Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04
Prof. George A. Gates of Po-
mona Tells How Government
for the Real People Is Run to
the Advantage of All

Former President George A. Gates
of Pomona college made an excellent
address to a small crowd at the CITY
club yesterday afternoon He spoke on
"Politics and Public Life in Australia
sia," where he spent the last five
months. 1t was not prepared speech,
and the subject covered wide range,
so there were only few of the feat-
ures of public life In Australasia on
which Professor Gates could dwell, ana
he chose those that appealed to him
most.
"There were two eye-openers at the
start" said DR.. Gates. Il learned .thdt
in going to Australasia / had to travel
SO per cent farther than l would to go
in the straight line to Japan. had no
idea it was so far away.
Another matter that impressed me
is that Australia is not little island,
as l had always pictured 1t in my
mind, but 1t has nearly the area of the
United States. 1t is populated by Eng
lish, Irish and Scotch, which again
surprised me, as had expected to find
1t mixed population. They are more
British than the English themselves
and still talk about going to England
as going home.
Working for the People
"Their problems are different from
ours, but 1 think they have lessons for
us. One of their keywords impressed
me more than anything else learned.
1t is, The People VS.. Everything Else,
and 1t is on this principle they have
built up their civilization.
I'm Auckland l stood on the corner
of a street about o'clock and watched
the working people going home.
"Not one that 1 saw looked jaded and
worn, but all appeared happy and whole
s~frIa faIl nlrnI ham
trim and neat. They were not tired out as
most of our working girls are when their
days work Is done, because they had been
treated with kindness and consideration,
which Is necessary under the strict labor
laws In Australia and New Zealand.
"They go to work about o'clock in
the morning, but among the crowds on
their way to their daily labor there
were no very young persons. Very
young persons are not allowed to work
in New Zealand and Australia. Chill
dren working day and night as they do
in our cotton mills is not known there.
No SIums Known
'In Auckland asked a cab driver to
take me to the slums. He didn't seem
to know what the word meant, so l ex-
planned that 1 wanted to see the part
of the city where the poorest element
lived-the crowded, congested district
where the wretched make their homes
He answered that he didn't know
where that was. And it is true, there
are no slums in that part of the coun-
try.
al asked q policeman where were the
houses where women of the town lived, and
he answered that there was no such house
in Auckland. And from what 1 gathered
later believe he right. The women
are well treated in that land and the social
evil problem Is no problem there.
"The labor laws are good. 1 have
heard 1t said a number of times that
capital was leaving the country be-
cause of the labor laws, and when I
heard those statements I asked those
who had made them to give me the
name of just one capitalist who had
left the country because of the labor
laws. / have not yet heard one name.
Making Money on Debt
"The employers of labor say the
laws are bad on the principle that IL
they don't howl they will get worse,
from their point of view. New Zea-
land has the biggest national debt per
capita of any country in the world
and | commented on this fact to a
new Zealander. He only laughed and
said that fact didn't bother them, they
wanted 1t larger. l was surprised to
borrowed money of England at 8 per
cent and made per cent with it, and
New Zealand would like as big debt
as it could accumulate at that ratio.
''They don't have strikes In that country
as we understand strikes. OF course,
troubles arise between capital and labor,
but they are never serious because OF the
institution there called the arbitration
court. No lawyers are allowed in this
court. When emplOye has a grievanec
to present he does and the employer Is
made to come In and give his defense.
When the case is decided by this court the
verdict must rule for three years. This
court has as much power to enforce its de-
cislOns as has any other court In the land.
Nerves Protected
There has been forty-eight hour
week in Australasia for the last FIVE
years and in cases where great skill
and nerve-w -wrecking work is necessary
the week is only forty-two hours. One
of the labor laws says that no woman
shall work in factory or business
house between the hours of in the
evening and in the morning and the
same law applies to boys under IS
years of age.
Labor IN poweri not labor unions,
for only fraction of The laboring class
belong to unions, Though they, too,