Evening star., 1921-10-23
low ]. H. clynes and Arthur Hender-

low J. H. ciynes and Arthur Hender-
| son.
ITHAT's the first provocative OF dis
order, the fact that the two hos
/ tile forces are facing each other di-
rectly and only indirectly looking at
the speaker. In the House of Repre-
sentatives. Of course, everybody faces
the Speaker, but here in the house OF
commons you face the "other crowd"
1t is perfectly natural that you should
should grow derisive and sarcastic be-
| cause you are looking straight at
f., them. and you are not looking at the
! speaker whose solemn countenance
would. presumably. suggest to your
| mind a certain decorum.
I Furthermore, the speaker has no
| gavel and is absolutely helpless to
: compel order. He sits there with a
sweet smile on his face while the
interruptions multiply and become
and the babel to pandemiun,, and he
never turns u hair. The late Speaker
! of the House Of Representatives would
| certainly have broken two or three
"order. order. gentlemen!' but the
| English speaker calmly lets the riot
run it's course. perfectly sure that aft
er the dignified NJ. P.s have shouted
themselves hoarse. they will quit,
To understand this disorder. which
seems quite extraordinary and even
| silly to an American, one must realize
that the English have a deep-seated
/ political custom which we have not.
When an orator at an English pub
like, you don't ordinarily clap your
hands in applause. Instead, you show
your approval by shouting Hear!
| hear" An English meeting which
! heart" would be regarded by English
T, people as a frost. And. of course. 100:
| 1t Is only a step from shouting Hear!
hear. to shouting something else.
! like Gold old boy!' or even dissenting
/ and disrespectful comments. so Eng
lish politician can get out Of the
| kindergarten class until he has learn
ed to take good-humoredly all sorts
Of Interruptions.
! Indeed, English people will tell you
| that the feature of President Hard
ing's campaign which created the
! most comment in Great Britain was
| the action of the Baltimore police in
arresting some man who, at one of
Mr.. Harding's meetings, attempted to
ask him some questions about the
| league of nations. In England they
are so accustomed to interruptions
and interjections that it would never
! occur to anybody to be disturbed or
annoyed by them: they would be con-
sidered as part of the show.
And obviously that is the way it is In
the house Of commons. Nobody claps
their hands at a telling thrust; they
shout Hear! hear!'' and sometimes
! when speaker arises who always
annoys the house-like Commander
and lasts for five or ten minutes dur
ing which time the "honourable and
gallant member" goes right on with
hts speech though not a syllable OF it
can be heard!
DCT this was not the only point
- which struck the stranger as Gu
rious. Indeed, as an American, you
miss a number Of things!
You miss active little pages dart
ing about, fetching calf-bound law
books from the library for the indi-
vidual member. You miss the drone
of the voice Of the gentleman from
: Arkansas reading pages and pages
and pages from the printed hearings
=, of the committee on interstate COM
, merce. You miss the shorthand re-
! porters drifting freely about the floor
of the chamber to take down the de-
| bate.
Above all. you miss the American
set speech, the sonorous rise and fall
of the American congregational ora
tor" who makes the welkin and the
rafters ring! Instead of that, you
swim for hours through a sea of
British Hear! hearst, humping oc-
casionally-as into islands in an ar
chipelago-into short. hesitating, un-
emphatic, unoratorical British speech
es.
All that the comic papers have said
about the Englishman's after-dinner
speech. its suffering, it's stammer-
ing. its lack Of Imagination. it's un-
happy faculty of saying the wrong
thing. all this seems to me true to
was quito like that. but they nearly
all-save and except the remarks Of
the prime minister, who is a fluent
Welchman and doesn't count-they
,, familiar. with the rapid assurance Of
American speech. just to skirt the
fringes Of complete breakdown. OF
course. it Is all In the manner. in the
drawl. and after one became accus-
toned to it. no doubt that feeling
would pass away.
When the session opened we were
treated to. that remarkable British
institution, the question hour" when
all the members OF the cabinet ap-
peared in the house. sat on the front
bench" on the governments side and
answered questions which had been
put down on paper" by inquisitive
NJ. P.s the day before.
This was far and away the quietest
part of the whole session. About
fifty questions. some of them quite
searching. had been put down on
the paper" the day before and the
house was apparently deeply inter-
ested in the answers. These Ques-
tions covered every conceivable as
pect of the British Empires and even
parts Of the world that do not be-
long to. the empire. Cecil Harms
worth, undersecretary Of state for
foreign affairs was asked when the