 
 British were really just as angry, but with typical 
 reserve they did not show it. 
 
 I heard a well-known American clergyman tell 
 the "skunk" yarn at a big dinner, by way of illus- 
 trating his appreciation of the German. The skunk 
 is a beast upon whom nature has bestowed a 
 peculiarly offensive odour. At a Canadian internment 
 camp for Germans an American and a Canadian 
 soldier saw a skunk go into a shed not far away. 
 The American bet the Canadian a dollar he could 
 not stay in the shed ten minutes. The wager was 
 accepted, but lost ; the Canadian emerged after 
 six minutes, very red in the face. Then the 
 Canadian challenged the American to try, and the 
 latter also failed, after a gallant eight minutes' 
 effort. A German lounging by asked to have a try, 
 and, after one minute, the skunk came out ! 
 
 Another war yarn. At several banquets I saw 
 young Whittlesea — Major, I think, was his rank, 
 but he was far better know by the sulphurous title 
 of "Go-to-Hell Whittlesea." He had held a cer- 
 
112 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 tain point on the battlefield in France with a com- 
 paratively small body of men, and had been isolated 
 for a day or two. The Germans sent across a 
 message to the effect that the American defence 
 had done all that brave men could be expected to 
 do ; that their position was hopeless ; and they had 
 better surrender. Whittlesea's official reply was 
 terse, uncompromising, and final : he said, "Go to 
 Hell !" Someone at home related the story, with 
 great pride, to Whittlesea's aunt ; but she. thinking 
 for the moment that the luridness of the reply was in 
 question, rushed at once to the defence. "When he 
 said that," she explained, "he was just giving them 
 advice." 
 
 We may well yield a fair measure of apprecia- 
 tion to the American effort : for on their side, 
 amongst their men of weight and responsibility, 
 especially in the east, one heard nothing but 
 generous appreciation of the great stubborn, pro- 
 tracted British effort. I have already mentioned 
 that we possibly need sound propagandist work in 
 several of the western States, to tell some of their 
 people the true story of what Britain has done in 
 connection with finance, munitions, shipping, fight- 
 ing by sea and land. In the eastern States that is 
 no longer necessary — they know. 
 
 Particularly they appreciate the grim, silent and 
 wonderfully efficient work of the British navy. 
 
BRITISH WAR EFFORT 113 
 
 The friendly feeling dates back to 1898 and to 
 Manila Bay. There, Admiral Dewey was about to 
 attack the Spanish squadron, and the German 
 Admiral (Von Diederichs) was inclined to inter- 
 fere. A small British squadron was also there, 
 under Captain Chichester. The German sent a 
 message across to Chichester, to ask the latter what 
 he purposed doing if there was trouble between the 
 United States and the German vessels. By way of 
 answer Chichester manoeuvred his vessels between 
 the other two squadrons, and then replied "That is 
 a matter only known to Admiral Dewey and my- 
 self." 
 
 That grand old man of the United States navy. 
 Admiral Sims, has done sound work by speaking 
 most eulogistically of the British navy — especially 
 of the way in which the two navies co-operated 
 during the great war. He freely expressed the 
 gratitude of his nation for the transporting and 
 convoying of American soldiers to France — a work 
 most capably done, and in the main, by the British 
 navy. 
 
 At the annual dinner of one of the many historic 
 New York Societies I heard the Chairman pay a 
 fine compliment to the British navy. He said, by 
 way of contrast, that we all took off our hats to 
 Cervera in 1898 for leading his doomed squadron 
 out of Santiago, with flags flying and guns roaring. 
 
114 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 But what attitude, he asked, was appropriate for 
 the surrender of the German navy? No guns roar- 
 ing — sailing in ignominious security between two 
 lines of battleships, mostly British, to the humilia- 
 ting safety of Scapa Flow — "not battle scarred, 
 but battle scared." That was the realization of 
 "Der Tag," which the German navy had been toast- 
 ing for twenty years ! 
 
 The United States navy worked with ours in 
 much closer association and unified control than 
 could possibly have been effected with the two 
 armies. On both sides there are soldier "growlers," 
 who return to their own country to exaggerate 
 petty differences and to spread needless ill-feeling. 
 It is to be hoped their utterances will carry very 
 little weight. No great bodies of men of different 
 nationalities! ever mingled in compulsory associa- 
 tion without quarrels here and there — quarrels 
 arising out of careless words, misunderstandings, 
 boyish excess of spirits, assertion of nationality, 
 and the like. That is essentially nothing : the point 
 is — never to exaggerate it into something. 
 
 There is no want of appreciation of the 
 "Tommy" amongst those whose opinions really 
 count in the States. Quite the reverse. And if 
 they have a specially warm corner for any 
 particular soldier, it is for the "Anzac." This, so 
 far as I am personally concerned, is no mere fleet- 
 
BRITISH WAR EFFORT 115 
 
 ing general impression. My wife and I saw 
 several letters from American lads at the front to 
 their mothers, in which the former wrote most 
 generously and eulogistically of the Australians. 
 There must have been many thousands of such 
 letters which we did not see. 
 
 At a meeting dedicated to appreciation of the 
 British war work a speaker drew thunderous ap- 
 plause by a reference to the contribution by British 
 women — especially in the manufacture of 
 munitions. He mentioned how it was proposed to 
 introduce a certain safety device for the women, 
 but, because this would have involved a drop in 
 production of about 25 per cent., the women of 
 England refused to adopt it. 
 
 When the 27th Division (U.S.A.) returned to 
 New York, under Major-General O'Ryan, and 
 paraded up Fifth Avenue, their reception by the 
 populace was overwhelming in its enthusiasm and 
 affection. First came a large floral wreath, to the 
 memory of the gallant dead: then all the wounded 
 who were well enough to ride in cars : and at the 
 head of the marching column — in the place of 
 honour — a small unit of some twenty-four Aus- 
 tralian soldiers. The reception of that tiny Aus- 
 tralian spearhead was extraordinarily warm and 
 enthusiastic. He would have been a curiously un- 
 feeling Australian who could have witnessed and 
 
ii6 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 heard that demonstration without a deep regard for 
 the generous people who so finely tendered it. 
 
 Many leading Americans and Britishers are to- 
 day ardently looking to an early future when these 
 two great nations will no longer misunderstand 
 one another, even in the immaterial trifles of 
 manner and deportment. There are, however, 
 several agencies constantly at work to thwart that 
 better understanding. I have already mentioned 
 the Irish propaganda, and there are others. The 
 German is to-day comparatively silent in the States ; 
 but it would be dangerous to assume that he is 
 inactive. There is apparently something in the 
 average modern German's soul-substance which 
 makes him an instinctive mischief-maker; and it is 
 safer to take it for granted that in the States he 
 will do all the subterranean work he can to em- 
 bitter international relations. 
 
 The American school-books have not yet been 
 fully corrected. I was credibly informed that 
 nearly a third of these still teach the history of 
 1776 in the grotesquely twisted manner of the old 
 days. Strong effort should be made to complete 
 the work of revision. Enough mischief has already 
 been done by the bitterly misleading teaching of 
 history. The American manhood of to-day natu- 
 rally finds it difficult entirely to discard the evil 
 effects of that teaching. Finally, there are the 
 
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 117 
 
 Hearst papers — a string of them from New York to 
 San Francisco — always ingeniously and strongly 
 anti-British. We need capable, constant propa- 
 ganda in reply, so that nowhere in the States shall 
 the anti-British case go by default. The typical 
 Englishman hesitates to undertake this work, which 
 appears to him to savour of national advertising or 
 boasting. But it is too serious to justify hesitation 
 on such grounds; and, after all, boasting is not 
 really involved. It is rather a matter of authori- 
 tatively correcting mistatements on the one hand, 
 and on the other of frankly and temperately 
 supplying correct information about our nation and 
 her share in the war. Americans are always ready 
 to listen appreciatively and generously. 
 
 To bring about that better understanding^ it is 
 only needful to increase our mutual knowledge.* To 
 that end there should be interchanges of teachers 
 and students (something of that kind is in pro- 
 gress), and visits both ways of Chambers of Com- 
 
 *A society has just been founded, called the "English- 
 speaking Union." It has branches on both sides of the 
 Atlantic — and no doubt will have them, later on, through- 
 out the Empire. The President of the Society in America 
 is Hon. William Taft: with strong names on the vice- 
 presidents' list, representing all sections of the community. 
 The British President is the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, and 
 the vice-presidents include Sir Robt. Borden (Canada), 
 Viscount Bryce, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt Hon. 
 Winston Churchill, Earl Curzon, Field Marshal Sir 
 Douglas Haig, and Earl Reading. 
 
ii8 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 merce representatives, journalists, workmen, of 
 millitary, naval, and political leaders. Many causes 
 of irritation are certain to arise, especially in the 
 business world; but with fuller knowledge a finer 
 sympathy will be established, and such rivalries, 
 unavoidable under all the circumstances, will be 
 freed of bitterness. "To understand all," as the 
 French express it, "is to forgive all." 
 
 The people of the United States derive from the 
 same racial stock as ourselves : they speak the same 
 language; their theories of personal liberty trace 
 back to Magna Charta, the Habeas Corpus Act, 
 the Bill of Rights, and other old British statutes: 
 they appeal to the same body of common law : they 
 enjoy the same literature: and their ideas of games, 
 teamplay, and sportsmanship, are much the same as 
 ours. For over one hundred years there has been 
 peace between the two nations : and differences, of 
 which there have been many, have been amicably 
 settled by arbitration or discussion. It is surely a 
 very significant circumstance that on the long 
 frontier between the United States and Canada 
 there are no forts, no guns, no regiments : the line 
 is kept by mutual confidence, and that suffices. 
 The nations are too alike, too much akin even to 
 contemplate the possibility of battle along that 
 frontier. To-day the American on the Fourth of 
 July is thinking a little less of the old historic idea 
 
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 119 
 
 of "Independence," and rather more of the modern 
 conception of "interdependence." 
 
 As one considers the so-called disaster (to 
 Britain) of 1776, it becomes possible to read that 
 event in a newer and finer light. On the American 
 side the struggle for independence fused the 
 thirteen States into a nation as nothing else could 
 have done, and gave that nation's genius an impetus 
 for expansion on lines peculiarly its own. On the 
 other hand, the events of 1776 taught British 
 statesmanship a better method with the colonies: 
 and the wonderful response of the Dominions and 
 Dependencies in 1914 stands as an eternal testi- 
 mony to that more understanding method. 
 
 No one would be so ridiculous as to suggest any- 
 thing in the nature of organic union between the 
 two nations; nor is there needed any rigid alliance 
 resembling the offensive and defensive European 
 alliances of a day which, we hope, has passed away. 
 It only requires fuller understanding and sympathy : 
 the eradication of ignorant and ungenerous 
 criticism on both sides: the better recognition of 
 racial kinship. 
 
 Both nations are geographically outside war- 
 stricken Europe. Both are capable, in a detached 
 and observant way, of economically assisting 
 Europe in the hour of its terrible need. If these 
 two great nations hold themselves apart, and permit 
 
120 AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
 pettiness to separate them, it will amount to a 
 crime in the face of high Heaven. On the con- 
 trary, they have it in their hands, by frank and 
 friendly inter-working, to assist Europe to rebuild 
 its shattered prosperity. In their hands largely 
 lies the safety of the world. 
 
W. C. Penfold & Co. Ltd., 88 Pitt Street, Sydney. 
 
SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD. 
 
 Publishers to the University 
 
 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 
 ANNOUNCEMENTS 
 
 ABBOTT (J. H. M.) Castle Vane. An Australian 
 Novel. By J. H. M. Abbott, author of "Tommy Corn- 
 stalk," "Letters from Queer Street," etc. Crown 8vo., 
 cloth gilt, 5s. [Ready in August. 
 
 ART IN AUSTRALIA. Edited by Sydney Ure Smith, 
 
 Bertram Stevens, and C. Lloyd Jones. Illustrated in 
 
 colour and black and white. 10 x 7i in. (Issued twice a 
 
 year). Nos. L — IV. out of print. 
 
 No. V. A few copies remain, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 No. VI. Out of print on day of publication. 
 
 No. VII. With reproductions in colour of pictures by 
 
 George Lambert, Clewin Harcourt, Penleigh Boyd, Fred. 
 
 McCubbin, H. B. Harrison, Sid Long, Thea Proctor, 
 
 James Ford Paterson, and other illustrations. 10 x 7i in., 
 
 7s. 6d. [Ready in June. 
 
 BARRETT (CHAS.) Bushland Babies. A book for 
 children, descriptive of animal life in the Bush. With 
 illustrations from photographs taken by the author. 
 7i X 6 in., cloth gilt. 6s. [In preparation. 
 
 CAYLEY (NEVILLE W.), A. S. LE SOUEF, and 
 CHAS. BARRETT— The Birds of Australia and Tas- 
 mania, with their Nests and Eggs. The letterpress by 
 A. S. Le Souef, with the assistance of Chas. Barrett, 
 C.M.Z.S., and of leading Ornithologists in all the States 
 of the Commonwealth. Illustrated with about 300 full- 
 page coloured plates, exhibiting about 800 species, and 
 their eggs, from original water-colour drawings by 
 Neville W. Cayley (specially made for this work), and 
 hundreds of pictures in the text, from photographs, of 
 
ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD., SYDNEY 
 
 their nests and nestlings. Size Hi x 8 in. To be 
 published in parts. [In preparation. 
 
 We are spending some thousands of pounds on this great 
 work, which will remain the standard reference book on 
 the Ornithology and Oology of Australia for generations 
 to come. Practically every Australian bird, and every 
 visitor, will be illustrated in colour, exhibiting over 800 
 species in about 200 full-page coloured plates. In illus- 
 trating the eggs, marked variations and mutations will be 
 depicted. In addition, there will be hundreds of pictures 
 in the text, reproduced from photographs, showing the 
 birds at their nests with their young or eggs. Leading 
 ornithologists from all the States who have seen Mr. 
 Cayley's beautiful drawings have expressed their delight 
 with them, both from the scientific and the artistic points 
 of view. 
 
 The nomenclature will be that adopted by the Royal Aus- 
 tralian Ornithologist's Union in their latest Check List, 
 with the addition of several species described since. Great 
 pains are being taken to ensure the accuracy and adequacy 
 of the letterpress, and many of our leading ornithologists 
 have volunteered their assistance to this end. The work 
 will be a thoroughly scientific one; but the popular interest 
 will not be neglected, and bird-lovers of all degrees, and 
 agriculturists, too, will find in it what they want. 
 
 COLE (A. E.) Half-Hours in the Bush-house. A 
 
 practical handbook for Amateur Gardeners, with numerous 
 illustrations. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. [Ready in April. 
 COLE (A. E.) The Farm Garden. A practical handbook 
 of Australian Gardening for Town and Country. With 
 about 100 illustrations. Crown Svo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 [Ready in July. 
 
 FROGGATT (GLADYS H.) The World of Little Lives: 
 
 The Life-story of Common Australian Insects. With 50 
 full-page and other illustrations. Second edition. Si x 6 
 in., cloth gilt, 6s. [Ready in September. 
 
 GRIMWADE (W. RUSSELL) An Anthography of the 
 Eucalypts. With about 70 beautiful plates by the author. 
 Hi X 8| in., handsomely bound and boxed, 42s. 
 
 [Ready in August. 
 This will be a valuable and beautiful contribution to the 
 Flora of Australia. Its preparation has been a labour of 
 
SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 love for Mr. Grimwade, and the beautiful illustrations he 
 lias made for it are a triumph of artistic skill. Practically 
 all the species of Gums ordinarily met with are illustrated 
 and described, and in a manner which will enable anyone 
 to identify them in nature. Although really a scientific 
 book, it makes a wide appeal. A book of the kind has 
 been badly needed by horticulturists, farmers, and people 
 on the land, who will find in it the requisite information 
 to guide them in selecting species for cultivation, whether 
 for horticultural or scientific purposes or for use as wind- 
 breaks. 
 
 HEYSEN— The Art of Heysen. Edited by Sydney Ure 
 Smith and Bertram Stevens. With critical articles by 
 Lionel Lindsay. With coloured reproductions of 30 of 
 his best landscapes, and 20 of his drawings and etchings. 
 lOi X 8| in., handsomely bound and boxed, 42s. 
 
 [Ready in October. 
 
 Lionel Lindsay in Art in Australia, No. IV. — "Mr. Heysen, 
 who is a native of South Australia, is one of the greatest 
 living water-colourists. His mental sympathies are with 
 the Barbizon painters — with the life of the farm, the 
 movement of flocks and herds and all that labour under 
 the sky. Heysen has created the characteristic Australian 
 landscape upon the edge of settlement; but above every- 
 thing else he is the painter of the big gums — he might 
 have created them, so surely does he raise their majestic 
 forms with his brush." 
 
 JOHNS (FRED.) Who's Who in the Commonwealth 
 of Australia. By Fred Johns, Fellow of the Institute of 
 Journalists (Londo>i), author of "John's Notable Aus- 
 tralians," etc. 8i X 5 in., cloth. Price not settled yet, 
 but probably 12s 6d. [In preparation. 
 
 "Who's Who in the Commonwealth" will contain the bio- 
 graphies of thousands of Australians who are prominent 
 in thd circles in which they move, and will be an indis- 
 pensable Reference Book. It will include men and women 
 famous in Naval, Military, Official, Clerical, Medical, 
 Legal, Professional, Political, Literary, Artistic, Pastoral, 
 Commercial, Industrial and Philanthropic circles. Mr. 
 Johns' great experience in this class of work is a sufficient 
 guarantee that "Who's Who in the Commonwealth" will 
 be a complete, accurate and worthy record. 
 
ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD., SYDNEY 
 
 LINDSAY (NORMAN) The Magic Pudding: A Story 
 in Prose and Verse. By Norman Lindsay, and illustrated 
 by him in 100 pictures, mostly full-page, the title-page 
 in colour. Second edition. 11 x 8i in., coloured picture 
 boards, 7s. 6d. [Ready in September. 
 
 LITTLEJOHNS (R. T.) and S. A. LAWRENCE— 
 Bird Homes in the Bush: A Nature Study Book for the 
 Young. With 50 illustrations from photographs by the 
 authors. 7i x 6 in., cloth gilt, 6s. [Ready in September. 
 
 McCRAE (HUGH) Colombine, and Other Poems. With 
 10 full-page plates by Norman Lindsay. 10 x 7i in., 
 handsomely bound, 7s. 6d. [Ready in August. 
 
 MARTENS (CONRAD) The Art of Conrad Martens. 
 
 Edited by Lionel Lindsay, assisted by G. V. F. Mann, 
 Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. 
 With reproductions of 60 of Martens' pictures, mostly 
 in colour. lOi x Si in., handsomely bound and boxed, 42s. 
 
 [Ready in September. 
 Only a limited number of this fine book will be printed. 
 Martens was an Englishman, a pupil of Copley Fielding, 
 and was the artist of the Beagle Voyage, in the thirties. 
 Charles Darwin was naturalist to the same expedition. 
 Martens left H.H.S Beagle and settled in Sydney, where 
 he died in 1878. During his forty years in Australia he 
 made many hundreds of water-colour pictures and pencil 
 drawings which, for artistic merit, and in many instances 
 as the only existing views of the landscapes depicted, are 
 to-day rated among the choicest possessions of public 
 galleries and private collectors. His work is eagerly 
 sought for nowadays, and we have known £500 to be paid 
 for a picture which he sold off the easel for £31 10s. 
 
 OFFICIAL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA IN THE 
 WAR OF 1914-1918. Edited by C. E. W. Bean. With 
 many maps and other illustrations. 12 vols., demy 8vo., 
 cloth gilt. [In preparation. 
 
 We have been entrusted by the Government of the 
 Commonwealth of Australia with the publication of the 
 above. The work will comprise the following: — 
 Bean (C. E. W.) The Australian Imperial Force in 
 Gallipoli and France. 6 vols. 
 
SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 Gullett (H. S.) The A.I.F. in Sinai and Palestine. 1 vol. 
 Cutlack (F. M.) The Australian Flsring Corps. 1 vol. 
 
 Jose (Captain Arthur W.) The Royal Australian Navy. 
 
 1 vol. 
 
 Mackenzie (Lt.-Col. Seaforth) The A.I.F. in New Guinea. 
 
 1 vol. 
 
 Heney (T. W.) Story of the War Effort in Australia. 
 
 1 vol. 
 
 The Story of the War in Photographs, taken by Capt. 
 
 G. H. Wilkins, M.C. and Bar; Capt. Frank Hurley; Lieut. 
 
 Baldwin and others, annotated lay C. E. W. Bean and 
 
 H. S. Gullett. 1 vol. 
 
 O'CALLAGHAN (M. A.) Dairying in Australasia: Farm 
 and Factory. Third edition, thoroughly revised. 10 x 6 
 in., cloth, 20s. [In preparation. 
 
 Over 5,000 copies were sold of the previous edition. Mr. 
 O'Callaghan's book is acknowledged by the experts in 
 Great Britain and other countries to be the best all-round 
 book on the subject. This new edition will contain 
 chapters on subjects not previously dealt with, such as 
 Milk Powder, etc. 
 
 PEDLEY (ETHEL C.) Dot and the Kangaroo. Fifth 
 edition, from new type, with 19 full-page plates by Frank 
 Mahony, the frontispiece and cover design in colour. 
 10 X 7i in., picture boards (uniform with "Snugglepot and 
 Cuddlepie"), 6s. [Ready in September. 
 
 POTTS (H. W.) Pigs and their Management. By H. W. 
 
 Potts, F.C.S., F.L.S., Principal of Hawkesbury Agri- 
 cultural College and Experiment Farm, Richmond, N.S.W. 
 Fourth edition, re-written and greatly enlarged, with new 
 illustrations. 9j x 6 in., cloth. [In preparation. 
 
 Three editions of Mr. Potts' book on Pigs were published 
 by the N.S.W. Government, and its success has been re- 
 markable. It is the only book based upon Australian 
 experience in pig-raising, and has become the standard 
 work, not only in the Commonwealth, but in New Zealand 
 and South Africa. In the new (fourth) edition which 
 Mr. Potts is preparing for publication by us, he will deal 
 still more exhaustively with every branch of the subject, 
 and the volume will be twice as large as previously. 
 
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 QUINN (RODERIC) A Volume of Poems, containing 
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 300 pages, with portrait, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 [Ready in September. 
 SMITH (HON. BRUCE) The Truisms of Statecraft: 
 An Attempt to Define, in general terms, the Origin, 
 Growth, True Purpose and Future Possibilities of Popular 
 Government. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 5s. [Ready in March. 
 
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 SMITH (SIR ROSS) Short Account of the First Aero- 
 plane Voyage from England to Australia. With portraits 
 of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, and Sergeants Shiers 
 and Bennett. 
 
 Vol. 1. With 29 full-page photographs of Sydney and 
 some N.S.W. Country Towns and Districts, taken by 
 Captain Frank Hurley from the Vickers-Vimy Biplane. 
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 price 2s. 6d. [Ready in March. 
 
 Vol. 3. With a similar number of photographs of 
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 price 2s. 6d. [Ready in March. 
 
 SOCIETY OF ARTISTS PICTURES, 1919. Being a 
 special number of "Art in Australia." With History of 
 the Society by Julian Ashton. 20 plates in colour and 50 
 in black and white. 11 x 8| in., 12s. 6d. [Ready in March. 
 
 STEWART (JOHN ROY) The Australian Veterinary 
 Guide: A Practical Reference Book for Stockowners. By 
 John Roy Stewart, B.V.Sc. (Syd.\ The Diseases of 
 Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Dogs, etc., and their Treat- 
 ment, with Chapters on Anatomy and Physiology for 
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 (uniform with O'Callaghan's "Dairying"), cloth. 
 
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SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 WHITE (CAPT. T. A.) Diggers Abroad: Jottings on the 
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 ATKINSON and DAKIN— Sex Hygiene and Sex Edu- 
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 Everitt Atkinson, Commissioner of Public Health, 
 Western Australia, and Professor W. J. Dakin, University 
 of Perth, W.A. With illustrations. Second edition, 
 crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 AUSTRALIA IN PALESTINE. A Pictorial Record of 
 the Work of the Australian Imperial Force in Palestine 
 and Egypt, with contributions in prose and verse by 
 writers who served there. With 4 folding maps, 3 battle- 
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 BAYLDON (FRANCIS) The Handling of Steamships 
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 coloured diagrams. Royal 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 BOAKE (BARCROFT) Where the Dead Men Lie, and 
 Other Poems. With portrait and 38 illustrations by 
 Frank Mahony and G. W. Lambert. Second edition, 
 crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 BOXALL (G. E.) History of the Australian Bushrangers. 
 
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 BRENNAN (C. J.) A Chant of Doom, and Other Verses. 
 
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 CALENDAR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. 
 
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 CAMBAGE (R. H.) Exploration beyond the Upper 
 Nepean in 1798. By R. H. Cambage, F.L.S. With map 
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 CAMPBELL (JOSEPH) Simple Tests for Minerals; or, 
 
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 COCKETT (C. BERNARD) Sex and Marriage. By Rev. 
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 mittee on Public Morals, Congregational Union of Aus- 
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 CLEARY (P. S.) The One Big Union: Will it Emancipate 
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 P. S. Cleary, President of the Catholic Federation. 
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 THE COMMONSENSE COOKERY BOOK. Compiled 
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 edition, revised and enlarged. Crown Bvo., cloth boards. 
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 COMMONSENSE HINTS ON PLAIN COOKERY. 
 A Companion to the Commonsense Cookery Book, ex- 
 plaining all Methods of Preparing Food. Compiled by 
 the Cookery Teachers' Association of N.S.W. Second 
 edition, revised and enlarged. Crown Bvo., cloth limp. 
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 COOKERY BOOK OF GOOD AND TRIED 
 RECEIPTS. Compiled for the Presbyterian Women's 
 Missionary Association. Fifteenth edition, enlarged, 
 completing 230,000 copies, 224 pages, crown 8vo., cloth. 
 Is. 6d. 
 
 CRAMP (K. R.) The State and Federal Constitutions 
 of Australia: With a tabulated comparison of the Federal 
 Constitutions of the World. With portraits and illus- 
 trations. Second edition, revised, crown Bvo., cloth gilt, 
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SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 CROSS (ZORA) Songs of Love and Life: Poems. 
 
 Fourth edition, with portrait, and coloured jacket by 
 
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 CROSS (ZORA) The Lilt of Life: Poems. 7j x 6 in., 
 
 cloth gilt, 5s. 
 
 CRUICKSHANK (W. D.) Principles and Practice of 
 
 Boiler Construction. A manual for Practical Men. 
 
 Second edition, revised and enlarged, with 70 illustrations. 
 
 Demy 8vo., cloth gilt, 15s. 
 
 DALEY (VICTOR J.) At Dawn and Dusk: Poems. 
 
 With portrait. Third edition, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 
 
 4s. 6d. 
 
 DALEY (VICTOR J.) Wine and Roses: Poems. Second 
 
 edition, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. fid. 
 
 DAVIES (ARCHDEACON DAVID J.) The Church and 
 
 the Plain Man. A contribution to Pastoral Theology, by 
 
 the Ven. Archdeacon Davies, M.A., Principal of Moore 
 
 Theological College, Sydney, Examining Chaplain to the 
 
 Archbishop of Sydney, sometime Director of Studies in 
 
 History, Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo., 
 
 cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 Over lOOOOO copies sold. 
 DENNIS (C. J.) The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke. 
 With frontispiece, title-page and jacket in colour, and 
 other illustrations by Hal Gye. 7i x 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
 DENNIS (C. J.) The Moods of Ginger Mick. Fourteen 
 Poems, with frontispiece, title-page and jacket in colour, 
 and other illustrations by Hal Gye. Fifty-sixth thousand. 
 7i X 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
 
 DENNIS (C. J.) Doreen: A Story in Verse, being a 
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 coloured and other illustrations by Hal Gye. Sixtieth 
 thousand. In envelope ready for posting, Is. 
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 Hal Gye. Twenty-fourth thousand. 7i x 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
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 colour, by Hal Gye. Ninth thousand. 7j x 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
 
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 DENNIS (C. J.) Digger Smith. The Story of a Returned 
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 in colour, and other illustrations by Hal Gye. Nineteenth 
 thousand. 7i x 6 in., cloTh, 5s. 
 
 DENNIS (C. J.) Jim of the Hills. A Story in Rhyme. 
 With frontispiece, title-page and jacket in colour by Hal 
 Gye. Eighth thousand. 7i x 6 in., cloth, 5s. [Just Out. 
 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 
 Edited by Sydney Ure Smith and Bertram Stevens, in 
 collaboration with W. Hardy Wilson. With contributions 
 by Professor Leslie Wilkinson, W. Hardy Wilson, H. 
 Desbrowe-Annear, W. H. Bagot and R. S. Dods. 45 full- 
 page illustrations, II4 x 9 in., handsomely bound, 21s. 
 DONNELL (ANNE) Letters of an Australian Army 
 Sister, from Lemnos, Egypt, and France, and from Great 
 Britain. With portrait. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 [Just Out. 
 EVANS (GEORGE ESSEX) The Secret Key, and Other 
 Poems. With portrait. Second thousand, crown 8vo., 
 cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 FARRELL (JOHN) How He Died, and Other Poems. 
 With portrait. Third edition, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 FLINDERS— Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N. 
 By Professor Ernest Scott, author of "Terre Napoleon," 
 and "Life of Laperouse." With 40 folding maps, full- 
 page plates and facsimiles. Demy Svo., cloth gilt, 21s. 
 GIBBS (MAY) Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, and 
 their Adventures Wonderful. With 23 coloured and other 
 plates and many pen drawings in the text. Sixteenth 
 thousand. 10 x 7i in., picture boards, 6s. 
 GIBBS (MAY) Gum-Nut Babies. With 2 coloured and 
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 posting, Is. 6d. 
 
 GIBBS (MAY) Wattle Babies. With 2 coloured and 
 12 other pictures. 8| x 5| in., in envelope ready for 
 posting, Is. 6d. 
 
 GIBBS (MAY) Boronia Babies. With 2 coloured and 
 12 other pictures. 8| x 5| in., in envelope ready for 
 posting. Is. 6d. 
 
SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 GELLERT (LEON) Songs of a Campaign. New edition, 
 with 25 additional poems and 16 pictures by Norman 
 Lindsay. 7* x 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
 
 GILMORE (MARY) The Passionate Heart: Poems. 
 By Mary Gilmore. author of "Marri'd." With portrait. 
 7i X 6 in., cloth, 5s. 
 
 HARDOUIN (JEAN, S.J.) Prolegomena to a Censure 
 of Old Writers. Translated by Edwin Johnson, author 
 of "The Rise of Christendom," etc. Crown 8vo., cloth 
 gilt, 6s. 
 
 HARRIS and HENDERSON— A Source Book of Aus- 
 tralian History. Edited by H. L. Harris, M.A.. and R. 
 G. Henderson, M.A. Containing extracts from Original 
 Sources, from the Earliest Voyages to the Foundation 
 of the various States. Crown 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 HILDER (J. J.) The Art of J. J. Hilder. Edited by 
 Sydney Ure Smith, with a Life by Bertram Stevens, and 
 contributions by Julian R. Ashton and Harry Julius. 
 With reproductions of 56 of his pictures (36 in colour). 
 lOi X 85 in., handsomely bound and boxed, 42s. 
 HOULDING (J. R.) Christopher Cockle's Australian 
 Experiences. By J. R. Houlding ("Old Boomerang"). 
 Second edition, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. 
 JOSE (A. W.) History of Australasia: From the Earliest 
 Times to the Present Day, with Chapters on Australian 
 Literature, Industries, and Land Settlement. By Arthur 
 W. Jose, author of "The Growth of the Empire." New 
 (sixth) edition, thoroughly revised. Crown 8vo., cloth 
 gilt, 5s. (School edition, 3s. 6d.) 
 
 KENDALL (HENRY) Poetical Works. With Biography 
 by Bertram Stevens. Enlarged edition, with portrait, and 
 facsimile of letter to the Editor of Comhill. Crown Svo., 
 cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. [Just Out. 
 
 LAWSON (HENRY) When the World Was Wide, and 
 Other Verses, With portrait. Ninth impression, crown 
 Svo., cloth gilt, 4s 6d. 
 
 LAWSON (HENRY) While the Billy BoUs: Stories. 
 With 8 full-page illustrations by Frank Mahony. Eighth 
 impression, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD., SYDNEY 
 
 LAWSON (HENRY) Verses, Popular and Humorous. 
 
 With frontispiece by Frank Mahony. Fifth impression, 
 crown Svo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 LAWSON (HENRY) On the Track and Over the Slip- 
 rails: Stories. Fifth impression, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 
 4s. 6d. 
 
 LAWSON (HENRY) Children of the Bush: Stories. 
 Fifth impression, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 LAWSON (HENRY) Joe Wilson and His Mates: 
 Stories. Fifth impression, crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 LAWSON (HENRY) When I Was King, and Other 
 Verses. With 2 illustrations by Norman Lindsay. Third 
 impression, crown Svo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 LAWSON (HENRY) Selected Poems of Henry Lawson. 
 With Preface by David McKee Wright, portrait in colour 
 by John Longstaff. and 9 full-page illustrations by Percy 
 Leason. Edition limited to 2,000 copies, 9i x 7i in., 
 handsomely bound, 12s. 6d. 
 
 LAWSON (WILL) The Three Kings, and Other Verses. 
 With portrait. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 MACK (AMY ELEANOR) A Bush Calendar. With 42 
 illustrations. Third edition, small 4to., decorated cloth, 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 MACK (AMY ELEANOR) Bushland Stories. Stories 
 for Children. With coloured illustrations by Lionel 
 Lindsay. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, coloured pictures on 
 side and back, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Illustrated by May Gibbs. 
 MACK (AMY ELEANOR) Scribbling Sue and Other 
 Stories. A volume of stories for children. With 
 coloured and other illustrations by May Gibbs. Crown 
 8vo., cloth gilt, coloured pictures on side and back, 4s. 6d. 
 MACKAY (KENNETH) Songs of a Sunlit Land. By 
 Colonel the Hon. Kenneth Mackay, C.B., With portrait. 
 Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. 
 
 MACKNESS (CONSTANCE) Gem of the Flat. A 
 Story of Young Australians. With coloured and other 
 illustrations. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, coloured pictures 
 on side and back. 4s. 6d. 
 
SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
 
 MURDOCH (PROF. J.) Australia Must Prepare. An 
 
 Inaugural Lecture delivered by James Murdoch, M.A., 
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 author of "A History of Japan," Is. [Just Out. 
 
 O'CONNOR (E. M.) List of Surgical Instruments for 
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 OGILVIE (WILL. H.) Fair Girls and Gray Horses: 
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 OGILVIE (WILL. H.) Hearts of Gold: Poems. Fifth 
 thousand. Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 OGILVIE (WILL. H.) The Australian, and Other Verses. 
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 Gye. Seventh thousand, 7i x 6 in., cloth gilt, 5s. 
 ONSLOW (S. MACARTHUR) Some Early Records of 
 the Macarthurs of Camden, 1789-1834. Edited by S. 
 Macarthur Onslow. With portraits, facsimiles, and other 
 illustrations, some in colour. Demy 8vo., cloth gilt, 15s. 
 PATERSON (A. B.) The Man from Snowy River, and 
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 portrait and vignette title. 5| x 4j in., cloth, 4s. 
 
 PATERSON (A. B.) Rio Grande, and Other Verses. 
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 PATERSON (A. B.)— The Old Bush Songs. Composed 
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 Days. Collected and edited by the author of "The Man 
 from Snowy River." Fifteenth thousand. Crown Svo., 
 picture cover, 3s. 
 
 PATERSON (A. B.) An Outback Marriage. An Aus- 
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 PATERSON (A. B.) Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other 
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 PHARMACOPCEIA OF THE ROYAL PRINCE 
 ALFRED HOSPITAL, SYDNEY. 16mo., sewn, 2s. 6d. 
 
 1918 
 QUICK and GARRAN— The Annotated Constitution of 
 the Australian Commonwealth. By Sir John Quick, 
 LL.D., and Sir Robert Garran. Royal 8vo., cloth gilt, 21s. 
 
 ROVETTA (GEROLAMO) Young Italy; or Roman- 
 ticism. A Translation of "Romanticismo" by A. B. 
 Piddington, K.C. Crown Svo., cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 ROBERTS (M. E.) The Cutter's Guide. A Manual of 
 Dresscutting and Ladies' Tailoring. By M. E. Roberts, 
 Lecturer at The Technical College, Sydney. Fifth 
 edition, revised and enlarged, with 139 diagrams. Crown 
 4to., cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 ROBERTS (M. E.) Garment Cutting for Girls. A 
 
 course of Scientific Garment Cutting for Schools. New 
 edition, with 50 diagrams. Crown 4to., boards, 3s. 6d. 
 
 ROBERTS (M. E.) Dress-Cutting Measure Book. For 
 Students and Pupils using "The Cutter's Guide," and 
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 SHENSTONE (F. S.) Golf Rules and Decisions. A 
 
 Summary of the Rules of Golf, with Decisions, Table of 
 Penalties and General Index. 5i x 4 in., cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
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 SMITH (STEPHEN H.) Brief History of Education in 
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 by N.S.W. Department of Education). Demy 8vo., sewn, 
 2s. 
 
 SMITH (SYDNEY URE) The Charm of Sydney. 22 
 coloured and other illustrations by Sydney Ure Smith, 
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 7i X 5i in.. Is. 6d. 
 
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 STEPHEN (DANIEL) The Justice's Manual and Police 
 
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 STREETON (ARTHUR) The Art of Arthur Streeton. 
 Edited by Sydney Ure Smith, Bertram Stevens and C. 
 Lloyd Jones. With an Introduction by Julian Ashton, 
 and Articles on his Australian work by Lionel Lindsay, 
 and on his English Paintings by P. G. Konody. With 
 30 coloured plates and numerous black and white illus- 
 trations. lOi X 8| in., handsomely bound, 42s. 
 SULMAN (FLORENCE) A Popular Guide to the Wild 
 Flowers of New South Wales. With 123 full-page illus- 
 trations by Eirene Mort. 2 vols., crown Svo., cloth, 10s. 6d. 
 SULMAN (A. E.) Familiar Australian Wild Flowers. 
 Photographed from Nature by Mrs. A^ E. Sulman. 
 First Series, with 64 full-page illustrations, 8| x 5| in., 
 stiff paper cover, Is. 
 
 Second Series, with 64 full-page illustrations, and frontis- 
 piece in colour, 8| x 5| in., stift paper cover. Is. 
 SUSSMILCH (C. A.) The Geology of New South Wales. 
 Third edition, revised; the Chapter on the Cretaceous 
 Period being entirely re-written, with new plates. 
 Coloured map 17 x 13j in., and 100 other maps and 
 illustrations. 7i x 5 in., cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. [Just Out. 
 
 URQUHART (JESSIE) Wayside. A Story of Australian 
 country Life. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. [Just Out. 
 
 WATERHOUSE and LYELL— The Butterflies of 
 Australia. A Monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera, 
 in which every Australian butterfly known to science is 
 described, and every species is figured. By G. A. Water- 
 house, B.Sc, F.E.S., and G. Lyell, F.E.S. With 4 coloured 
 and 39 other full-page plates, and numerous figures in 
 the text. Demy 4to., cloth gilt, 42s. 1914 
 
 WRIGHT (DAVID McKEE) An Irish Heart: Poems. 
 With portrait by Mick Paul. 7^ x 6 in., cloth gilt. 5s.