AGRICULTURAL WAGES. 219 



may be used to further national ambitions, with 

 the idea of making a people more self-sufficient, 

 and better prepared for war. That is the Pro- 

 tection of Germany and Japan. It has, within 

 a century, raised a European country, which 

 once was mostly notable for supplying waiters 

 to Europe, to a position in which all Europe 

 waits anxiously on its decrees. It has lifted 

 an Asiatic nation from a petty and uncivilized 

 medisevalism into a place in the concert of 

 Great Powers. Again, a tariff may be used with 

 the main idea of securing within a country the 

 greatest comfort for the greatest number by 

 excluding cheap foreign competition, and, within 

 the enclosure of customs walls, keeping up a 

 high average of contentment. That is the " New 

 Protection " of Australia, making the well-paid 

 worker its chief object. 



This " New Protection " has been attempted 

 rather than actually achieved in Australia, as 

 the constitutional limitations of the Federal 

 power have stood in the way of the full working 

 of the practical steps adopted to give it effect. 

 But its principle is generally accepted — namely, 

 that it is the business of the community to 



