Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-25
The English Elections
IV-THE HECKLING ''VOICE"
By Frederic j. Haskin

| twenty minutes to speak, but made no
Roadway. Then he sat down on the
chairman's table, lit a cigarette and
waited for the noise to cease. 1t didn't
cease, and as there were more neigh
bors than there were earls of Denbigh,
the noble earl finally gave it up as a
had job and hilled away from there.
7 Lord Ashbourne. on the same night
in London, was greeted by an enthu-
siastic crowd of hecklers with genius
for fun. Every time the noble lord
said anything serious the crowd
groaned and every time he said any
thing allegedly funny the crowd
groaned. Finally they got tired and
broke up the meeting by turning it
into a saengerfest.
AS rule the hecklers are very po-
lite to woman speakers and seldom
throw things at Them They make eX-
ceptions in favor of the sex" The
sex" is not so considerable, and the
suffragettes never miss a chance to
heave a brick through a window at
some cabinet minister who is explain
ing to the dear people how the gov
eminent have provided for the COM
try" (The government "haVe' is cor
rect in England) But this briek-heav-
ing is not considered heckling, and
therefore is not protected by the con-
stitution and British etiquette. Hence,
lice arrest all women in the neighbour
hood suspected of a militant desire to
exercise the right Of suffrage and its
concomitant privileges of heckling and
boong.
Mrs. Fletcher, wife of a member of
parliament essayed to make speech
in behalf of friend of her husband
who was running for the house. The
hecklers were provided for her, and
the first part of her address was made
to the accompaniment of q grand cho-
rus of baby rattlers. She is a tariff
reformer and when she came TO eX- ,
plan how much better the laboring
man in protected Germany lives than
his fellow workman in free England,
genial heclSler threw live puppy
dog at the lady, eXclaiming, That's
what the Germans eat"
Lord Rothschild, who has more
money than Carter had oats, has al
ways made it a practice never to speak
except in the house of lords ana III
the city of London upon purely imam
| cial or municipal affairs. But the
| threatened Socialism of the Lloyd
| George regime aroused him to action
and he took the stump for tour
around the country. He went to one
| town to tell the people the reasons
why he had been converted from
free-tdader to a tariff reformer. The
auulenCe amused llS6ll DY
every few minutes with three cheers
| for Lloyd George This annoyed the
| baron and he finally gave up without
finishing his speech.
Nearly all of the heckling of the UNI
friendly sort has been directed against
Conservative speakers. All during the
campaign the newspapers commented
on this feature with strict party bias.
The Radical papers were inclined to
fs1Jr hnf CHI
the Tories were with the people. The
Tory papers charged that the rowdy-
ism of the Liberals was the deSpera-
ton bred of foreknowledge of GER
tain defeat. Liberal leaders and cam
didates were charged with hiring men
to make a business of breaking up
Conservative meetings.
Occasionally Liberal speaker would
be heckled and then the Radicals
would cry out that the liquor trade
was plying rowdies with free drinks
to get them to interrupt Liberal
speakers But usually everybody
seemed to credit all the trouble to
"the Voice"-that is, to the British
elector in action as an auditor.
Every speaker, Of course, tries. to
be patient under the strain of the
heckling Sometimes a clever speaker
can turn a question to the dlscom-
future of the heekler, and that makes
for peace and order. Again, speaker
is given an opportunity to turn
pretty point by the aid of chance
remark of the Voice." Sometimes, IL
is whispered, speakers have been
known to arrange with some free and
| unterrlfied heckler for few interrupt
tions at lust the psychological mo-
ment. For bad as it is to be heckled,
it is infinitely worse to be ignored
But when Lord Cheylesmofe anu
Lord Donoughmore attempted TO plead
the case of the peers to an audience
in Coventry the heckler reached ms
| climax. He announced i'll tuneful song
| that he, collectively considered, dld
not intend to go home until the fol-
lowing morning. The only local sup.
| norter of the peers was hustled OLE
the stage, but the two noble lords were
forced to stay and hear the Singing
| for several hours.
The British elector with a taste TOT
exciting fun has his inning at elecllo o.
time. And if a peer is his particular
| aversion as seems to be the case the
heckler was happy during this cam
naien. for never before were there SO
MANY peers on the stump in Englaiia'
| IF the house of lords ever gets COM
nIefe control of the British constltu-
zion it certainly will knock out the
clause protecting the booers and the
| hecklers.
Tomorrow-The English Elections'
y-The British Speilbinders.