Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-20
LET'S TALKS OF
JOURNEY ABROAD
PREDICTS PROTECTIVE TARIFF
FOR ENGLAND SOON
SAYS GERMANY is RUN WITH
cLocK-LIKE PRECISION
Proprietor of Broadway Department
Store Greeted on Return by Many
Floral Offerings on Part Of
Employees

Refreshed in mind and body after
five months travel abroad, Arthur
Let's. proprietor of the Broadway de-
partment store, returned TO his desk
yesterday and plunged into work with
renewed Vigor The very first thing
he did was to call his employees to-
gether and make each of them hand
some gift, most of which articles had
been secured in some of the countries
Mr.. Let's had visited.
Mr.. Let's office looked more like
flower store than the staid office from
which he directs his huge business, Tor
in every corner there were flowers,
huge punches of crysanthemums, bas-
kets of carnations and bouquets of fra
grant roses, the gifts of his employees.
As Mr.. Let's expressed it, it was worth
going round the world, beset by the
dangers of railroad and ocean travel
and all the inconvenience thereof, to
come home and find such a tribute
waiting his return.
Mr.. Let's is known all over the world
as a lover of nature and a gardener
of no mean ability. To enhance his
reputation and to enlarge his gardens
Mr.. Let's has imported about 3OOU
plants, trees and flowers of rare va
riety, some of which have never be-
fore been brought into this country.
Attended Y. M. C. A. Meeting
On his trip Mr.. Let's was accom-
panied by his wife, son, two daughters
and D. E. Luther, secretary of the Y.
M. c. A, and Mrs. Luther. Mr.. Let's
and Mr.. Luther attended the interna-
tional convention of the Y. NJ. c. A. at
Barmen- -Eberfeld, Germany. During
the course of their travels they Wis
tied twelve countries and secured
much valuable information both as to
business and as to Y. M. c. A. work.
Unless l miss my guess" said Mr..
Let's, as he sat almost hidden behind
his floral gifts, ENGLAND will be
protective tariff country within six
months It is bound to come there, for
there is great need. Another thing
which is coming gradually in England
is the partition of the vast estates.
Soon there will be no landed lords
over there. There will be in place OF
men owning hundreds Of thousands of
acres, hundreds of thousands of men
owning and cultivating ,intensively
few acres. In the end that will mean
the salvation of England, for 1t is from
the farms that a nation draws its
strength
Germany is the best systematized
country I visited. Everything runs
with machine-like precision there. The
Germans are making a success of life
and of their country because they have
a purpose In living. They let nothing
interfere with that purpose, hence they
are bound to win in the end.
Tariff Benefits Trusts
when I was called on to pay very
high tariff on the plants and trees I
imported I learned something about
certain phase of the United States gov
ernment which made me think this
country has much to learn from other
lands. I believe in protection, but
cannot bring myself to believe 1t is
right to rob the people and put the
money in the hands of greedy corpor-
ations. Take the lemon case as an ex
ample The duty on lemons was raised
Is per cent believe. That was right.
But 1t certainly was not right that
the freight on lemons was raised 15
per cent. The present tariff law does
not benefit the producer, does not aid
the working man and will not in the
end enrich the government. 1t will
only benefit the corporations
"The merchant who goes to Europe
for commercial ideas wastes his time
and money We have better stores and
better methods in America. In fact,
the best stores abroad are those using
American methods. This is especially
true in London.
1T am more than glad to get home,
and I feel now as though I never want
to leave Los Angeles again. To me it
is the best place in the world Los An
geles is known everywhere. Scarcely
a man I talked with did not know
something about this city, and most of
them said they intended making visit
here sometime"