The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-01


the Office Of his paper in Fleet Street and
there did his work. Thus good deal of
time was wastefully consumed =:
Even after the new Houses of Parliament
were constructed there were drawbacks
to the freedom Of the press. Its represent
tauyes were. constantly reminded that they
were. there only on sufferance. Less than
so years ago they had no refreshment-rcom.
A janit0r supplied proyender for the fam
iShed, and the tradition is that he carried
the supplies In his hat. About l. years ago
an aged official, VINO occupied house Of %
rooms as part Of his peTqnisites. had the
grace to die and the greater part of the ac-
c0mmodatl0n was turned over TO the press.
This is tile corner Of the palace near West
minister Hall supposed to be Immediately
over The site of tie old Star Chamber. The
Acknowledgement has a den on the ground
floor, which was formerly occupied as a
smOking-rOOm by the press. But with the
opening of the new Houses Oil the north
bank Of tie Thames, the press had
at least a gallery with comfortable seats
wherein to report the debates. These seats
were all allocated to the London papers,
aud for a very good reason The prOyia-
cial press had no existence in London.
Possibly net one paper had even a London
correspondent and none Of them certainly
a London staff. Both the Telegraph ard
the P0stofiiee were IN the Infancy of their
present day development. As the prOvin-
clal press wanted nothing il was not con-
sidered, and when the time came, n dozen
years ago, TO give country papers a footing
in Parliament, the liberty was not accorded
without very active agitation. Before that
concession was granted the provincial press
had to depend upon two or three asSocia-
tons or upon the stats of the London
papers for reports. The one service was
unsatisfactory and the cheapness was dear;
the other process was dear, but might be
good.
On the floor Of the House of Commons no
stranger is allowed to intrude; cOnse-
quent.y, the representatives Of the press
are reiegaied TO gallery overlooking the
Speakers canoDied chair As members adj
dress the Speaker and turn toward him
more or less While on their legs, their
speeches are tolerably well heard by the
pencil and pen driving brotherhood I'm the
House OF Lords the press gallery is al the
opposite end OF the gilded chamber from
the throne and the Lord Chancellor. Their
LOTdships address one another and may
assume any position, and often have
their backs to the reporters; c0nseQuentIy
most Of their utterances are torture 30
the ear Of the press listener. and the best
that can be done for aTiStOcratic driYeIerS
and suiveleIs, who conduct their business
so fOolishly, Is to fabricate speeches Tor
them or mention their august names as
quite sufficient information for q public
The late Lord Granville, a most amiable
debOnair man, who had the misfortune Oc-
casionally to be Foreign Minister, was
always understood to say everything he did
say, and he was liable to be edited in
peTfunctorv fashion before the copy" got
into the editors hands. :.::
The American reader who takes up files
OF the English papers and makes a deSper-
ate effort to interest himself is apt to shiver
at the dreariness OF the columns. He is
bound to conclude that the English people
either do not read these long reports of
parliamentary debates or that they are
lOng-sufferiDg and take their literary pleas
uTes sadly. As a matter Of fact, those
papers have the largest circulation which
present ludicious condensations, and are
sparing in verbatim fullness. The Daily
Telegraph, which has by far the largest
circulation in England, frequently gives no
more than half a column to Parliament,
and two or three columns are regarded as
ample. The Daily Chronicle, which has
become the best-edited newspaper In Eng
land, is also very brief in reports. The
Standard presents s;ereOtyped page, some
times more, and the Times appears out Of
humOT when IL has not from three to four
pages, so that it takes the place of our
Congressional Record in practical sense,
and even the debates OF Hansard, the off,
cial report, have been crbbed unsparingly
from the conscientious and laborious
ThundeTer. Two of the Scotch papers
take preternatural delight in prosy
length Of reports-the Glasgow Herald
and the Scotsman. but they pay more
attention to a Scotch subject than an Eng
liSh one, and may be pardoned for the pref
erence, seeing that the one is home news and
the other foreign. There is also RESPONSE
bic cultivated taste among the Scotch for
dialectcal expansion, especially If spiced
with quotations from the Scriptures. Time
was when they reported their General AS
pf In nh hrFfb aK
more fully in fact than anything else except
a fiTst-class murder trial. But that sancti-
mOni0us day has gone and as the secular as
pect OF life has more attention. the school,
master. who was never condemned among
the Scots, has now, perhaps q better social
position than the Clergyman.
The Dublin FTeeman's Journal, the lead
Ing newspaper IN Ireland, has also PEN
chant for long reports, but II confines its ex-
hibttion of industry to the Irish members
on any subject, and as they are competently
fluent on all, the telegraph wires across the
Irish Channel are pretty well gorged with
elOquence from the stalwarts who make the
troubles OF the Green Isle a thorn in the
English flesh. As they are denied a Paria-
ment OF their own they. have most dexter
ously converted the British Parliament into
one. and Will continue to occupy the floor
until the crack OF doom unless their de-
mands for national recognition are con-
ceded. The Freeman's Journal reporting
is therefore in line with Irish patriotism.
Some other papers there are which fill up
more than they can spare OF space with
parliamentary digest as badly uninteresing
as an affidavit in a right OF way ease. The
Manchester Guardian is the only one that
sustains an independent staff among the
English country papers. The Leeds Mer-
curry. the Newcastle Chronicle, 1.-THE Bir-
m1Ugham Post and various other organs that
clamorrd for place in the gallery and an
unfettered. independent report are now
cutting their cloth as they can afford it and
have taken in the sails that seemed to carry
them along so proudly. They are contented.
with the lucubrations of that literary exotic,
the special correspondent, whose aim is to
convert dullness into brightness, and who
has most prnnerlY a HIGH nnininn OF The