The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-05-16
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Bart Kennedy Hears a Debate on Bimet
aIIism.

was that OF surprise at the smallness of
the house. 1t struck me as being a most
puny and insignificant place in which to
transact the affairs of a great nation.
There was nothing imposing or striking
about it. 1t didn't at all fit in with my
idea Of the might and power of Eng
land, and it certainly gave not hint of
her arrogance and spirit of domineering.
1t had a modest, mediocre and, above
all, comfortable air.
On the floor Of the house an old gen
tlenan was speaking. His whiskers
were very white, his face was very red
and his head was bald. His hat, which
had what appeared TO be a mass of notes
and references upon the top of it, lay
on the bench quite close to him. Nearly
all the members, by the way, were wear
ing their hats, but this took not little
away from the responsibility of the
whole affair. You felt that it was right
for them to do so, more especially as
they wore tall hats of the eminently
proper order.
What the old gentleman was talking
about couldn't at first tell, because of
his rather peculiar delivery. He had the
high toned la-di-da English method Of
producing his voice, that method which
snobbish Americans try to initiate,
with little success, however. F'Er-er-
Mistaw Speakaw-er-er, y he would re-
peat with variations two or three times,
and then he would ramble on through
long, long sentence so laden with quail
flying clauses that when he got to the
end of it you found that he had said, OF
rather asserted, nothing After awhile,
through close study and care, I found
that his meaning was to denounce the
principle of bimetallism, but he had
such way Of qualifying the assertions
he would make that in reality he wasn't
denouncing it at all He was only say
ing nothing in a courteous way.
The gentlemen around him, who were
listening to his speech in various pos
lures Of dignifed ease, would occasional
" remark, Clear, hear 70 and "Owow!''
Now and then, however, one of them
would get up and go out when the old
gentleman's way of putting it began to
pail too heavily. But he took no notice
of this Interpretation, but rambled along
serenely, saying nothing either in gen
eral or particular upon the principle of
bimetallis1n.
I noticed that the audience, or rather
the spectators, followed what was being
said with close attention. Evidently
they saw much more in it than did, or
it may have been that feeling of awe
was upon them, for Englishmen greatly
respect their government and the ma
chinerY thereof; also they kept up a run
ming comment in low whisper turn
ed round to look at and study them.
They were all well dressed. In the main
they were Englishmen belonging to diff
ferent parts of the country who had come
to London to stay but a short while.
The members of parliament who repre-
sented the constituencies to which they
belonged had procured them tickets of
admission into the strangers gallery
After the old gentleman sat down an
other member who was also ford Of
face, but much younger, got up, took
off his hat and politely intimated to
the speaker that the honorable member
for-I forget the name Of the place
didn't know quite as much concerning
the subject he was talking of as he might
have done. Mentally agreed with him.
In general way he sailed into the old
gentleman, but he was SO courteous and
suave about it that you felt that it was
not much of a sailing in after all.
My sympathies went out to the poor
speaker when reflected upon the fact
that he didn't have the privilege of get
ting up and going out when the elo-
quence of his brother parliamentarians
became too trying. There he sat listen
ing, his head and shoulders covered with
long flowing wig. Upon his face was
an expression of weary pain. He looked
as tired of the world and it's vanities as
the keeper of theater box Office. In the
vestibule Of the house a fine looking II
dropping policeman told me that he gets
a salary Of e5, 900 year. It is too lit
tie for the job, 1 think. He should get
at least double the amount
After awhile another member got up
and began to explain to the rest what
an awfully bad thing it would be for the
English working classes if the bimetal-
lie standard were adopted. He said some
rather hard things about the way that
the western states of America had tried
/ to food the money market Of the world
with silver, and he summed up depre-
ciatively of that country in general, but
he did it in such polite way-the usual
! parliamentary way - that couldn' t
take offense.
I turned to policeman who was
standing close by and asked him who he
was. In an awed whisper he told me
that he was Sir Somebody couldn t
quite catch who. He talked a great deal
about the workingman, did this ''sir, -
and the benefits that would accrue to
him by the governments adherence tC
the monometallic standard He looked
like a retired brewer who had attained
to the possession of good manner after
a long process of cultivation, but, to tel
the truth, his speech was the most log
ical and convincing one of the whole
L. 1011s& hot 1,a ii oor77c