The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30

In speakingof the cosmopolitan character
OF New York he said:
Being In New York during the election
QSp0) l spent som hours in watching the
voting in the densely populated tenement
house districts and thus came to realize bet
ter thar any figures can convey how largely
New York is European, but a European city
Of no particular country, with dement's OF
ignorance and squalor from all Of them"
One Of the striking parts OF Mr.. Bryce's
work related to the race question in this
country. He was able to Gee thu situation
from the Southern as well az the Northern
standpoint. He spoke Of giving the ne
groes the franchise and pointed out why it
had not been successful. He traced the
origin Of slavery and said:
Rights which the agricultural laborer OF
England did not obtain until 1885 were in
1887 thrust upon these children OF nature
whose highest form Of pleasure hitherto
had been TO caper to the strains Of a banjo.
-Other races rave desired freedom and a
share in political power. They have had to
strive and their efforts have braoed and dis
ciplined them. But these things were thrust
upon the negro, who found himself embar-
raised by boons he had not thought OF de-
handing"
Mr.. Bryce devoted much space to the free
dom Of women In this country and their wit
and ~vivacity and said:
More are open TO an American
woman who has to lead a solitary life, not
merely in the way of employment but for the
the occupation OF her mind and tastes than
| to a European spinster or widow; while her
| education has not rendered the American
wife less competent for the discharge OF her
household duties
In speaking Of the advancement of women
generally in recent years Mr.. Bryce said:
IF women have, on the whole, gained it Is
clear that the nation gains through them
Mr.. Bryce has not been entirely optimistic
on American things. He fears that the
United States will have trouble with immi-
grafton. He thinks there should be more
restriction, and at a meeting early in the
present year he said:
1T is doubtful whether the population
Of the whole earth, or at any rate those
parts OF it which are best fitted for industrial
enterprises, is not growing too large. L
| confess l am not one of those who regard
the growth Of population, as it used to be
regarded 200 or 300 years ago, as being in
itself a good thing.
1T is far more important that those who
are on the earth and who will be on the
earth in future should be happy than that
there should b. more of them. In fact,
when 1 look at what has happened during
the last century and a half l am sometimes
inclined to fear that the globe itself is be-
coming a congested area"
Mr.. Bryce last spring summed up in a
magazine article some impressions OF his
latest visit to this country. He said bust
ness was king here, but he commended that
there was a higher standard Of public morals
in this country than in Europe.
He aid that although there was more
wealth thar in England it was more widely
diifused and he asserted that the idle and
self -indulgent class, which sets a bad ex-
| ample to other classes, is relatively smaller
| He remarked that pauperism was not keep
ing pace with the growth of population n
said:
law system of two great Eastern cities and
found hat although there were very few
persons needing or receiving support at
| public expense the number was expected
| to grow steadily and quickly as the cities
grew. To-day l am told tina in these cities
pauperism, though Of course absolutely
larger, increases more slowly than popu-
lation."
In speaking Of our university growth
Mr.. Bryce said in the same article:
America has nov not less than fifteen,
or perhaps twenty, seats of learning fit to
be ranked beside the universities of Ger
many, France and England, as respects the
completeness OF the instruction they pro-
| vide and the thoroughness at which they
aim"
Extended ms has been Mr.. Bryce's public
career, its main features may be set down
in a few words. He was born in Belfast
in 1888. He was graduated at the high
school OF Glasgow and studied in Glasgow
University. He then entered Trinity Col
Iege, Oxford, and got his A. B. degree there
in 1862, with a double first class.
Then he studied at Heidelberg and later
became a fellow OF Oriel College, Oxford.
He studied law at Oxford and at Lincoln's
Inn in London and was admitted to the bar
in 1857. He practised law for three years
and went into the theory Of it and in 1870
was made regius professor Of law at Ok
ford. He continued his law lectures for
nearly thirty years.
In 1884 he ran for Parliament and was
defeated. In 1880 he was elected to the
House Of Commons for Tower Hamlets in
LONDON Wncn ne represented LOT nVo
years, when he was elected for South Aber-
deem. He then entered the Gladstone
Cabinet as Under Secretary for Foreign
Affairs and remained in that post for Ave
months.
In Mr.. Gladstone's Cabinet in 1920 he
became Chancellor Of the Duchy of Lancas-
ter, nth a seat in the Cabinet, and retained
the anne post in the Rosebery Cabinet until
he was appointed President of the Board Of
Trale, which he retained until the Govern
ment fell in 1895.
Personally Mr.. Bryce is gaunt and gray,
with a shaggy beard and strong piercing
eyes. AS a speaker he is not eloquent, but
strong. He speaks with a sharp staccato
style, but he always holds his hearers,
because he always has something to say
when he speaks.
He has a spare, tall physique. but he is
1.-the, and the effects Of his mountain climb
ing show in his fine physical makeup despite
his years. He is optimistic and enthusiastic,
and his American friends say they know