The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-12
IN THE GRIP
OF SOCIALISM
AUSTRALIA is PARALYZED BY
CLASS LEGISLATION.
The People Emigrating and Popula-
ton Decreasing Chance for the
Man Who Is Not a Labor Unionist-
In Country Run in the Supposed
Interests of the Worker There Is No
Work.

Work.
Washington. Jan. 12.-The Col
OniZer, a London journal devoted
to colonization and immigration, in it's
October number prints the following
from the Globe:
The steady increasing number Of
departures from New South Wales and
Victoria for Canada, South Africa and
even Great Britain is beginning to
awaken alarm in the commonwealth.
The steamers Of the White Star and
other lines are continually leaving
Australian ports with full passenger
lists, and nearly the whole of the pas
senger accommodation has been
booked for several weeks to come.
During the first six months of the
present year, according to official re-
ports, no fewer than 1922 persons
left New South Wales alone for ports
outside the commonwealth, the emf
grafton exceeding the immigration by
2,116. In addition, there has been a
large influx of New South Wales and
Victorian population into western
Australia. This is one Of the imme-
diate effects of socialist labor legisla-
ton in the mother state and Victoria.
The people who are leaving Australia
are no mere birds Of passage. They
are mostly class who have been born
or long settled in Australia, many be-
ing steady, competent tradesmen; not
a few belonging to the ranks of mas
ter craftsmen, others being pastoralists,
farmers, station hands-in fact, the
very men Of which the commonwealth
stands in most need. Scarcely any are
trade unionists. The nonunionist, I'M
der the new order Of things, has no
place in Australia. The New South
Wales Industrial arbitration court and
~ " 1f~
fuses to recognize his existence. He
must either join a trade union Or
starVe.
Decreasing Population.
In the New South Wales provinces
the population during the decade
1S91-19O1 has remained almost sta
tionary, or has shown only limited in
crease, while during two succeeding
years there has been a marked de-
cline. Well may it be said that these
facts afford a scathing commentary
on the socialist labor policy Of the ex-
listing state government. Here" we
are told, lis a country whose state
Industrial institutions are now run
solely in the interests of the worker;
whose politicians leave no stone un-
turned to meet his every demand; in
which, out Of all countries in the
world, it might be thought that Ia
the working man, as well as his en-
ployer, finds he cannot make living
in it, Not in a land capable of sup
porting the whole Of the European
populations several times over! The
socialist labor party is the declared
enemy Of private enterprise and free
labor. Only within the last two or
three days a deputation waited on a
member of the state ministry in place
ctoto in1, 11rhn q
to ask that the manufacture of wire
netting might be included in the list
of state industries, and received a
sympathetic reply. If state wire
netting factory is established, all the
private. works must be closed. It is
the same with the docks. Private
enterprise is ready to supply the port
of Newcastle with some dock accom-
mediation urgently required, but the
socialist labor party insists that it
shall be provided at the cost of the
state, and when it is pointed out that
further state loans will be difficult to
obtain, the reply is: Increase the
taxation on capital" No wonder the
capitalist as we'll as the laborer is
they are treated as enemies of the
public welfare.
A Different Picture.
How different was the situation a
few years ago, previous to the advent
Of the socialist labor party in the state
and federal politics. AS Mr.. Reed, the
leader of the federal opposition, lately
pointed out, Australia is the only new
country in the world which is not
attracting population. Between 1861
and 1891 the additions to the Austral-
ian population had been between 70O,-
600 and 100000, but during the last
ten years the excess of arrivals over
departures had been only 5000. At
this rate of progress it would take
1900 years to reach the level attained
ten years ago. In the one state (Vic-
tora) where there had been the most
legislation to make the people happy
in the one state in which there had
been all these efforts to do justice to
the working people-wage boards and
taxes to promote colonial industries
and so on-people had cleared out of
it more extensively than they had out
of the other five states. In the last
ten years Victoria had lost 10000
people. Official statistics show that
the excess of emigrants during the
period 1891-19O1 was as follows: Vic
toria, 1859; South Australia, 1929;
and Tasmania, 1,948. During the. same
period the excess of immigrants was:
Western Australia, 130,133; Queens
land 21,221; and New South Wales,
S.423. With the commencement of So
cialist labor legislation under the adj
minlstration of Sir John See, New
South Wales began to share the fate
of Victoria, and appears destined to
lose the greater portion of its most
capable population within the next
few years unless the prohibitive re-
strictjons on labor and capital become
modified, if not removed. No wonder
that thoughtful men, like the presi-
dent of the Sydney Chamber of Com
merce, ask: HAS New South Wales
ceased to attract the desirable immi-
grant, the man with more or less
capital, or he whose sole fortune is
represented by strong hands, clear
head, and brave, stout hearth
Socialist labor legislation, driving
out capital and destroying the oppor-