Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/273

 Africa, New Zealand or Australia, he is more English than he was in England When the new market-house was built in Johannesburg, it was so far out of the way that people wouldn't patronize it, although it was a magnificent structure 668x230 feet. Thereupon the street railway company went to the rescue, built a line past the new market-house, and gave free transfers to and from it on all lines. These were the first transfers ever issued in Johannesburg, and the people are already inquiring: "Why can't transfers be issued in other cases?" I predict that this enterprise on the part of the street railway company will result in grumbling and agitation that will finally force free transfers generally. The street railway receipts here now amount to more than an average of $100 per car daily, but with the entering-wedge referred to above, look out for a howl for lower fares. The people here have never experienced the joy of fighting the street railway, and, when they get at it, they will like it as much as do people in American towns All the people in foreign countries have, I think, an exaggerated notion of the prosperity prevailing in the United States. Most of the young men I meet are anxious to emigrate, and they believe conditions in the United States are better than they really are. Ours is a great country, but hard work and poverty are not unknown in the best parts of it This morning we called at an office building to see a number of Americans who have been exiled in South Africa many years. An ex-American took us around and introduced us to ex-Americans in the various offices.