Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-05-02
CANADA'S LAWMAKERS.
SKETCH OF THE OOlNGS OF OUR
NORTHERN NElGHBORS.
Tariff Is the Main subject Discussed in
Parliament-An Analysis of the Cana
dian PoIitician-How Our War Is View
ell in the Dominion.

Parliament-A Analysis of the Cana
dian PoIitician-How Our War Is View
ell in the Dominion.
ottawa, Canada, April IS.
EDITOR TRIBu NE.-The Canadian par
Lament, having disposed of the bill to
construct railroad to the l<londike
gold fields. is dragging out the remainder
of its session with little interest under
the head of that perennial source Of dis
cord, the tariff. wonder what egisla-
| tive assemblies the world over would do
! if they did not have this old thread bare
subject to fail back upon while waiting
for something else to turn up. The
| parliament since its opening in Feb
ruary, has been occupied with the con
| Sderation of bill. introduced by the
| government. that had for its object the
! building of railroad to the Klondike
| The road was to be one hundred and
/ fifty miles long. The provisions Of the
bill were somewhat startling. No money
was to be paid by the government for
the road, but for each mile the company
was given the choice Of 1900 acres OF
land in the Northwest region besides
an unconditional monopoly of the traffic
for the next ten years.
In view of the rumor about the great
/ richness of the land in the klOndike,
| this enormous grant for uarrow-guage
railway seemed out of reason. Yet it
was warmly supported by the govern
| npnt ulthnnub II i,,iI I,,I
/ opposition of the Conservative party.
The opposition, however, was not suili-
cient to overcome the government ma
| jority, and the bill was passed in the
commons. 1t then went to the senate,
whore it was defeated Il few days ago.
During the debate on the bill | had
occasion to notice some of the peculiar
tiles of parliamentary procedure 1t
4 was not unusual to see member rise in
/ his place aud
DELIVER y STIRRING SPEECH
in the French language, to be followed
by an English speaker, and he in turn
succeeded by another French talker.
This, learned, was a privilege granted
ever since the new constitution of l1Ql.
when it was proposed as a compromise
to quiet the fierce rivalry of the French
and English for supremacy of language.
The members of the Dominion parla-
ment, however. do not avail themselves
of the privilege as much in late years
as formerly. The French speaker no
longer commands the same hearing as
the English speaker, and it is the aim of
every member to be able to debate in
the latter tongue. But it is still the
custom to read all bills, motions aud
resolutions in both languages.
| In the province of Quebec, the dis
tinctively French section of the Domin-
ion, the language OF the founders of the
country has "a much stronger hold. In
the provincial legislature all bills and
other documents are required by law to
be printed in both languages, aud the
business of the Legislature is almost
wholly conducted in the French tongue.
The cabinet of the Dominion, unlike
our presidents cabinet takes an active
part in the conduct of affairs on the
floor of the house Of commons The
cabinet is composed and formed from
members of the party in power. The
premier is also member Of the house.
Sir Wilfred laurier, the present premier,
is commanding figure amongst the
Liberals He is a typical politician.
| And
CANADIAN POLITICIANS
are about like those Of every other
country, being made up Of about one
third gall one-SiXth two-faccdueSs, one
sixth social prestige, one-third ability
and the remainder df You can figure any
surplus out Of this arithmetical assign