The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-18
BY CY. WARMAN.


Parliament meets in the afternoon at
Ottawa, takes recess for supper, re-
assemblies and sits far into the night,
unless someone gets tired. Just at the
opening of the house the scene is the
least bit stately and imposing, but only
for moment, when the Sergeant-at-
arms enters bearing the great mace,
the emblem of authority, followed by
Sir James d. Edgar, author and poet,
who is the dignified speaker of the
Canadian commons. When the mace is
placed upon the green cloth-covered
table Sir james takes the chair, the
high backed hand-carved chair, that
will never be occupied by any other
speaker. Not that the present incum-
bent has a life job, but because when
he goes he takes the chair away with
him. His successor will have new
one That is one of the rules of the
house.
The moment the house settles down
to business it becomes simplicity it
self. If the people of staid Canadian
town were assembled to discuss ways
and means for the purchase OF a new
cart, the participants could not be less
self-conscious, or more at ease, than
are those far-called members of parlia-
ment.
The chamber in which the lower
house sits is very like that of the
house of representatives at Washing
ton. The speaker sits in the same po-
sition, at one side, but the seats do
not circle; they stand in rows, parallel
with the speakers glance as he looks
out over the level space where the sec
retaries and shorthand men, called
Hansard men here, do their work.
The seats all have desks in front of
them, where the members write letters
home explaining why, when they ought
to be listening TO the opposition goad-
ing the government. The Canadian
Lawmakers lounge in their seats with
their hats on and neckties up behind,
as carelessly and cadaverishly as the
VI. P.'S lounge in London.
But / like the way they run the
show. It's all open, every minister
must be a member and be on hand to
explain things away. In this way they
keep their scandals pretty well cleared
up. instead of keeping them suppressed
until the cans begin to explode.
The first six seats in the front row
to the right and to the left of the
speaker are handsomely upholstered.
These are for the ministers, the ms
and the outs-the ms to the right and
the outs to the left. Always in the
sixth seat from the end the premier,
who is the leader, sits, and directly
opposite Sir Wilfrid sits the EXPIRE
mier, the venerable Sir Charles Tup-
per, Bart, G. c. NJ. c., the leader of
the opposition, his fine old English
face contradicting the story that he is
an old man.
Directly behind the eX-premier his
son, Sir Charles Hilbert Upper, sits.
He comes from far Vancouver to twit
the government about the Klondike.
Now, as we sit in the gallery and my
Scottish friend, who has kindly con-
cd 70 ha or1liHn and intarnrpfal-
points out the different members, and
where they come from, l begin to real
ize that these men rule a Vaster en-
rire than has BEEN That big man
there, with one end of his collar at
large, comes from the far corner of
Nova Scotia, and the short man with
,areless hair is from Edmonton; away
out where the road ends and the mar
row trail leads away into the land of
gold, and of the midnight sun. The
peat, smooth-faced little Englishman
i'll evening dress comes from British
Columbia 1t took him eighteen months
TO canvass his district, and cost (my
friend said) $4,000. You would not
notice it in his walk" the Scotchman
added, but one of his legs is longer
than the other now f
Il object, L ob-ject," said a blonde
man, and he looked it.
What is it the honorable gentleman
Il object to the honorable gentle
mans constant reference to me as the
Rev-erent Mr.. Blank"
The man who had committed the
breach looked puzzled. He could not
understand why an eX-minister of the
gospel should object to being called
the RevereEt Mr.. Blank, but the chair
ruled that the language was unparlia-
mentary, ordered il all rubbed out and
instructed the offending member to
cOnfine himself to the ordinary term
the honorable gentleman" and the
incident was closed.
THAT man walking away now is the
wit of the house, said my friend
He's Irish, of course. Unfortunately
he's with the government now, poor
chan He's as dropping and morose as
4 nightingale with the Group. All, you
should see him on the left, when he's
'agin the government'-his righteous
wrath over the doings of the conserva-
tives is magnificent to behold"
fut tell me, Mac" said 1, why did
the honorable gentleman on the left
call the honorable gentleman on the
right the Reverent Mr.. Blank?"
oh, he's a reformed Presbyterian
preacher. But you can't blame him.
He had a little flock away out on the
Pacific coast, and this opportunity
came, he was competent, and knew it.
so he stood for parliament (they run
over the border and was elected Now
he comes over here, $500 miles, c. P.
r. pass, perhaps, 10 cents a mile $3.50.
lie gets a thousand for the sitting. long
or short, does the same $500 miles 60
ing home at the same rate, cleaning up
$1,000, a thousand of which he will
save"
Now, the Hon. Mr.. Foster, eX-minis-
ter of finance, and one of the ablest
and most polished speakers in the
house, takes the lead, in the temporary
absence of Sir Charles Topper Bart,
and asks the minister of the interior