Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1914 — IGNORANT OF U. S. A. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IGNORANT OF U. S. A.

Lack of Knowledge of America Not Confined to Europe.

An English Woman’s Tour—Her lr»t formation Concerning United States Not More Limited Than That of Some Natives.

New York. —An American returned from Europe met an English lady aboard the liner, who chanced to tell him her plans for seeing America. She had traveled widely in the east and expected to round out her experience by “an extensive tour of the ne»w world,” as she told him. The American vouches for the fact that she was educated, cultured and apparently en-

tirely sane. It was her intention to «remain In Ntew York several days, after which she was going to take a train to Chicago. She had not planned to stop off at Niagara Falls, saying that she had seen the Victoria Falls In Africa and was sure Niagara would be tame after that. After a stop at Chicago long enough to enable her to see the country in that vicinity, ’she was going to St. Louis, where she would see the Mississippi river. Thence she was going to New Orleans and she anticipated great enjoyment from the scenery in the Rocky mountains while passing through Louisiana. From New Orleans she had decided to take a steamship to New York, whlph would enable her to see Florida aqd the entire Atlantic coast Then, having seen about all there is to see in the United States, she planned to return to England. Now, this was not a joke. The woman .was certainly in earnest, and was intensely surprised at the information her American acquaintance was able to give her. He, on his part, was so impressed with the matter ‘that on landing he wrote a letter to Washington, urging that something

be done tp give Europeans better knowledge of this country. The story was told to the newspapers by Secretary of the Interior Lane. Mr. Lane says this is but one of hundreds of similar instances that are occurring all the time. He is trying to work out a plan to advertise the natural parks and other scenic spots of the United States, in Europe. If a scheme can be devised, perhaps the day will come when foreigners will get some adequate idea of the size and resources of this country.

The day when Englishmen expected to engage a room in New York and take daily trips out to the plains around Buffalo or Chicago to shoot game and . Indians is gone, to be sure, but some of the European ideas of America are little less amusing.

While he is about it Mr. Lane might try to think up a plan to instruct Americans regarding their own country. A San Antonionian who was east last summer was asked by an acquaintance in Boston if he had not recently seen a mutual friend apd was surprised at the regative reply. “That’s funny,” said the Bostonian. “He’s a neighbor of yours tn a way. He’s right down there near you." “Near San Antonio?” was the question. “Yes, right down there somewhere. Let me see. I know his address. He’s on a ranch or something. He has his mall sent to El Paso.” Nor

is that man any more ignorant, when we stop to think of it, than the Texan who thinks it a barefaced lie when he is told that there are three distinct cities in Rhode Island, the largest with over 200,000 population and the smallest with 25,000, so close to one another that a line five miles long will touch all three postofflces. No, all the ignorance about America is not among the Europeans, but Americans are rapidly learning the truth about their own country, and if Secretary Lane can think up a scheme to enlighten the English perhaps they will come over here and help us broaden our own people. Really, the woman who expected to enjoy the mountain scenery of Louisiana isn’t much more amusing than the northerners who are surprised to find that the Alamo is a building, having always thought it was merely the name of a battle field.

Secretary Franklin K. Lane.