The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-19
SAYS AUSTRALIA IS
CHAMBERLAIN MAD
Rev. Patrick Foughy. of Queens.
land. Tells of Conditions in
the AntIpodes.

said Rev. Patrick Foughy, of Brisbane,
Queensland, Australia, who with two
younger men of his cloth was at the
Windsor hotel yesterday en- route to
the st. Louis exposition.
During the Boer war the colonies
were enthusiastically for England in
the fight, and Chamberlain was, as
everybody knows, the head and center
OF that unequal struggle" continued
Father Foughy. 1.-The British leader
has put forward his preferential trade
ideas and they have an immense fol-
lowing in Australia. Practically every
newspaper in the larger cities of the
island continent is openly for Cham
berlain and his new policy of pro-
lection. The only exceptions are the
newspapers of Sydney, New South
Wales, the largest city in the largest
and most populous. colony of the fed
Grafton. There local conditions have
influenced popular opinion against the
Chamberlain plan, but elsewhere
throughout the colonies Chamberlain
is the beau ideal of the smaller poll
ucians and he was recently invited to
visit Australia by the premier of the
country.
1T is remarkable fact" continued
Father Foughy, that we do not know
at this moment who is at the head of
the local government in Australia.
When we left for the States some
weeks ago the protectionist govern
ment had been overthrown by a COM
bination of the free traders and the
labor party, and the head of the labor
party had been invited by the premier
to form new ministry. 1 suppose
this has been done, but the American
newspapers are woefully silent on
the question of Australian policies and
politics.
Labor Party the Strongest.
''The labor party in Australia is
now the strongest of the three parties.
1t won it's greatest victory and made
the greater number of it's recruits on
the defeat of the Cancellation measure
Which attempted to force employees of
the railroads-Which are owned and
operated by the governmental accept
arbitration in the settlement of labor
troubles. Nearly all the labor leaders
are Socialists at heart, but many of
the members of the party join under
the general impression that it stands
alone for the Improvement of labor.
One of its plankS is socialism and an
other is the exclusion Of immigration,
and it is practically the Henry George
idea of American politics.
In my judgment the country is
making a grievous mistake in dis
couraging immigration, for there are
only 100000 people in Australia with
an area almost as large as the United
States, and only $4,000 in my colony
Of Queensland. There are thousands
and thousands of acres of vacant
lands awaiting the coming of the set
tier, but the labor party contends that
there are already too many men for
the jobs" and they have been to quite
degree successful in keeping out i'm
migration and the natural develop
ment of the country
Tells Of the Great Drouth.
Father Foughy talks Interestingly of
the effect of the two years. drouth,
from which almost the whole of Aus
tralia suffered. "One must have gone
through the period of drouth to prop
small areas escaped, and when it is
roughly estimated that Queensland
alone lost 100000 sheep and $500, 600
cattle by starvation some idea of the
awful condition can be obtained. In
New South Wales more than q, 900 600
sheep and 100000 900 head of cattle were
lost to their owners. People did not
realize it's cost until it was well over
Stockmen and small farmers took their
savings ltOiit the UdllhS. ana N0lle their
money lasted they bought feed for their
suffering animals; but finally both
their money and their herds were gone
and they were poor indeed. Hundreds
of families saw their earnings of years
swept away, and they were as poor as
when they came to the country, penni-
less colonists.
The few who weathered the drouth
naturally profited by the misfortunes
nf nthQrc hill
ordinary times sold for $25 per head in
American money sold for $50, and a
few farmers, comparatively speaking,
became wealthy. Not all the country
was affected, but the regions that es-
capped the general devastation were re-
mote from railroad connections, and
the owners of the stock could not drive
their animals to market, for there was
no feed by the way. They could only
await the rains and the coming of grain
on the face of the barren earth, and
then they drove their cattle 500 and
often 1000 miles to market"
Land of Magnificent Distances.
Father Foughy has been a priest in
Australia for twenty-one years. and his
travels have taken him over large areas
of the country. 1t was no uncommon
thing" he said, ''in travelling from place
to place, to cover $50 to 300 miles each
week, and to find families as far apart
as forty miles. Australia is a country
of magnificent distances, and 1 know
of no country that can compare to it
other than the United States. In many
respects the two countries are alike.
but suspect that Australia is the more
democratic of the two. In our country
there is universal suffrage, and every
woman over twenty-one years has the
privilege of casting vote as we'll as
her liege lord. Several very estimable
women stood for election in Queensland
at the last election, and while | regret
to say that none of them was success
full at the polls, they We're everywhere
treated with uniform courtesy and con-
Father Foughy is on his way home
to his native Ireland for a years va
cation after his long stay in Australia.
With him are Rev NJ RYAN and Pew