The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-23 00:00:00

A TOUR THROUGH AMERICA.

A lecture on the above subject was delivered in
the Corn Exchange, last night, by Mr. G. Dawson,
M.A.

Mr. Dawson, in commencing his lecture, said that
he had visited most of the great cities:of Europe, and
one of those wonderful old cities of the East, and
therefore he thought it was time to change the scene,
and see what the New World was like. Passing over
the voyage, as voyages were very similar to each
other, he complimented the Americans on being the
most kindhearted, hospitable people it had ever been
his good fortune to meet with. Of all the countries
for travelling, the United States was about the best.
They travelled so much and so far that they were
obliged to do it well. He dwelt upon the comforts
and conveniences of railway travelling, and also upon
the superior hotel accommodation to be found in
America. The hotels were well built and under ad-
mirable administration. Take, for instance, the
Windsor Hotel, or the great Pacific in Chicago. The
twelve great halls of the latter were about as big as
an ordinary English hotel, and in the evening idlers
gathered together there and smoked, and he was
sorry to say they spat there—(laughter). Out of the
hall they could enter the barber's shop, or the bar,
or the druggists; everything was brought close to-
gether, so that the traveller upon entering the place
need not leave it until he resumed his journey. Ame-
ricr was one of the dearest countries in the world.
It was pitiful to see how many Englishmen went out,
asking how many dollars they should have for wages,
but forgetting to ask how much that same dollar
' A donor in America would buy very little more than
an English shilling, or is 3d worth at the outside.
A pair of boots that would cost from 18s to 24s here
would cost from ..22 to .22 108 out there, and other
things were in proportion. He next spoke of the
vaAness of the United, and said that leaving Alaska
out of the question, they spread over 24i degrees of
latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific 2,600 miles;
foom Maine to Florida, 1,600 miles; and the area
w.its 3,00,000 of square miles. The present popula-
tion of the United States was 43,000; but if it was
Populated as thickly as Belgium it would hold
600,000,000, and then there would be room to spare.
After an interesting dissertation on the various na-
tionalities of which the population was composed, he
referred to the social position occupied by domestics,
and said that as masters and servants went to the
same school, the former treated their servants on a
footing of perfect equality, and masters and servants
sat down at the same table, The variations of the
climate were prodigious. They could imagine what
they were when he told them that the heat ranged
from 125 degrees to 20 degrees below zero—daughter).
He had, however, • mind out that the Canadian winter
was a much more enjoyable matter than the English
writers because every provision was made for it. He
himself was an enthusiastic admirer of the English
climate. He liked its gracious moderations, its tem-
perate summer and winter. In New York people
were sunstruck in the summer and frozen to death in
the winter. In New England if they threw hot water
into the air it came down ice. EverYthing they
touched was ice. Therefore be had no intention to
emigrate. America was very well to travel in for a
time, but they must expect all these amazing varia-
tions. Having referred to the magnificent river
steamers, and to the splendid cities--New York,
Phgadelphia, and Chicago, he described the tunnels
which supply the latter, city with fresh water, and said
they were some of the most wonderful specimens of
engineering skill in the world. He took a great deal
of pains about the drinking question and about the
Prohibitive Laws, Maine Laws, and Licensing Laws.
His opinion was that the Prohibitive Laws did lessen
the amount of drinking at a cost. Smuggling had
become a fine art, and how to evade the laws that
were so strict produced more moral harm in one dir-
ection than the evil they were trying to check in the
. other. One day he said to a man at an hotel, "Can-
not a man get a drink hero ?" "Oh, yes," said the
man; "go along the street until you get a fruit shop.
Go through that shop and into the room at the back.''
Arrived at the fruit shop he marched in. He entered
a little room at the back. Behind a man were two
cupboards and a little counter. These were all he
could see. He did nit know exactly what to do next.
However, he put on a bold face, and said, "What
sort of stuff is Bourbon whiskey, sir? " The man
said not a word. He opened a cupboard, and
brought out a bottle. He (Mr. Dawson) poured out
what he wanted and drank it. The man gave him a
little cheque, on which was written " Pay to the
cashier" so many "cents." He took the cheque
into the shop, and paid the money at the counter.
This was the way they evaded the law. The man
who gave him the whisky did not take the money for
it, and the man who took the money did not give him
the whiskey—(lond laughter.) The mischief was
done. He had the whisky and he paid for it, but
nobody sold it—(increased laughter.) Instead of
standing up to take their drink the Americans
showed them into the cupboard, and they sat down
there—(laughter). The standing drink was illegal,
In sitting to drink they were a sort of guest of the
house. In another place he went to an hotel. He
said to the landlord "Can I have a drink, sir
replied "Yes, if you will go upstairs we will bring it
up." This was a nice thing for an English gentle.-
man—drinking in a bedroom t However, they had it
and he found they could have any quantity they liked
The law was most systematically evaded. In Mas-
sachusetts men sold drink openly at the doors. By-
and-by it was necessary to go down upon
.them. The
The man knew that the police were coming, and al-
though he might have thousands of gallons on the
premises, there were two or three bottles laid handy,
and with virtuous indignation the police seized the
three bottles—(loud laughter). The man was sum-
moned, paid the paltry penalty, and went back to hie
work of drink selling. Whoever wanted drink could
get it in almost any county in America. The larger
part of the Prohibitive Laws were a transparent farce:
an invitation to dishonesty, an inducement tosmug-
gling. It was no use getting angry about this, ke-
caurie be thing was there and he could not help it.
The majority of Americans declared these laws to be
worse thou tideless, to b. absolutely misohlevons. •