The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-06
THE PEoPLE,s FORUM.

London's Hyde Park on Sunday Ere
 speech, Some of It Too Frec-Dfacuss
 Ing "Joe" "ChamberIafti-The Eoo1el
 Trial, Religion, Temperance ant
 Other Matters-Plain Talk to Eng
 lish Workmen.
 London, June 26th.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier:
 One can hardly consider himself to bt
 fully in touch with the reform tenden-
 cies of London until he has seen the
 fantastic exhibition of refornlers and
 reform Hobbies which is offered every
 Sunday In the London parks. The
 English are almost as much of an out
 ot-door people as their neighbors in
 France. They are also a decidedly con-
 troVersial people, who believe in hav-
 ing things out. They do manage finally
 to agree to differ, but they first agree
 to hold rough and tumble argument
 on the subject. Put together these
 two traits-love of the open air and a 1 passion for vindicating their own opin- l ion-and what one expect? First, that there will be no scarcity Of out-door
 resorts, and there certainly isn't in
 London. No city is more favored in
 this respect, and to me it speaks well
 for civilization that the biggest city | the world ever knew, with it's phe- | nomenal population of six and half
 millions, should be so airy as it is, 1 having as it's chief civic hobby the de- termination to secure for itself the greatest possible amount of breathing space.
 Inevitably, too, the people whose civ ic taste demands these open air resorts | will flock to them on all high-d days and
 holidays in vast an deVer growing numbers And when, in addition to this, We take British bumptuousnes5 into account, we have fairly com plete explanation of why it is that those London parks are at once play grounds and debating grounds, and why, in particular, Hyde Park should be so commonly called the Peoples Forum. But how poorly after all some explanations explain! So it would be found to be In this case if an American should visit Hyde Park for the first time, fully persuaded from the fore going that he knew what to expect; for, assuming his visit to occur on
 
 Sunday afternoon. what he would find would so far exceed what he had thought to find, that he would confess himself at once another, Queen of Sheba, looking upon q wisdom and greatness of which the half had not been told.
 To me there was nothing strikingly new in the visit paid to this Peoples Forum last Sunday Such visits have been frequent The American student of English life goes now and again to Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon alpost as relgiousy as he goes to St. Pauls on perhaps the same Sunday morning But to the oldest habltue. if we have brains there are new things to be learned, even though the scenes and in cidents are the same, and at any rate one gets each time he goes rare en- tertainment, as well as q much deeper insight into the English character. Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon gives one a sort of microcosm not only of those English principles of g3vern- ment by which the masses are kept in ' tolerably good feeling toward. the I classes. If there is any place on earth | ' is here the only restriction being that [ every man listening feels that he also [ enjoys this liberty and is very likely. |, to the embarrassment of the first | speaker, to give vocal expression to his freedom.
 But the authorities will not interfere you may be perfectly sure of that. In his fellow subjects in Hyde Park one need never be afraid of the hobbies" providing, of course, that his speech doesn't descend to downright in decency Perhaps though, I should say upon the latter point, that one will not be tnterfersd with unless he stays ln this low key. He may surely ven ture an allusiou that is indecent, for l heard a shocking remark of this na- ture from a speaker who was oblecting to the Bible because of what 1t teaches about the birth of Christ. But the man was safe enough because, having said | thing which made the thoughtleas augh and the thinking reflect, he was If Immediately into the less sugges- i've realm of miraculous resurrection But any kind of political talk will pass One may declaim against royalty as nuc1 as 0e DledStS' ut every IuiiS hort of personal threats and down light call to arms on the spot, the an- trchist seems to have as free field as he preacher of New Testament right The English authorities it tppears have reasoned out the matter. md their conclusion is that free speech the freest kind of speech-is a kind f safety-valve. It relieves pent-up ceiling. While people can freely ventl- ate their grievances they are less like y to brood over them. Talk is cheap, hey argue. and 1t takes great deal f it to do any harm. If the people en- oy this kind of thing why not let them ave it? This, I am told, is how the authorities feel on the subject, and per aps it is sensible, for it reminds one f the big brawny husband whose iminutive wife had a penchant for be- tboring him occasionally with blows ! rom a very small fist. People wonder q why the big fellow put up with such | reatment. aO," said he, 'it peases ' CT and it doesn't hurt me- To see this Peoples Forum at it's q est you should enter the park at the | Iarbla Arch and it might be well to r 0 after 6 D. nl., for by that time the c ublic houses are open, and the crowds J r loiterers, jaded somewhat by the d ck of liquid refreshments for three ng hours, have now had the oppor- lt 11litv to "fraqhan m n as they call it f