The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-28
KING EDWARDS TOLL.
What He Meant When He said He
Worked Twelve Hours Day.


King Edward in the course of an
audience granted last week to the
leaders of the church army movement
In England, who are endeavoring to
deal with the difficult problems Great
ed by the appalling number of labor
ing men who are unemployed. and
therefore in want, incidentally mem
toned. that he was obliged to work
very hard himself, and that his Or
binary working day was not one of
eight, but of twelve hours, and that
he considered himself fortunate when
he accomplished all he had to do in
that time. This procurement,
cabled to this country and published
in the American newspapers, has ex-
cited considerable amount of
amazement among those here who
have been accustomed to look upon
the British monarch as essentially
man of pleasure-indeed as one of
the greatest sybarites in Europe, and
the question has arisen in connection
Herewith as to what the labors of
the British monarch really were.
1t may therefore be as we'll to ex-
plain that the king has hundreds Of
documents to sign on every day of the
year, Sundays included. 1t must be
borne in mind that as general prin-
ciple no administrative act by the
government and no act of parliament
is valid in the eyes of the law until it
receives the sign manual of the SOW
ereign. Everything done by the gov
eminent of the day in behalf of the
state and in the name of the nation
is a sovereign, act, no matter how
trivial 1t may be, and sovereign act
cannot be complete and therefore
valid until 1t has received the SOW
ereign's signature. Fifteen years ago
it was estimated by competent author
tiles that the number of documents
receiving the signature of Queen Vic
toria averaged at least sixty thousand
year. That would give about two
hundred for each week day through
out the entire twelve months. Since
that time documents requiring the
sign manual of the British sovereign
have enormously increased, and it is
probable that today the papers which
King Edward is obliged to sign aver
age between four hundred and five
hundred day. Let my readers ina
CINE what this means, especially when
It is borne in mind that the royal, or
imperial, sanction cannot be lightly
given, and that neither King Edward
lor the German kaiser nor the rulers
of Austria, Italy and Denmark will
lfIiX their names to- any document
without having fully mastered it's con-
tents. During the early part of the
.eign of Queen Victoria she was ac-
:ustomed to rely entirely upon the
discretion and judgment of her min
sters and to sign without reading the
papers submitted to her for signature
~ her constitutional advisers. But
me day she was dismayed to find that
she had given her royal sanction to
Measure of which she most strongly
lisapproved and which she knew to
,e wrong. From that time forth she
made point of never signing any
PAPER until she had satisfied herself
as to its purpose and probable conse-
.uence. ~
The commission of every officer of
he army and navy and the diplomatic
corps, from admirals of the fleet, field
narshals and ambassadors down to
he most youthful subaltern or beard
ess attache, requires the signature of
he king, whose approval is likewise
% xl,,~c "a
portant dispatch sent out by the de-
:artment of foreign affairs. All the
more important appointments, admin
strative as we'll as judicial, must have
he sovereign's written consent. No
)ne can relieve the sovereign of this
particular portion of his work. Any
cessation Of it would throw out Of
gear the entire administrative n1achin-
cry of the empire. In the first few
lays that followed the demise of
Queen Victoria, King Edward was oc-
,upied literally day and night in read
ng and signing the thousands Of doc
uments of one kind and another that
lad accumulated during the few days
Of his venerable mothers brief Illness.
The giving of these signatures, ar.
duous as is the work entailed when
monarch is conscientious, consti.
tutes but part of the days business
The German and Austrian rulers re-
luire their cabinet ministers to make
at least twice week verbal reports
Of all important matters concerning
their departments in addition to their
written communications. Queen Vic
toria insisted upon this only in the
case of the foreign Office, but King
Edward demands that he should be
kept informed about all matters of
moment, and he is constantly calling
upon this minister or that government
official to furnish him with special re-
ports. Not day passes without sew
eral government functionaries being
received in audience, and the inter-
view is usually followed by some ac-
ton on the part of the sovereign or
of the dignitary in question. Then
there are interviews to be granted to
foreign ENJOYS, to persons connected
with the administration of the royal
household, as we'll as to men eminent
i'll art, literature and science. 1t must
be borne in mind that each of these
audiences means the discussion of inn
portant business, for people are not
in the habit Of seeking interviews with
rulers of nations in order to indulge
in mere small talk, immunity from
which, indeed, Is one Of the few adj
yantages enjoyed nowadays by mon