The Detroit times., 1915-10-18
WOMAN is STRONG
INFLUENCE IN
AMERICAN LIFE
JOHN CONFER POWYs.

America. the hope OF the fu'
ture' was the subject of the second
of the series OF lectures delivered
by John Cowper Powys. In MeCol.
lecter hall, Saturday night Mr..
Powys said that It was 10 years
since he first saw America, and
since that time he had spent fully
Ave years In this country.
The English writer has very
imperfect knowledge Of America, he
said. He knew not one Who had
done justice to this country. The
first impressions of the European
upon entering New York harbor
were difficult to describe The har-
Dor with it's skyline OF tall build
ings was a sight the European Wis
itor 10 America could never forget.
The Statue of Liberty meant TO the
European not liberty so much as
hope.
Mr.. Powys considered the great
est power in America to be public
opinion. The people as whole
were optimistic. They were a NOR
al people and Mt the same time Gym
ical. They laughed when they
were at the same time very serious.
The Americans did not take their
press, their newspapers seriously.
and In turn they were punished for
IL. The English newspaper. on the
other hand, was a very serious In
stitution. The editor felt deeply his
duty to the people, and the people
regarded the press with the same
gravity.
The speaker was wonderfully i'm.
pressed by American architecture.
The railway stations in the United
States occupied about The same po-
sition as the cathedrals In Spain.
The tall buildings in all our large
cities were real departures in arch
itecture: they combined great arch
itectural and engineering skill
With it's marble columns and COM
bination OF stone and cement and
steel the modern skyscraper was
a distinctive product of American
architecture.
Commenting on the pulpit. Mr..
Powys noted the absence Of doctri.
nal religion. Protestant America
was not interested In theology. II
was the rule for preachers Of the
various denominations to exchange
pulpits; such mingling of religious
denominations would he an impos-
slbility in Europe, whore denomina-
tional lines were so strongly drawn.
Education in the United States
was left largely 10 the Women. The
tendency was towards feminism.
Women educated the youth. Wom-
en- ruled the home They did so
much. that they might also he given
the vote. As result OF the woman
teacher. the tendency was for the
youth tc become genteol. He had
somewhat wide knowledge OF the
subjects taught and he admired
many things, but such an education
would never produce scholarship
The English youth, on the other
hand, was shy, age for age, and
somewhat awkward, even stern, but
was scholar.
Woman's influence was to be seer
in the contemporary literature
which the speaker described as oil
tho "sun shine character. The so
called best sellers" were the books
that catered to the demand for lit
crature of the moral uplift char
acter. Theodore Dreissler is the
only novelist in America who was
in the same class as the European
writer he said.
A wonderful experiment IN race
brce'ins was being worked out In
America where the races were
showing a tendency to blend Here
an Italian woman and a Russian, or
Frcnchman and a German woman
may marry. Such things were un.
heard OF in Europe, and. IN the
speakers opinion race lines would
be drawn more closely after the
war than before.