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MELBOURNE, TUESDAY,
23RL> April, 1889.
Nothing interests the members of a new
community more than the criticisms of
visitors from other countries. It used, to
be said of the Americans that they. betrayed
a morbid sensitiveness to foreign criticism,
which can hardly be considered a trait of
Australian character, however eagerly
what others say of the colonists may be
read. The inhabitants of the United States
were naturally irritated by tlie remarks
of imperfectly informed "globe trotters,"
who compared things wholly unlike, ana
drew deductions unfavorable to the Ameri
can institutions and people. As a rule the
measure of deprecation depended upon tho
extent to whicli English models had been
departed from, while more philosophic
writers would have recognised with satis
faction that if a new country can solve
social problems in a novel way, it .is de
serving of the thanks of luunnnity at large.
Tho Australian colonies have not so far
had much cause of complaint that their
inner life is misrepresented by their
English critics. These are rather inclined
to adopt a tono of indiscriminate laudation.
Tlie rapid increase of population and
wealth in Australia lias struck tlie
imagination of English visitors, who
straightway indulge in rapturoiis
anticipations of the greatness to be
achieved by tlie colonies within a
measurable period. But when they
descend to details, these for the most part
relate to the manners and customs of the
people, tlie political inuehinery of the
colonies and its outcome. What would be
of much greater interest to English readers
would bo. some.- account of how the
prosperity of the colonies lias been
produced. Ono cause of the general
reticence of our English visitors on this '
subject is that the record of Vic
torian progress is a practical refutation of
the doctrine of unfettered international 1
commerce, which has been adopted with
something like fanaticism by the- greai)
mass of the British people. Facts which
speak volumes in favor of a protective
policy are ignored or explained uway, and
others are unfairly stated with a
view of casting discredit upon the
principle of protection to native in,
dustiy. We observe that the writer of <
an article on these colonies, in .a recent
number of an English magazine, endeavors
to bolster up the free.- trade cause by pro
fessing to show that -New South Wales
without protective duties has established
in org manufactories and hn3 a larger
manufacturing population than Vic
toria, which has endeavored to fos.
ter native industries by the imposi
tion of protective duties. Ordinary care
would have enabled the writer to discover
that the figures upon which his statement
was based were absurdly inaccurate, and
were only put forward by tlie New South
"Wales 'Free-trade League in the hope of
avqpting tlie inevitable introduction of pro
tection into tlie neighboring colony. Statis
tics whicli credit New South Wales with a
" factory " for every chaff cutting machine
on a farm and every sausage machine in n
butcher's shop will readily transform— on
paper — what is almost a purely pastoral
colony into a busy liive of manufacturing
industry.
If this colony, its institutions and pros
pects arc to be accurately judged by
strangers, the judges must have some
reasonable acquaintance with the policy
adopted by somewhat similar communities
elsewhere, and the conditions under which
the adoption of a protective policy be
comes inevitable. ' Mr. Frank M'Coppin,
who; has furnished to the Government of
the United States a report oil Victoria,
a synopsis of which appeared iu our
issue of Saturday, has the neces
sary qualifications of a fair critic.
He has witnessed tlie benelieiftl opera
tion of protection in t his own country,
and knows that any reversal of the fiscal
policy of the State would not be tolerated
by the working classes, for the all-snflicient
reason that free-trade would mean for tliem
a reduction in tlie social scale. In tracing
the rise of trades unionism in Victoria,
and that. of tlie eight hours system, Mr.
M'Coppin sees that while tlie latter was
dependent for its success upon tlie orga
nisation of labor for its defence, neither
could have triumphed but for tlie timely
adoption of protection. Those whose
memories extend bock to 1860 will confirm
Mr. M'Coppin's account of tlie industrial
condition of the. colony at that period. So
little, he says, was labor in. demand that
both skilled and unskilled workmen
were in numerous instances unable
to make a living, while the gold' fields,
instead of relieving the glutted labor
market of the towns, were supplying fresh
competitors for the work available in other
occupations. Tlie nominal rates of wages
wore still comparatively high, hilt tlie
average actual earnings -of the workmen
were miserably small, on account of the
irrecmlaritv of their enmlovinent." Even
when 'a tradesman obtained so much
as 10s. per day lie probably could
not depend upon getting, more than
two days work in the week on an
average. Under snob a condition of
industrial affairs neither the eight hours'
system nor trades unionism could have
flourished. While the gold fields absorbed
a large proportion of the available labor in
the colony, both those labor movements
made considerable progress ; hut when gold
mining began to decay, causing the miners
to fall back upon their original occupa
tions, tlie labor organisations declined.
" From 1861 to 1864 the number
" of members belonging to the Trade
" Societies," says Mr. M'Coppin,
" fell off largely. The annual Eight
" Hours' 'Demonstration during these years
" was poorly attended, and tlie number of
" men taking part fell from about 5000 in
" 1859 to a little over 3000 in 1863." The
conclusion arrived at by the working men
at an earlier period, that if they were to
work as long each day in Australia as.
they had worked in the mother' country,
their object in emigrating to a new
country had not . been fully ac
complished, was justifiable. If their
earnings were also to fall to something
like the English standard their case
would indeed have been a pitiable one.
Yet that was what was bound to occur if
they remained subject .to unfair com
petition with home labor. Tho whole
aspect of the labor question, however, was
changed by the adoption of a protectionist
tariff. Under the influence of tlie
new fiscal system, trade revived,
tlie number of employers of ; labor
rapidly increased, " and," significantly
remarks Mr. M'Coppin, " consequent
" upon this increased demand for labor,
" trades unionism revived." . What Mr.
M'Coppin apparently desires to impress
upon tlie minds of his countrymen, as tlie
lesson to be derived from Victorian experi
ence is, that in the absence of protection
neither trades unionism nor tlie eight
hours system can he maintained. It
would, indeed, be absurd to expect that
tlie working classes of one country, exposed
to tlie unrestricted competition of the cheap
labor of another, could permanently retain
a superior social position either as regards
the rate of wages or the hours of -'work.
Tlie report f our American visitor will not
only "instruct the people of the United
States on the subject of industrial develop
ments in tills colony, but it will act
as a reminder to our own population that
protection is the ono firm rock upon which
all labor movements must be founded, and
that any assault upon the principle, no
matter under what sentimental plea it may
he advanced, ranst be strenuously resisted
in tlie interest of the colony in general,
and in that of the working . classes in par
ticular.
Attention is drawn by a correspondent
in another column to a motion which is to
be brought forward by Mr. Alexander
Sutherland at tlie next meeting of the
University Senate against the continuance
of Greek as a compulsory subject in any'
University course. It certainly appears
absurd that in a colony which prides itself
on its pi'ogressive spirit the least defensible
features of old world methods of education,
derived from times when sacerdotalism
reigned supreme, should bo servilely copied,
although notoriously unsuited to our
surroundings and pursuits. Years ago
Herbert Spencer denounced the physical
and mental waste caused by insisting upon
tlie inclusion of a knowledge of the dead
languages in the higher training of youth,
and refusing to encourage an education
dealing with. living facts rather
than witli passing and effete forms
of human speech. His plea for
tlie predominance of scientific leaching
over classical has not been altogether in
effectual, hut the stupid conservatism of:
ancient corporations still lights against re
forms which are inevitable, and persists in
cramming the minds of youth with the
learning of the cloisters while neglecting
Invaluable culture. " Sad indeed is it to
" see," lie wrote, " how men occupy
" themselves with trivialities, and are
" indifferent to the grandest phenomena
« care not to understand the architecture
" of tlie Heavens, hut are deeply interested
" in some contemptible controversy about
" tlie intrigues of Mp.ry,-- Queen of Scots ! —
" are learnedly critical over a Greek ode,
" and pass by without a erlance that grand
" epic written by the finger of God upon the
" strata of the Earth !" Compelling young
men to consume years in laborious study of
Greek, when tlicy might be aiming at that
broader, and nobler culture to which
Spencer refers, is as foolish as though we
were to shut them out of the light of the
day, and force tjhem to accustom themselves
only to the darkness of night. The acquisi
tion of Greek, to the poor extent sought by
the average student of the day, will have
quite sufficient attractions for otir youth,
out of regard" for a meretricious fashion,
without its being thrust upon them by
their seniors, most of whom secretly con:
demn the curriculum they support.
In the two principal republics of tlie
world, America and France, as our corres
pondent points out, the grip which the
dead languages have maintained upon mo
dern educatiop has been shaken. In France,
science and contemporary languages have
largely taken tlie place which the
relics of antiquity formerly occupied, and
the earlier years of life are devoted to the
acquirement of knowledge calculated to
he of use to its latest end. In America,
the University of Harvard, which lias done
so miicli to establish the fame of Boston
among the cities of tlie States, has set the
example of loosening the bonds that have
proved oppressive, aud lias relegated Greek
and Latin to their true position as acci
dents, not necessities, of culture, accessible
to minds attracted by them, lint no longer'
despots of tlie higher education. In tliis
community we want our only University
to be a popular one, and to attract within
its classes every form of geiiiuo that i nay
he developed amid our democratic institu
tions, and not to set a permanent Hellenic
harrier in front of its portals in imitation
of tlie perverse inheritance of ancient seats
of learning. The claim usually obtruded
iu behalf of compulsory classics' is that
they const i dite the best exercise for
memory and the eompietest mental dis
cipline, but this assumption is no longer
tenable. The testimony of unbiassed in
tellects whicli have proved themselves
capable of bearing the strain of both
fines of study, the classical and the
scientific, is overwhelmingly -favorable
to the latter, on the very grounds
that hare been so long presented
as specially applicable to' the former.
Scientific training peculiarly calls upon
memory for its most forcible efforts, with
the crowning advantage that every new
fact acquired becomes a possession
availablo for life and not merely an
incident of a scholastic com-se. Mr.
Sutherland's motion will doubtless have
to encounter vehemeht opposition, but, if
baliled now, will be heard of again and
again.
A NEW method of propngandism is being
initiated hy officials of the Salvation Army,
and wliicli they ought speedily to discover
will ho more honored in the breach than
the observance Not content with having
acquired a fair following among (lie
masses, they are aiming at gaining a
footing in " Belgravia," and the plan
they are adopting tor the purpose assumes
tlie shape of a series of doniiciliary
visits in tlie fashionable suburbs. Taking
care to call at an hour when the master ot
the establishment is generally absent, a
couple of grim looking strangers in the
familiar livory of "Tlie Army" present
themselves before the astonished mater-
familias with tlie query as to whether
(here are any " Christians " in the house,
followed by a demand to learn what
she conceives to be tlie state of her
iminortal sonl. Some ladies are not pre
pared to answer these perplexing questions
on the instant, and are apt to become
alarmed lest their interrogators, who may
be recently' converted 'criminals, should not
have fully overcome the promptings of
tlie ilesh, and should have a re
newed attack of the old Adam.
Tlie Confessional was once an insti
tution greatly approved of by English
people, although it lias to be admitted that
the fair sex liked it best,' but had a desire,',
as a rule, to select their own ' father
confessor. The front door step and a
couple of promiscuous callers were never
selected for tlie purpose in the most eccle
siastical ages. There are fitting times,
places and persons for all things, hut
the obtrusive Salvationists who commit
themselves to this labor are lacking
in fitness of any sort. Tlie customer
in the story wlio had put himself
in the barber's hands for a shave, aiul was
unexpectedly asked hy the operator, who
was of a religious turn of mind, "Are you
" prepared to die?" waited for no
further controversy, but, all lathered
as he was, rushed out of the shop. Oiu
" immortal souls " cannot be momentarily
bandied about during tlie ordinary occupa
tions of life without danger of turning
piety into burlesque and making subjects
of solemn import ridiculous.
If the soldiers of salvation are to he
tolerated in this new departure we insist that
measuresshall bo adopted hy tlie authorities
to compel accredited agents to take out a
licence and wear a badge with an appointed
number conspicuously emblazoned thereon.
The customary garments of tlie hand are
lis' easily 'donned by unconverted criminals
as by converted ones, and bow are the
nervous housekeepers to know when they
are confronted by wolves in sheep's
clothing? Ordinary loafers on premises
where they have no business can be threat
ened with tlie terrors of the police, but what
is to be done wlion they declare that they
come in the much-abused name of religion?
If tlie mania for making these impertinent
inquiries grows, all the sects will be
asserting their right to take part in it, and
the fives of simple unaffected people, who
seek mainly to do their duly and act kindly
Vljy their neighbors, will become uneh-
clurable. Clarkson, the originator of British
slave emancipation, late in life was asked
by a fanatical acquaintance if lie had saved
his soul.. The genial old man, rubbing his
knees as lie sat iu a characteristic way,
answered Well, to tell ypu the truth,
"I have been so fully occupied rescuing
" the bodies of the poor, negroes that 1 have
"had no time to think of my own soul."
Possibly Clai'ksoffs chauce of "salvation
was as good as. that of some of these
suburban inquisitors.
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