In the Fullness of Time

The New York Sun comments on Mr. H Barville's suggestions for the experiment of coloured labor in Northern Australia, where it would most certainly make Australia essentially a failed state as an appendage not of Europe but of Asia.

An old man who had once been Premier
of a White State in a White
Australia sat in his study and pondered
over old days.

He gazed through the window at the
gaudy Chinese shops over the way,
where bare-footed coolies passed and passed
with their burdens. An occasional
white man walked languidly up the
street, but no white woman was to be
seen. The few that remained were indoors,
for there was danger in the
streets for unguarded white women.

‘Yet,’ mused the old Premier, ‘this
country is rich — very rich. No white
man works with his hands. He is
the master, and the labor of the nation
is done by the lower races. I have
done good work.’

He rang the bell, and his Japanese
servant appeared.

‘Tell the woman who cleans these
rooms—’ he began.

‘The black woman,’ said the servant,
‘was taken from the house this morning
suffering with leprosy. That is
why your room has not been cleaned,
sir.’

The old man sighed. ‘But there are
others,’ he said.

‘Mostly Indians,’ answered the
Japanese, ‘and none of them are room-
cleaners. A matter of caste, you
know.’

The old man sighed again. ‘We must
be patient,’ he said. ‘These people
have made the country prosperous.
Now, please tell the cook—’

‘The Chinese cook,’ replied the
servant, ‘is off today. He had gone
to a meeting of his secret society.
They are considering a new movement,
and have adopted a new slogan.
It is: “Australia for the Asiatics.”
Many other races are joining the society,
for success is promised. I am think-
ing of joining myself.’

‘You!’ cried the old man. ‘You
who have been faithful to me — and
to the White Race all these years!
What is my country coming to? My
country that I have always regarded
as the Hope of Europe!’

For the first time, a look of insolence
crept into the eyes of the servant.

‘The Hope of Europe?’ he said.
‘Master, you have dreamed. We have
learned long since that the White
Man is a fool, who dreams only of
prosperity today, and takes no
thought for tomorrow, when his very
prosperity may bring him ruin. Yesterday
your Australia was the Hope
of Europe. Tomorrow it will be the
back yard of Asia. Master, the centuries
have taught Asia how to wait.’