Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-11-29

Government Bills of Greatest Im-
 portance Brought Forward, Debnt-
 ed and Passed or Rejected I'm Less
 Than a Week = Only Parliament
 Which Keeps Full Verbatim Re-
 port of Its Proceedings.
 Modern Japan in founding her insti- tutions has had the advantage of be- ing able to use as models the best throughout the civilized world says the Portland Oregonian. Those who have seen the parliament at Tokyo at work say that it is the most business like institution in the world, and there is little talk in proportion to the work accomplished
 The work goes forward very rapid ly. Even a government bill of the greatest importance is brought for ward, debated and passed or rejected in less than a week. Speechmaking on the part of the members is discourag- ed. Four or five new acts of all sorts are an average weeks work. This is because 1t is rule that when the government or a private member wish es to introduce new bill 1t is not al- lowed to be presented to the house at the outset. It must first be submitted to a committee, which in private makes thorough examination of 1t and digests all the arguments for and against it which are likely to be used in the contest. Then the committee sends the bill along to the house with lengthy report upon it, and in nine cases out of ten the parliament is guid- ed by the report upon it and decides upon the measure with very little dis cussion.
 Though they are elected by constitu- encies in just the same manner as in the United States, each member is paid at the rate of more than $SO a week for his services. The actual salary paid them is $1 ,000 session, but ses- sion lasts only twelve weeks. There are 376 members in the house, and when a man is elected he gets num- Der for the purpose of Identification and is usually referred to by it, no matter where he may be. This number is painted in big figures on a hinged flap, which is attached to his desk in the parliament chamber. When he is seated he raises the flap on it's hinge as sign that he Is ready for work for the day. When he leaves the sitting he lays the number fiat again. The flap also serves another purpose. During a debate, when the member wishes to show his approval or disapproval of what is being said or to attract atten- tion to his claim to be allowed to speak. he rattles this flap and by long prac- tice has become so skillful that he can make more noise this way than any other. When he wishes to make a speech he further emphasizes his de-. sire by shouting out his number, and if the president wishes to recognize him he repeats the number.
 Tn the center of the chamber is a high tribune, and when member wishes fo speak he takes his stand there in view of the whole house. The president sits just behind him and rings bell when ever there is any breach of order. The chamber Is semicircular in form, and the members sit together at little groups of desks, three or four togeth CT, all around.
 Every, word spoken in the house Of representatives in Tokyo from the day of it's opening has been taken down and carefully preserved. This is tine only parliament in the world which has a complete verbatim report of all it's pro- ceedings. Shortly before it's establish ment a party of students invented a system of shorthand which was capable of graphing with the difficulties of the Japanese language, and after practice they. found they could keep pace with the fastest speaker. When the new parliament was formed some of these stenographers were engaged, with the result that the parliament records are complete.