Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-27
BRITISH POLITICS
In YANKEE EYES
Continued from Page one)

fact that In reality the vast proportion OF
the conservatives really hate the oid-age
pensions. Such is politics, and English
politics are not a whit better than those
Of the rest Of the world. These are the
only features Of the budget that can be re-
garded as Objectionable. To me they are
rather excusable and even justifisble on
account Of the existing inequalities of tax
alton. II the duke favors himself unduly
in the matter of taxation and cannot be
made to pay his just share, it is not too
bad" to make his heirs dsgorge.
Getting Into the "ShOw."
I was also down to London February q
to see King Edward open his third Par
lament It was certainly festive, though
solemn, occasion. l liked the presence OF
the dearly beloved king and queen and 1
enjoyed the whole ceremony. but many
Of the creatures in the limelight filled me
with disgust. / had with me plenary Gre
dentials emitting me to admission, but 1
must have been compelled to give the
countersign TO hundred policemen, more
or less, to get my rights. From a consid-
erable experience advise those placed in
similar circumstances to treat the off
clals in charge with a reasonable amount
Of contempt and disdaln; then you are
taken for a lord. II, however you show
the pleblan spirit OF hesitation they will
cause you no end Of trouble. The only
English ever heard of who were keen In
hunting out distress were King Arthur
and his knights and Robin Hood; but,
alas we are now told they never lived and
moved and had their being. The English
are, however, the most loyal servants and
followers of accredited masters. It cannot
be denied that the Engllshman really likes
the nobility, although they oppress him
beyond all belief; he enjoys their patroniz-
ing treatment; he believes in the invincible
honesty of all judges and in the virtues
Of all lords, and is In the seventh heaven
Of happiness when he is chanting the
English paean, He is a Jolly, Good Fell
low" In honor of a lord, however ignor-
ant, selfish and oppressive he may be.
The earl of Rutland understood this feel
ing and voiced it in the song much quoted
in the campaign
Let wealth and commerce, laws and
and learning die,
But leave us still our old nobility"
Under the English system the king can
do no wrong. He is supposed to do about
what the prime minister says, and the
prime minister takes the responsibility.
The kings speech to Parliament was the
shortest on record, and yet in spite Of
its brevity it contained a grave grammat-
ical error in its most important subject.
The king used the term House of Com
mons" in place of the House of Lords"
1t was an amusing mistake. None, how
ever, misconstrued the meaning, and at
the time no attention was paid to It, but
later a lord said that IL the government
was going to destroy the House of Lords
1t should at least be done with proper
syntax.
One Day with Commons.
Although my nerves were nearly ex-
hausted in my attempts to get somewhere
near the presence OF the king on Feb
rusry q, nevertheless 1 decided to re-
main over another day and see the work.
ings of this great mother of all parlia-
ments. The next day was February %.
1 did not hear, however. even passing
mention made Of one George Washington,
although 1 feel sure that he is known to
the English. 1t was the only political oc-
casion when my ears were not dlnned with
lot of silly stuff about America During
the campaign both sides essayed to prove
everything by America
The chamber of the House of Commons
is about the size and shape of an Omaha
city lot. 1 should say that it might seat
400 as the seats are arranged, whereas
the House has more than 900 members.
1t seemed to me that the individual
amounts to nothing in this Parliament
His leader runs him as he will. 1 was
greatly impressed with Mr.. Asquith, un-
doubtedly an able and good man, also
with Mr. Lloyd George, Mr.. Churchill, and,
In fact, with the whole cabinet. They are
young men, younger than any cabinet we
have ever had. l was not, however much
impressed with the character of the house
as whole, or with Mr.. Balfour, or any
Of the conservative leaders. The latter
seemed to me to be triflers, and not really
sincere. The members keep their hats on
II they want to, some of them are In
evening dress; there is little formality, no
oratory whatever, but a lot of Interrupt
| tions, and, what regarded, as silly Ques-
tioning. 1t is evident that many Of the
members are men OF little training, and
Parliament much more resembles a state
legislature than our congress.
Expensive to "sit."
Members of Parliament serve absolutely
without pay of any kind. They do not
even get any travelling expenses; they are
required to contribute to all sorts OF
]
are as high as from 1850 to 5000 or 81, 900
For my part, do not understand how
they can afford the honor and II certainly
is a serious matter for the liberals. They
have not got the money for another cleo
tion 1t seems queer that it should be
like this when the English pay their Of
hcials very much larger salaries than
we do in America. English say they get
better men this way. They always think
that whatever is with them is right, but
am decidedly from Missouri IN this mat
ter. have studied closely the English
system, and l think that there is more
inequality and injustice here than in any
country 1 know personally anything about.
In many things IL amounts to corruption
and would be called In America but
here It is class-privilege no longer re-
garded as divine, but still considered
sacred.
Issues of the Campaign.
So much has been said in the America n
press anent the issues OF the campaign
upon both sides OF the question that Il
must be difficult to form a decided opinion
or even satisfactory notion as to which
side deserves our sympathies. Thinking
that possibly to my acquaintanees my own
opinions may be OF some value, / will tell
how the issues presented themselves to me.
When left America 1 thought had
heard for the last time the slogan shall
the people rule" and yet the first thing
that met NV eve az I anta.oa a.. -.