130 Australian Life 



either of nominee members or members elected on 

 a very restricted franchise. The Commonwealth, 

 however, has been provided with a constitution 

 more democratic than any of the Australian States 

 possesses, since the broad principle of universal 

 adult suffrage governs the election of both legis- 

 lative chambers. The accomplishment of the 

 Federation furnished the Labour party with an 

 opportunity, and they were the more readily able 

 to grasp it, because, with the new era in Aus- 

 tralian history, they broadened their base and 

 extended their objects. From its inception, the 

 Federal Labour party has been devoted to State 

 Socialism, and has attracted supporters, and espe- 

 cially leaders, who are Labourites only in one 

 sense of the word. 



The majority of the Labour members of the 

 Commonwealth Parliament are not workmen, but 

 professional men barristers, doctors, journalists, 

 and master printers. The British workman, who 

 has a profound mistrust of the class immediately 

 above him, prefers to give his vote to a man of 

 his own class, or to one whom he describes as a 

 "real gentleman. ' ' The Australian workmen, on 

 the other hand, have more than a suspicion that the 

 disaster of the great strike was brought about by 

 unskilful leadership. ' ' Lions led by asses, ' ' they 

 were called at the time, and the phrase sticks. 

 They have now chosen for their leaders men who 

 are fighting their way upward in the professional 

 ranks, and they have no reason to complain of the 



