Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-01-27

SIDNEY Jan. sC.-New South Wales is
perhaps the most prosperous OF all the Eng
lish speaking colonies sonth Of the eqnstor,
yet in proportion to its population-l,sU 500
OOO-it has more idle men than England
and quite as much poverty. Disguised with
conditions here, several hundred men, many
of them with their families, left for South
America n few months ago. and thousands
are ONLY deferred from following their en-
ample from want OF means.
The. wealth OF these colonies lies in sheep,
cattle, wheat and gold and silver. There
has been no disease to>thin out the herds
and fiocks. the wheat and other crops have
been larger than ever before, and the out
mt of gold and silver has been up to the
average of the most prosperous years.
Heretofore Australasia has been regarded
rs aworkingman's paradise. yet today there
are tens of thousands of idle men in this
and the other colonies, and the govern
ments have had to vote grants to keep the
people from starving.
When landed here from New Zealand
short time since the first thing saw after
getting free of the customs officers was
long line of men drawn up on the street.
They looked like intelligent mechanics, but
there was an eager and a hungry expression
in their faces as they held up q dingy blue
flag, on which was the legend. Help the
Unemployed"
asked the meaning of this demon5Sra-
ton and was told that this was a small de-
tachment of the unemployed army then
idle aud starving in the Queen City of the
A,tipodes, as Sydney is called. While
was seeking information a number of these
men passed along the sidewalks, hat in
hand, soliciting help This they do in all
parts of the city and suburban towns, and
the money gathered in this way is divided
up among the men who have wives and
children dependent on them.
The business stagnation from which the
whole commercial world is now suffering
began in Australia just two years ago. The
capitalists say the strikes of labor organi-
cations caused the trouble. The working
men swear that it was caused by land
sharks and overspeculation. and they point
so the scores of broken banks and burst
land booms in proof of their statement.
Building associations, which in the Unit
ed States have been conducted on mutual
and economic lines, here were made joint
stock affairs, with banking anneXes and
enormous capital-on paper. Poor men, in
the hope of becoming their own landlords,
were Induced to put their savings into these
associations. and the consequence was, when
the inevitable crash came, they found them
selves without money and without employ
mcEt.
sydney, like all other Australian cities,
is noted for the number and beauty of its
public parks. Hyde park, one OF the oldest
of these, has at its entrance gigantic
bronze statue of her majesty Victoria in
coronation robes. II crown on her head and
a typical globe in her hand. Every day at
noon thousands of idle men gather about
this s.atue-most of the poor wretches have
their bedrooms in the park-while one of
their number mounts the steps and de-
claims against kings and capitalists in Il
way that would not be permitted in the
United States.
What the end is to be the wisest cannot
foresee The capitalist may have been a
tyraut, but the workingman in his despera-
ton promises to out Herod Herod. Social
ism of the most advanced kind is openly
preached. On Sundays the parks are
crowded with listeners to addresses that
weuld not be permitted in New York.
AS a result of this state of affairs crimes
against property are rife. The streets, filled
with dangerous men by day. swarm with
worse women by night. The jails are
crowded. The poorhouses overflow with
Old people and children. Yet there are
mines to be worked and empires of good
land still untouched by the plow within
easy reach Of all this suffering. But the
mines and the unused lands are in the
hands OF svndicates, and so labor starves
surrounded by the richest bounties of ma
ture, to which it is forbidden access by the
laws Of the land. W. l.. SCoTg.