New-York tribune., 1920-12-12
By Harold E. Scarborough

From Tho Trtbune's European Bureau
LONDON, Nov. 26.-Is q woman to
take her place In the assembly of
Lords, spiritual and temporal, of Great
Britain?
IL Is not necessary to bark back
very far--say. Just before the war
to find time when tho obvious fu-
tility Of such a question would have
precluded its being asked. But since
that time women have received the
ballot In England; an American born
peeress sits in the House Of Commons
for Plymouth; 80 why should the House
OF Lords, the sanctum sanctorum of
British conservatism, be immune from
the undermining spirit?
AS matter of fact, there are many
astute observers Of British politics who
Will tell one that the present House
OF Lords is, paradoxically enough, far
moro liberal than the lower house,
And this is probably true, for the
present House Of Commons, swept into
power in the "war election" of De-
cember, 1918, presents the spectacle of
bloc coalition which votes almost as
unit the way the government tells It
to; and beyond that an Opposition
numerically very weak, and with Its
effectiveness further limited by its In
ternal dissensions.
Viscountess Asks q Writ
ny hAtn
concerning the composition Of its own
chamber. the House Of Lords can be
as conservative as you please. That
perhaps, is why the second Viscountess
Rhondda, as she talkede in her very
businesslike Office somewhere near the
top OF one Of the gloomy, begrimed
buildings which line Victoria Street
did not seem overoptimistic concern
Ing the fate Of the petition which she
has filed with the King, asking that
writ be issued summoning her to
the House of Lords. Nevertheless, it
was evident that she considered the
she was willing to talk quito frankly
Of assault on this last barrier Of the
old order.
Lady Rhondda Is q business woman.
Her Office contains large flat-topped
desk and two or three chairs; that is
all. There is nothing about it to
indicate that the gracious, plainly
dressed woman who presides over it
has other interests in life beside those
created by the vast network Of busi-
nesses which her father, tho late Wis
count Rhondda (before the war plain
Mr.. Thomas, the Welsh industrialist,
and during it supreme arbiter Of the
food supply Of the British Islands J
left her. AS a matter of fact, there
is probably, scarcely another woman
in the world whose activities are and
have been SO varied and on such a
scale.
Her father had built up a vast
structure Of industry. He dealt in
coal, in steel, in ships, in factories,
before he was called to become the
British Food Controller, in which ca
pacity he eventually gave up his life
as tho result of overwork. At his
death. Lady Rhondda, who was the
wife Of Sir Humphrey Markworth, was,
by special remainder, created q peer
ess in her own right, and, moreover,
succeeded to her fathers managership
of most of his businesses.
Besides this, she is president Of the
Women's Industrial League, director
Of the periodical, Time and Tide, pres
ident of the Efficiency Club and JUS
tice Of the peace for Monmouthshire
First Business Venture
Probably her frst real experience in
"big business" came in 1916, when, on
the occasion of Lord Rhondda's visit tc
the United States, she assumed the d.