The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-10
l2TH BIRTHDAY OF
 AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH

2 Twelve years ago the Commonwealth of Australia, a federation of the six original states, was constituted by an act of the British Parliament. and on the first day of the twentieth century the new united nation was formally launched. The dozen years that have passed since then has been a period of wonderful progress, although as yet the tremendous natural resources of the island continent have only been touched. Politically, Australia, like neighboring New Zealand, Is progress stve enough to suit any 'insurgent." !" I'm all of the States the fair sex has been granted the ballot, and suffra- gists of all nations point with pride to the Antipodes as a nation that has never had political graft scandal. America. and European political econ onists who have studied Australian governmental methods all apparently agree on this point--that Australia is singularly free from graft. The work ingmen's movement Is stronger in Australia than in any other country, and of late years the State govern ments have manifested decidedly So- cialistic and paternalfstic tendencies. While real State Socialism. as defined by Marx and Engels, does not exist in the Antipodes, it is there that one finds the closest approach to 1t.
 WSth the thermometer lingering about 115 degrees In the shade for weeks together, the Australian cl1- mate is not everything to be desired, although the acclimated Australians do not seem to mind it. No day Is toe hot for indulgence in sports, and Aus tralia is a. country where the prover- biaI British love of outdoor pastimes, as evidenced in the mother country, would seem but a tepid affection. The Australianclimate permits sports the year round, and the football and cricket seasons interlap each other. Baseball has also been introduced and has found many followers.
 Australian laborers are better pro- yfded for by law than those of any ether country. No worker in any in- dustry has to toil more than eight hours day, the eight hour law cover ing the nation and affecting all who toll for wages. The wage scale IS not as high as in North America, but the cost of living in Australia Is much cheaper and more than makes up the difference. Despite the excellent con- litions. strikes are not infrequent. Wheat raising is vastly on the in- crease, and every year finds a vast improvement in acreage. This has not affected the sheep industry, and wool continues to be one of Australia leading sources of wealth. New gold discoveries are made nearly every year.
 Melbourne and Sydney, and many ot the smaller cities, are growing at g rate not equalled by any other mu- nfcipalities of similar size in the world In 1881 Melbourne had a pop ulation of 65, 800; in 1901, of 49S, ,956, and in 1911 of 591, 1,800. This great city is the metropolis of a country which the Dutch sailors who first visited Aus tralia described as "a foul and deso- late land" It is expected that Aus tralian development will be much more rapid in the future as a result of the opening of the interior by the trans continental railroad that will connect Melbourne and Sydney with Perth West Australia
 Australia has no race question tc deal with, the aborigines having an al but negligible quantity, but the vel low peril' is one that causes many Australian statesmen to froth at the mouth. The Japanese and Chinese crowded to the point of starvation ir their native lands, look longingly to the undeveloped island continent .sAustralia for the white race" has become a batle-cry that is potent ir the politics of the Antipodes.