THE COMMONWEALTH 353 



are easily led to believe by glib orators of their class, or by social 

 faddists, that a man who has done nothing to raise himself above 

 poverty has a right to claim from the State that which others have 

 had to work for. In the old world, where great accumulations of 

 hereditary wealth, sometimes improperly obtained, are often impro- 

 perly and even injuriously expended, there may be some excuse, if 

 no justification, for such claims. But in Victoria, where there are 

 no privileged classes, no persons even of great wealth, and where 

 all material prosperity has been the result of hard work and a bold, 

 enterprising reliance upon the future of the country, this persis- 

 tent inculcation of class hatred between the haves and the have-nots 

 is both contemptible and criminal. Yet, while the self-seeking 

 demagogue has such material to work upon, he finds it the most 

 effective factor in a political campaign, since this type of man 

 is always the preacher of some narrow class interest. It was a 

 favourite contention of the promoters of the scheme of State educa- 

 tion that, as each generation passed, the masses would become more 

 and more fitted for the responsible exercise of their voting power. 

 But the bald rudimentary teaching of the State schools is not educa- 

 tion. A course which entirely ignores history, which knows nothing 

 of political economy or philosophy, and which expunges anything 

 relating to ethics and morality, may qualify its recipient for com- 

 petency in the petty details of trade, but even though it costs 

 800,000 a year it can never create voters fitted to take a broad, 

 unselfish view of what is best for the whole community. 



The contemplation of the future of Victoria as a State of the 

 Commonwealth evokes no serious anxieties. Heavily handicapped 

 with debt, Government, Municipal and individual, and oppressed by 

 a burden of taxation that shames past administrations, there is yet 

 within her borders ample material for recuperation. The scientific 

 discoveries of the last twenty years have been of incalculable bene- 

 fit to her settlers. The rapid and safe transit of perishable products 

 to the markets of the world has stimulated dairy farming, fruit 

 growing, and the export of meat, poultry and rabbits on a vast 

 scale. Insignificant as the last-named animal may appear as a 

 factor in a country's prosperity, it has played a remarkable part. 

 Since 1880 the Victorian Government has spent 350,000 in at- 

 VOL. n. 23 



