Charles Bessey, Letters, 1891

able to grow wool and mutton. Nearly all of Australia is "owned". Of the four million population, three million live in towns and cities. That state of things with a country only a little smaller than the U. S. and Alaska combined is -- well, I don't know what comment to make. The agricultural possibilities of the land are much the same as in the U. S. but Australia is ten thousand miles from market! There is a glut of all raw products.

I stopped two days at Ballarat, Victoria in a gold mining region, visited two mines and saw the usual sights of the place. It is a very pretty place, and there is a good deal of business, more for the size than any place yet visited. The Botanical Gardens are very fine -- a perfect Gem of a place, with lake, statuary, fern house and the usual green houses.

Things are very slow in Melbourne. People are going through the "convalescent" stage after the flush, times of a "boom". Natives compare the city with New York, I should say it was like Cincinnati.

Yours Truly Jared G. Smith

Coolabah, N. S. W.Sept. 7- 1891

Dear Professor:

I am still rusticating and rusting in the Bush country, my only occupation being that of killing time. I have applied for a position in the Agricultural Department at Sydney and have about ten days to wait yet - before knowing what Fate [?]. There is little probability of getting the place for most of the scientific men in these parts are graduates of either English or Scotch Universities and are preferred as Govt. Appointees Prof Shelton of Queensland is the only American I know in Govt service. He is

doing good work & is highly spoken of by scientific workers. Australia is a rich country with the one drawback of scanty population but that will in time be remedied as immigration is setting this way and we Americans will then hear more of the advantages set forth. I was quite ignorant of the character of the land and people and was much surprised at what I found Expecting to see the land held by blacks with only here and there a ranch or station an agreeable surprise awaited I find many points about the state of Society that would furnish good examples for the Yankees though of course not admiting that the Australian cousins are a head in all things South Australia is the most Democratic land on Earth, saving that it is still a colony and has its governor sent from England, - a democracy the outgrowth of purely English civilization instead of as in the U.S. of an amalgamation of all the nations. A few years and there will be a Federated Australia, Republican in government. Instead of sending a band of religious enthusiasts to people the new continent the English government for years used this section of the Globe as a dumping ground for the refuse and dregs of society, so that while an American points with pride to the early years of his nation, the Australian inclines to draw the curtain to hide the shame and misery and degradation of an Ancient Regime that ended only fifty years ago. There is

in all the colonies State ownership of railways, telegraph canals, irrigation works and other enterprises in which society is immediately interested but which are in the U. S. left to private companies to construct and maintain There are very liberal land laws, especially in Queensland the State in that colony holding all lands, and leasing for long or short terms. Any citizen may take firewood or timber from the national lands for his own use by consent or the payment of a nominal fee, and in dry regions like this where people trust entirely to rain fall for their supply. The Government builds and maintains dams or tanks. The eight hour law is in force in all the colonies, and wages are high and work plenty outside of the

(2) big cities. Despite all his advantages the Australian laborer does not as a rule make the most of his opportunities, being more than ever inclined to the idea that he should get his pay whether he works or not, and therefore takes life very slow and easy. Australians would resent the suggestion of a "Muncan" as they call us, but I cannot help thinking it would be a great thing if Australia could get an infusion of Yankee blood, - Just to whoop things up a little. I mean American farmers, artisans and laborers, not the class of Yankees usually met here consisting of drummers, patent medicine men, "professional" men & "queer" people generally. Where in schooldays I saw Australia on the map, my idea was that