Show making tomorrows s world by W WILLIAMS WILLI DM faw vanity fAfa mf AUSTRALIA aa ai N experiment III I 1 DEMOCRACY sydney sydne A u st trails ralla australia la in a area rea the alio of the be continental united states stales with population approximating IQ in dumber bough not in n variety the population of the city a of f N new e w york la Is trying A 0 0 t democracy here e experiment is substituted for experience new theor lez for or old the land Is I 1 faw to the fr p experiment it Is the yoon geat est mad land in settlement cem though oldest tn la l yeara yeam though iRli discovered and in mcw 16 by a forgotten navigator it ws was not until 1770 that captain cook mailing balling the south sooth ry MM the stand island con fluent and aad baptized it into the ibe british amille kapr ia pr not hor did d occupation by white while begin until 1787 and the lh anit colonists were convicts australla Aaa trana should hould be a land or of ae lecter populations runs nin an old and cruel saying or our fathers were sent cut on from froin england by the best beat only within the tatt fast third or of a century centory has australia through growth ot of population and adran advanced ced if taken any considerable part cart in ia the world e s affairs australia has ta to ro ancient crust 0 privilege to be brolien up by the plowshare of pro illation l the soil oll Is in clear to tho seeding the portical husbandman has had an unusual field of which he has haa not been slow low to take advantage adran tage continent of marvelous richea the discovery ol of sold gold in 1851 at bathurst lla Va west of the blue mountains turned attention to the roar mar vilous richness of australia which had baj boen ben comparatively unknown sheep had bad been and ar are eithe the chief source of alias wealth it it a jj I 1 M fir CL ma town hall sydney australia land however for which nature has done much and in the use of which men can afford for or a time at least to take long chances many and rich minerals are found the mines are important and valuable the main export elport however la Is wool and it is i as aa a producer of food supply and material for raiment that this immense land bas its most hobt prosperous rots future hidden away until other lands were full to overflowing over floy ang australia has been the reserve tt erve continent from which a large hare of the worlds food and clothing are ro to come KB its possibilities tn in this direction have bare hardly begun to be realized the foer and a halt millions of inhabitants fringing the shores of the continent or scattered on solitary hep slat stations ions and cattle runs miles apart tit in the back blocks have scarcely commenced to possess the and certainly not to subdue it tho bandrup of political and minor offenders who with their guards and over seers beers came first from england have been succeeded toy by generations of pioneers or of much the same type as peopled the western plains of the united states ra years ago the great american desert as an it 11 appeared appe areil jn in the geographies before geographer si brew any better haa its lt count counterpart erpa rt ica taht vast ast iuteri Inter loc ot of tho the sal souta ean continent western kansas Is 1 duplicated though on oa an ampler and more arld arid scale in n western australia and queensland re resembles to a degree N new ew mexico and arizona it Is I 1 a new country as a well veil w a varied in which the experiment of democracy Is on trial this for any delinquency or failure la Is urged by every australian Autra llan A white mans country the experiment la Is being made by white men australia Is deliberately a white mans country A few aboriginal blacks survive lo in color blacker than the so to totalled called guinea negro once known in america and in industry about on the same fiame plane u with ith hla bill laziest and latest youthful descendant some chinese and japanese re tide side in the coast towns admitted before the policy of australia for the white eian 11 was entered upon but bat altogether the non whites whiles are a negligible friLe fraction tion of the entire population and the tha governmental policy be ba changed as does not teena seem within the range of probability will to so remain immigration Is sought fought in many but bat this immigration must be desirable ablo and white no black yellow or brown man dan need apply lie he is t not cot rejected on account of his color that might lead to international complications lie ile Is rejected on other grounds illiteracy knowledge of no language or for other reason the I 1 law aw Is administered so that hat no colored man can get into australia A captain on whose steamer five came as was tined fined tsoi 2 SOi at the queensland ports porta customs officers are specially v vigilant in looking out for unde undesirable e immigrants two grave grare military ap appear pear ing individuals wearing caps that bore the label ill H M customs might have ben seen in my cabin as the steamer tarried at brisbane they turned over every article of furniture and every bit of bed clothing in the berth to discover whether or not a chinaman had been therein concealed with or without my knowledge I 1 was wan not to be permitted to disturb the australla australia for the white man policy regarding only oab part of aus there as Is serious consideration of a reversal of the white australla australia policy this part Is in the northern territory an immense undeveloped region lying the tropics where chere it has up to the present time been found impossible to lo colonize white men there are six states constituting the commonwealth of australia new south wales victoria queensland south gouth australia western australla australia and tasmania the northern territory la Is directly administered by tho the federal government while the suites states have bare even larger self govern ment than the states of the american union the white men cannot or at least will not live lire in the northern territory though it has much rich X tid t id ld fertile land in an area larger than that part of the united states lying east of the mississippi river are less than two thousand thu usand whites the census statistics show that this population ti on has increased just 27 in 27 years the northern territory remains large ly inaccessible until the construction of the transcontinental railway which Is projected this railway and more insistent schemes may change the conditions a of the australian press and public favor faor departing from the whit australla pl policy 1 py far enough to i permit colored labor borta ta eater ent r the northern n 0 athern territory to jo do what bat one australian a cabied the dos don 1 ley ikey work in ia development this sec I 1 uon is to in the minority however and j will doubtless remain so 20 until it Is I 1 I 1 i demons abal other plans of 0 settlement and development have bare beao b ta tried and it 11 has baa been shown chokn thit that the occupancy ot of the tb nort northern bero territory by the white man n Is impossible it if there he be ern era retailing from rom the tha experiment in democracy mo cracy the be white while nan man the briton away from ron great britain Hrit Aln is ble and the white while man alone democracy to the limit the australian federal constitution modeled upon the constitution of the united states carries to the farthest limit the principle of trusting trotting the people every adult roan man or woman has bas an equal voice in the election of both houses of parliament parHams nL there Is 1 no property qualification anit no circumstance cum stance entitles any citizen to more than one vote vole in actual practice however as a frank vox fox keen observer and long resident of australia pointed out oat it has been found that the principle of federalism implies a check on the actions or of the australian parliament which Is i deeply resented by y the advanced labor leaders and the inconvenience of which Is a acknowledged by others the constitution followed tolle fole somewhat closely th the e united states model and reserved very large powers to the states slates far larger for example than the states or provinces have in canada to provide that there should not be any arbitrary en croach ment on state rights a states housa was set et up in which house the enate the tiny liny state of tasmania has bait equal representation with the very vert large state of new south wa wale les also the respective power of the states of the federation were defined by the written constitution and the high court of the commonwealth was mada mad the guardian and interpreter of that constitution this high court it may be observed hax has kept a jealous watch for any trespasses by the federal power on state rights and has baa declared a great deal of the federal legislation unconstitutional and therefore invalid because it went beyond the powers glyen given to the federation or commonwealth by the constitution this haa bag created a strong demand for a revision of the just as the decision of the majority of the justices of the united states supreme court in the income tax case caused a demand tor for a revision of the american constitution it strikes observers from older countries with surprise and perhaps with dismay that it should be urgently proposed to enter upon a profound constitutional change after only ten years experience of federation under the act of union labor in the saddle other experiments tried out oui may be abandoned lightly or otherwise but the experiment ot of democracy Is not among them the australian whether he be be a member of the labor or of the liberal party the two great political parties ts la a democrat one manis manla ax as good as another man in hta his eyes and to employ the irish phrase often a little better the secretary of the draymann dray mans union la is appointed member of df the legislative council the cabman who over charged me in sydney as cabmen cabeen ovir overcharge charge the traveler in all cities upon earth Is a member of parliament one premier Is ie a miner another a printer not in mere theory as in some other countries claiming to be democratic the government in australia Is in the hands of the butcher the baker and the candlestick maker I 1 the extent to which democracy goes roay may be illustrated by the new south wales walea experiment the labor party returned to power in this state the most moat important in australia selected as its it a leader IV A Il hoi olman man who iad had filled this place with distinction in the previous parliament under the con and by precedent the formation of a government that is the selection of cabinet ministers fell to his lot iol premier holman Hol maii as an ultimate democrat declined to avail himself of this thin immemorial privilege and called a secret caucus of all the labor members of parliament to select the new ministry A score of candidates were voted upon by the 48 labor members and after six hours houra of strenuous balloting the caucus selected ten names these are tbt tb new cabinet ministers though the caucus left the assignment of their separate portfolios or officers office rs to the premier faced toward socialism with many australians democracy spells opportunity for socialism to greater or lea lees degree the two chief occupations of the australian are sports and politics indeed he carries hit his sporting proclivities into the realm of politics and just now is permitting his democracy to take a long chance in socialism lie he is staking the future of at his continent on the new theories of government that he Is putting into practise betting that the world orid up to now has been wrong perhaps the au australian str allan democrat with his face toward socialism is right perhaps he Is mistaken and will bo be compelled and painfully to retrace his steps just juat now he la Is going ahead confident almost c P ro gantly though capital heal hesitates tates and immigration i lags the fat years have been his but the lean years yeara roust must come prosperous world in australia holds for the observer much that suggests ests answer to the question which every visitor asks will de mo cracy far advance advanced 4 toward socialism stand the lein lean yeam tuat tsat having bet that all the worlds wrong what wha will twi the australian do it he loses lose his wager on democracy copyright ISM 1914 by joaeph fow la 3 I 1 |