136 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



to insure the working of the industry by white labor 

 only and is part of the "White AustraHa" move- 

 ment. Any group of farmers who desire to begin 

 the cultivation of sugar and have no mill in the 

 neighborhood where they can market their cane 

 can petition to the government. An official is sent 

 to investigate as to the suitability of the land for 

 sugar-raising and the character of the farmers. The 

 planters then incoiporate and make application for 

 the amount needed. The money is lent on the 

 security of the mill and land. The construction 

 superintendent is a state official, and "progress pay- 

 ments" are made on the loan as the building pro- 

 ceeds. By 1899 eleven of these mills had been 

 built and were paying a profit averaging 9| per 

 cent.^ 



Throughout the continent the laissez-faire theo- 

 rists have been pretty well won over to state social- 

 ism. Doctor Cockburn, minister of agriculture in 

 South Australia, once said: "If you bring hope into 

 the life of the farmer, and make him sure of his re- 

 ward and that his profits will not be taken away 

 from him, you make him more efficient. Instead of 

 sapping private enterprise we are assisting private 

 enterprise. We are not anxious to organize patri- 

 archal institutions but fraternal ones." ^ 



All of the Australian states have approached the 



* Newest England, Henry D. Lloyd, pp. 312, 330. 

 » Idem, p. 330. 



