The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26

/ British house of parliament he must
/ 20 TO the office of the American
T embassy-a dingy place in Victoria
street. not far from Westminster
F palace-where genuine, bona fide
/ Englishman-his accent cannot be
/ mistaken-will take you in hand and
+ like as not inform you that the sup
ply f tickets of admission is limited
and your turn will not come until
next week. or the week after per-
! haps Fortunately. however. had
a letter Of introduction to the Hon.
/ John Redmond. NJ F.. the leader of
. the Irish Nationalists. and upon pre-
senting it | received instant admis-
+ 81 n. and had a prime opportunity
T OF watching the house of commons.
ard the house of lords in action.
/ confess to disappointment in
more ways than one Although
/ Westminster palace-the parliament
building is a magnificent pile from
an external point of view. can
| rot say that | was vastly impressed
/ with the interior although. perhaps.
! | should have been. The two
chambers in which were gathered
the wit. wisdom and brains" of
the United Kingdom are narrow.
but not long. and the frescoed cell
ing is expansive and INTELLECTUALLY
imposing. The seats occupied by
/ the members run lengthwise of each
/ chamber. Those Of the lords are
covered in red morocco; these of the
commons in black; and narrow aisle
/ divides the government benches from
those Of the opposition. They look
as if they were nearly as uncom-
+ Portable as grand stand" seats in a
circus, or baseball park. but | doubt
not that they are highly priced by
tAeir occupants.
In the commons the speakers chair
looks real comfortable and inviting.
The same as does that of the lord
chancellor in the upper chamber.
And so | gazed upon the Mother
OF Parliament" But if | NAV be
permitted to Judge its glory has de-
parted. The sessions that | witness
/ d We're dull and uninspiring, what
though the National Insurance bill
vas under discussion. The apathy
seemed marked, especially in the
house OF lords. where the dreary
monotony was profound.
Most OF the intelligent English.
men whom one meets in the hotels
and clubs you will find lamenting
the decay OF British craftsmanship
We have none" said one of these
pessimsts; our glory is fast de-
parting. No Englishman can point
with pride nowadays to the medi
ocritE that one sees in our parlia-
ment. Then he delivered a sol
emn preachment upon the benefits
that would accrue to the United
Kingdom if they had a protective
tariff law, the same as the United
States. A protective tariff law.
however, which his English COM
mefclal or rather manufacturing in
siincts craved, would put the finish
/ ing touches on English commercial
f bA
ture OF things, can be only main
tain by maintaining the tariff pol
icy that has enabled England to at
tain her present commercial great
ness
The English attache of the Ameri-
can embassy in London tried his
best to show that he was a good
! fellow for he kindly told us about
the greatness of the Royal News"
and asked us if we would not like
to make it visit. He had a
| 'stand-in' with the head panjan-
drum, or captain of the guard, or
Whatever he is who has the over
! looking of the News" in his espec-
lal charge, the attache said, and he
would be pleased to provide US with
tickets of admission. Not being
quite sure whether a News" was
an up-to-date cattery or kennel, and
being disinclined to show American
ignorance, we accepted the tickets
| and the next day set out to Bucking-
ham palace, the London residence
OF the king, at the rear of which
are the royal mews"--an immense
| building wherein are kept the hors-
| es used by his majesty and the royal
encourage, whatever that is There
are a hundred or more horses, the
great majority of which look more
adapted to farm purposes than for
the saddle or the carriage. i have
no doubt that they are safe and
sane, however. There were eight
coal black steeds and an equal num-
! Der of cream-colored horses, how
ever. that were worth a second
glance. They were bred at the
royal stock farm near Windsor, and
were really worth while. The rest
are plugs" The most remarkable
| thing | notice about the royal