The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-22
Comparisons Show Some Reason
for Complaint by United
States Officials.
of the Best Sort
ny Ia MAtaUIsE DE roNTENoY.

OldlCS oII1CldlS.
ny Ia MARQUISE DE TONTENOY.
y view of the fact that Speaker
Champ Clark complains. like Secre-
tary of state w. j. Bryan, that he
finds his salary of $4,000 a year In
adequate fo- life at Washington, and
that he is compelled to supplement his
income by lecturing for money when
ever the House is not in session. 1t is
only fair to him TO point out that his
stipend from the national treasury
compares unfavorably with that of the
Speaker Of the House of Commons in
England. and OF the president of the
Chamber of Deputies in Paris.
The Speaker of the House OF Com
mons enjoys salary of $4,000 n year
as well as the use of a magnificent OF
and maintained for him free Of cost,
in the Palace OF Westminster, its
large windows looking out on to the
Thames. The state also pays for his
secretaries. his chaplain. counsel. IL
brarian. and all his domestic servants.
provides him with superb old silver
plate for his official entertainments
while he has also at his disposal per-
haps the finest wine cellar in tho
United Kingdom. namely. that OF tho
House Of Commons. described II
some time ago in these letters. On
his retirement no matter how brief
his term OF office, he receives PEN
sion of $4,000 a year for the remain
der OF his life, as we'll as n peerage.
In Paris. the president of the Cham
Der OF Deputies gets no pension on his
retirement. But he has salary and
allowances amounting to $4,000 a
year. and the use OF the beautifully
furnished palace known as the Petit
Bourbon, adjoining the Chamber OF
Deputies. IL stands In fine grounds
on the banks Of the Seine.
King George has bestowed the Or
der of the Garter upon Earl Spencer,
whose son, young Lord Althorp. has
just been celebrating the attainment
OF his majority. Few will be found
TO cavil at the selection. For. al
though his principal services to the
stat have been those of Lord Cham
berlain. during the last four years OF
the reign of Edward VII. and during
the first eighteen months of that OF
King George, yet he Is man whose
sense OF chiNalry, In great matters and
in small, belongs TO a bygone age,
rather than TO the present times.
Thus on the occasion of the troubles
OF the great banking house of Barring
some seventeen or eighteen years ago,
he, although Possessed OF no fortune
OF his own, voluntarily came to IL
rescue of his faIher-in-la law, the late
Lord Rcvclstoke and of the other Bar
ing relatives Of his wife by surrend-
crins to them her entire dowry. 1t
was by sacrifices Of this kind that the
house OF Barring was able TO weather
the storm. Now that IL Is once more
on the high tide of prosperity, the
money thus surrendered by the earl
who was familiarly known in those
days in the House OF Commons as
Bcbbie Spencer, has been restored to
him. But at the time when he turned
II over to the committee of liquidation
formed by the leading bankers of Lon
don, it seemed doubtful whether he
would ever see n penny of 1t again.
That ne Is n man Of some pluck is
shown by the fact that at the time or
the Phoenix Park murders. when his
half brother, the late Earl Spencer,
was Niceroy OF Ireland, and in con-
slant danger of assassination. he made
point of accompanying him in an
unofficial capacity everywhere in and
walking or riding. for the purpose Of
protecting him. He is noted for the
perfection OF his manners and OF his
attire, his collars In particular being
as famous in their way as those of
the late Mr.. Gladstone. 1t was this
that caused his commencement of a
speech in the House OF Commons with
the words, II am not an agricultural
laborer," to excite so much hilarity.
Althorp, his country seat in North
ampt onshire. which has been in the
possession OF the Spencers since long
before the reign OF Henry Will, pos
sesses particular interest to Ameri-
cans. For Lady Spencer, wife of that
Sir John Spencer who so often enter
tained the poet, Edmund Sponsor. au-
thor OF the "Faerie Queene." at AL
thorp. was sister of Margaret wife
OF John Washington, from whom the
first President of the United States
was descended. Lawrence Washing
ton was not only the kinsman but the
most intimate friend OF Sir John
Spencers grandson, Robert, first Lord
Spencer, Of Althorp. and helped him
to entertain Queen Anne. consort of
James l., and their eldest son. Henry
Prince of Wales. when they visited AL
thorp in June. 1903, for which oc-
casion Ben Jonson wrote his "Masquc
of the Fairies" which was perfor med
in the park on June 25.
Lawrence Washington. who died In
1916, lies buried in 81. Mary's Church.
just above the wooded slopes OF AL
thorp; and bordering on the church
yard are oak trees which were already
growing at the time OF the acquisition
OF Althorp by tho Spencers during tho
Wars OF the Roses Charles l. was ut
Althorp in 1917. when he received the
first news OF those approaching pur-
suers from whom he never escaped.
except by the scaffold.
The late Lord Spencer was very
much interested in tho connection OF
his family with the American Wash
ingtons, and In letter In 1890 to a
member Of the Spencer family, of Tai