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&THE FEDERAL
'-ELEGTMS
LABOR'S TEIÜ-OPH.
FüBIOMBT- HOPES.
(From our Special Correspondent.)
. Melbourne, April la.
In my last letter before the elections "I'
quoted Senator -Findley freely. He was
confidently depending upon his sense of
"atmosphere." I heard him speak the same
night in the Prahran Town Hall, the centre
of the Fawkner electorate, where Labor
was beaten by a much superior organisa-
tion. He was still confident, and one sen-
tence struck me. "I know an atmosphere
when I get into it." he said. He did. t One'
may drop all the explanations as to why
Labor won in Victoria, New South Wales,
and Tasmania. In au three States Labor
touched the imagination of a majority of
the electors, and they followed the glean.
All the talk about a wonderful organisa-
tion is so much nonsense.- Labor in all
three States had ita diffiiculties-with organi
sation, just as the other side had. The
closest organisation will not of itself win
an election. "Man does not live by bread
alone," neither does a political party
live by organisation alone. It is a help,
and that ia all. "I wisby said one of Mr.
Deakin's supporters at Ballarat to a Labor
man, "that we had your splendid organisa-
tion!" "Do not make too much of it," said
the Labor man frankly; "if you knew how
much of it a few of us are carrying you
would be surprised."- I am satisfied that
this is so. Labor was a company of be-
lievers. They believed hard. They believed
all the time. They were in deadly earnest
and they won because of their earnestness.
They fully deserved "to win/ and there is
an end of the" explanations. Labor won be-
cause it worked 'hard; because it believed
in the destiny of the\party; because' it be-
lieved in aiming straight at its objective.
Protectionist Issue in Victoria.
I remember, something like a year ago,
having a very frank talk about the situa-
tion with Mr. Batchelor while he was
Minister for Esternal Affairs. He smiled
when I forecast exactly what happened
at the opening of the session. /If did not
need a prophet to do that. Thé^cp-binar
tion of parties inside Parliament was some-
thing no one could stop. ~ "And -what
then »""be asked. "I do "not know,",
answered. "There will be masterless men
drifting anywhere. Whichever party rap-
tures these masterless men wins." The
riddle is read now. Labor captured, them
in a sufficient number of constituencies to
give it a working majority in both Hopses.
Batman was lost to Labor three years ago
by sheer carelessness. It went back. The
others in Victoria were won because a ma
jonty of electora thought that Labor was
offering better'things,-and.-could achieve
better-things. .Ehe-attractive "atmosphere"
enveloped then-yôn'd1 theföwere carried with
it. Corangaml&ftawiKak^...Wilson. He
was not a good -candidate for the seat. He
did not poll all the pàHy vote, but that
did not losé the election to the Fusionists.
Corio did not like' Mr. Crouch. His per;
sosaiity did<not attract votes; but that did
not make the ."différence.' Neither Coranga-
mite, Wannon, nor Corio are» in ordinary
circumstances, " Labor seats. The, man
counted for something, but there was more
promise in the Labor cause, and the master
less voters,went'that way* «The Eusionists
kept the seat's,south" of-the-Yarra;-'Labor
swept the north. ' J,t ,was_the,cry-of "Joe
Cook,"-the d^ee«ly-KrouBded-.distrii£*jof the
New. ^ntáC^wyfes-Ereef#deß"^-which
wrecked Messrs? Mauger, Huifre Cook, and
Coon- - < -. -"-.'.' '" - - "*' *'
Women Workers for Fusion. , I
W^th a full-appreciation of the- Victorian '
scare of the .Freerrade. section of the Cabi-
net, one can appreciate the influence of Mr.
Deakin, which, though he has 'scarcely
seen the electorate,for a year,' has yet
saved ihe Ballarat centre.. The three seats
in that .centre-Ballarat, Grampians, ;and;
Laanecoorie-saw the most persistent Labor
attack. The I-bor.ocârididatcs in. all three
¡have rnade aim-ta h/mBB-to''hoúse''canvass.
Neither'MrriííPe^to^-t.'SalTrrbn. nor M[r.
Hans Irvine have?"ßeen able to keep in - close
touch .with the electors.' "The party organi.
saturn in all three districts is spasmodic
In Ballarat it is practically limited to "the
city»" whence came Mr. Deakin's- majority.
In the other two electorates the organisa-
tion is individual. It was the polling-places
in touch with BaEarat which carried the
Fusionists through. The Bendigo centre
also voted for the Ministry, and influenced
Castlemaine in Laanecoorie. Bendigo ia a
triumph for. the woman worker.- Senator
Findley, who'did not expect" Maribyrnong,
was confident of winning Bodigo j. Women,
like Mrs". Berry, who, by the --way, is a
daughter-in-law of , the /late Sir < Graham
Berry, took the platform with remarkable
effect. Rather reluctantly, I have now ac-
quired a profound respect for wonian'
workers at an election. Wherever they set '
out to win, as in Bendigo, Fawkner, and i
Kooyong, they did win. Where full i
belief in their cause was lacking, the Minis-
terialists lost. I have finished this election
with a well-grounded belief in the success of
the party which believes. .Federal politics
is getting altogether too strenuous foe the
Laodicean. For 24 hours the Victorian
Fusionists were stunned at the result.^Now»
they appreciate the situation, and-they pro-'
fess not to be dismayed. Every lost «éaí,v
they sjy, can be won back, and they «jte
already out to begin preparations for. future
victory. - J» . \.
The Struggle in New South Walêe^. N
You will remember that I have asfed
more than once who the women wer« blaut;
ing for the Newcastle strike.' The party,
they blamed was marked down for disaster.^
The polling answers the question. Staijfe
Ministers and their supporters try to disso-
cíate themselves from the Fusionist patty;
in i the Commonwealth, but the electors w11;
not separate them. . The * Federal -* Miafe?
terialists in New South Wales suffered abr
the acts of the State Ministry. Senator
Millen had been gloomy about New Soújtli
Wales from the beginning of the campaign.
The causes of victory in New South Wales'
ara plain. There is first the promise oí,
the Labor programme. The Fusion has-,
not been able to eclipse the memory of the
old stagnant party with "the necklace of
negations." And next there is 'the after-
math of the strike. I
In Other States.
In Queensland history has repeated itself.
Brisbane and Capricomia have-never sen.
the sitting member back.to,-the Federal
Parliament. The man 'On the spot has
always beaten'the man away at the Parlia-
ment. ' In . Western Australia * the new
young Western Australian voter has pre-
served Fremantle for the Fusion, and has
given the Senators a hard run.' The more
than half-expected surprise caine from Tas-
mania. Mr. King O'Malley has plenty ot
company from the little State now* Nothing
illustrates the difficulties, besetting the
Fusion more than the fact that it had tot
carry Tasmanians elected 'to the Senate by ¡
the crusted Toryism which ruled the island ¡
State six years ago. There is. a strong j
uniftcationist party across the straits. Tbe
younger generation chafe under the close,
supervision of the old Tasmanian governing
spirit. Tasmania hopes "for more from the
Labor triumph than does airy other State.
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