The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-03
DEFENDS HIS FATHER
AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN IS PUT FORWARD.
Refers ta His siys d khs Zen l1As from West B4rziisl Eisssts and Makes q Remarkably
 Poor Speech.

London. Feb. 2.--"My right honorable friend, the member from West Birming- ham," as Austen Chamberlain described his father, was the central figure in the drama that marked the opening of Par fiament today.
 No playwright could have devised a more curious situation. For the first time in years, Joseph Chamberlain took his seat as private member of the House of Commons and was separated from his former colleagues in the cabinet by the gangway. From this seat he saw his son act as leader of the House of Commons, a position which Mr. Chamberlain. with all his year of parliamentary experience, never attained.
 Premier Balfour was laid up with in- fiuenza and therefore was unable to be present. When Austen Chamberlain arose to reply in behalf of the party of which his own father is believed to be the most powerful member, the House was spellbound. Until that moment Mir. Ackers- Douglass, Secretary of State for homo affairs, was generally expected to take Premier Balfour's place and interest in the proceedings was heightened by the fact that Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman. the Liberal leader, had just concluded 8 merciless satire on Austen Chamberlain s IdluCEs GAC SLbudSlOh WALHO0I I1IdHcl III the recollection of the oldest politician and all eyes were fixed alternately upon tho father and the son.
 Joseph Chamberlain, who had sat un- moved under the ridicule of the Liberal leader, turned nervously toward his son who now takes precedence over him. With his monocle in his eye, an orchid in his buttonhole and his hands clasped across his knees, the most prominent figure in the British empire sat and listened to his owG defence from the lips of his son.
 Austen Chamberlain spoke haltingly and under evident strain, yet when he referred to his father 1t was always as the member from West Birmingham '' There was a tihge of impassioned feeling in his words which brought constantly to his hearers a realization of the relation between the two men. Now and again jeers greeted the youngest member of the cabinet. whereupon with unmistakable anger his father turned his glance in the direction of the offender and occasionally Joseph Chamberlain cheered his son on with an emphatic Hear, hear"
 As Austen Chamberlain neared the Con- clusiOn of his defense of the attitude of Premier Balfour and his father towards the fiscal question, the interruptions grew more frequent and the Chancellor of the exchequer clutched the brass bound treasury box on which Gladstone was so fond of leaning and addressed his re- marks almost solely in the direction of his father
 Defiantly Austen Chamberlain accused Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman, of at- tacking the premier in his absence, and with touch of pride he said:
 ssrTha YIaornhar fropo is bara he can speak for and look after himself
 The House finally exercised it's relief when the speech was over and generally termed the proceeding as one of the most extraordinary personal situations that ever had occurred and the speech as one of the weakest defences of the govern ment's policy ever made.
 On behalf of Premier Balfour, Auster Chamberlain declared the House of Com mons must first decide whether 1t desired any change at all in the fiscal system and until that point was settled. the op position demand for details of the govern ment's fiscal reform plan could not b, granted