194 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



Western city during my short stay of a fortnight. Mer- 

 chants, however, are heard to complain at present of con- 

 siderable pressure brought about by overproduction and 

 scarcity in the money market. It thus happened that 

 my many efforts, aided by most excellent recommenda- 

 tions and personal endeavors of newly found friends, 

 failed to secure for me a position as clerk. But there are 

 thousands of ways and means of support in x\merica, 

 which, if they do not serve for anything better, will at 

 least surely keep the wolf from the door. 



Mercantile establishments are mostly in the hands of 

 either North Americans, Englishmen or Germans, while 

 there are likewise some very rich and respected Chilean 

 firms, but very few French and Mexican business houses. 

 The Chinese, too, go into business ventures once in a 

 while, but rarely on a large scale, though many of them 

 are very rich and could easily have the largest establish- 

 ments in the city, if money were the sole factor. Each na- 

 tionality tries to preserve its own peculiar character and, 

 as will be readily understood, the general hunt for money 

 and riches does not always bring out the better qualities 

 of men to advantage, but rather tends to bring the weak 

 ones into daily display. While it cannot be denied that 

 some acquire riches in comparatively few years, most 

 foreigners remain but a short time, only to return home 

 with disappointed hopes and shattered expectations; they, 

 however, make room for newcomers; new elements take 

 the vacant places, and the merry war for earthly posses- 

 sions continues. The sooner the European realizes that 

 the only safe way toward accumulating money is to work 

 for it, the better for him. There is not one out of a hun- 

 dred who grows rich rapidly, and here as elsewhere the 

 old adage: "Honesty is the best paying policy,' * is in 

 reality the only "golden rule" one should follow in 

 business as well as in private life. Though we generally 

 believe that time is all-powerful in smoothing conditions 

 and harmonizing difficulties and national peculiarities, 

 there seems to be astonishingly little assimilation be- 

 tween the different nations; they seem to remain inten- 



