Transcribed from the 1913 Hodder and Stoughton edition by DavidPrice email ccx074coventryacukMARK RUTHERFORDS DELIVERANCECHAPTER INEWSPAPERSWhen I had established myself in my new lodgings in Camden Town Ifound I had ten pounds in my pocket and again there was no outlookI examined carefully every possibility  At last I remembered that arelative of mine who held some office in the House of Commons addedto his income by writing descriptive accounts of the debatesthrowing in by way of supplement any stray scraps of gossip which hewas enabled to collect  The rules of the House as to the admissionof strangers were not so strict then as they are now and he assuredme that if I could but secure a commission from a newspaper he couldpass me into one of the galleries and when there was nothing to beheard worth describing I could remain in the lobby where I shouldby degrees find many opportunities of picking up intelligence whichwould pay  So far so good but how to obtain the commission  Imanaged to get hold of a list of all the country papers and I wroteto nearly every one offering my services  I am afraid that Isomewhat exaggerated them for I had two answers and after a littlecorrespondence two engagements  This was an unexpected stroke ofluck but alas both journals circulated in the same district  Inever could get together more stuff than would fill about a columnand a half and consequently I was obliged with infinite pains tovary so that it could not be recognised the form of what atbottom was essentially the same matter  This was work which wouldhave been disagreeable enough if I had not now ceased in a greatmeasure to demand what was agreeable  In years past I coveted alife not of mere sensual enjoymentfor that I never caredbut alife which should be filled with activities of the noblest kind andit was intolerable to me to reflect that all my waking hours were inthe main passed in merest drudgery and that only for a few momentsat the beginning or end of the day could it be said that the highersympathies were really operative  Existence to me was nothing butthese few moments and consequently flitted like a shadow  I wasnow however the better of what was half disease and half somethinghealthy and good  In the first place I had discovered that myappetite was far larger than my powers  Consumed by a longing forcontinuous intercourse with the best I had no ability whatever tomaintain it and I had accepted as a fact however mysterious itmight be that the human mind is created with the impulses of aseraph and the strength of a man  Furthermore what was I that Ishould demand exceptional treatment  Thousands of men and womensuperior to myself are condemned if that is the proper word to useto almost total absence from themselves  The roar of the world forthem is never lulled to rest nor can silence ever be secured inwhich the voice of the Divine can be heardMy letters were written twice a week and as each contained a columnand a half I had six columns weekly to manufacture  These I was inthe habit of writing in the morning my evenings being spent at theHouse  At first I was rather interested but after a while theoccupation became tedious beyond measure and for this reason  In adiscussion of any importance about fifty members perhaps would takepart and had made up their minds beforehand to speak  There couldnot possibly be more than three or four reasons for or against themotion and as the knowledge that what the intending orator had tourge had been urged a dozen times before on that very night neverdeterred him from urging it again the same arguments dilutedmuddled and mispresented recurred with the most wearisomeiterationThe public outside knew nothing or very little of the real House ofCommons and the manner in which time was squandered there for thereports were all of them much abbreviated  In fact I doubt whetheranybody but the Speaker and one or two other persons in the sameposition as myself really felt with proper intensity what the wastewas and how profound was the vanity of members and the itch forexpression for even the reporters were relieved at stated intervalsand the impression on their minds was not continuous  Another evilresult of these attendances at the House was a kind of politicalscepticism  Over and over again I have seen a Government arraignedfor its conduct of foreign affairs  The evidence lay in masses ofcorrespondence which it would have required some days to master andthe verdict after knowing the facts ought to have depended upon theapplication of principles each of which admitted a contraryprinciple for which much might be pleaded  There were not fiftymembers in the House with the leisure or the ability to understandwhat it was which had actually happened and if they had understoodit they would not have had the wit to see what was the rule whichought to have decided the case  Yet whether they understood or notthey were obliged to vote and what was worse the constituenciesalso had to vote and so the gravest matters were settled in utterignorance  This has often been adduced as an argument against anextended suffrage but if it is an argument against anything it isan argument against intrusting the aristocracy and even the Houseitself with the destinies of the nation for no dock labourer couldpossibly be more entirely empty of all reasons for action than thenoble lords squires lawyers and railway directors whom I have seentroop to the division bell  There is something deeper than thisscepticism but the scepticism is the easiest and the most obviousconclusion to an open mind dealing so closely and practically withpolitics as it was my lot to do at this time of my life  Men must begoverned and when it comes to the question by whom I for onewould