e marked by a sense of public responsibility,
with the result that in the House of Commons they are grave, business-like,
and undemonstrative. The Labour members do not make "scenes"; they respect
the rules of the House and the dignity of the National Assembly, partly
because they are all in sober middle age, but more because they have learnt
that public business can only be carried on by due observance of order; and
they are in Parliament to get business done for their constituents, to
promote legislation that will make life easier for the working class. When
Mr. Victor Grayson, in the exuberance of youth, and with a passion that
blazed out against the misery of the poor, made a "scene" in the House of
Commons, and was expelled, the Labour members were quite sincere in their
disapproval. They understood, with a wider knowledge than Mr. Grayson
possessed, that "scenes" alienated sympathy in the House, were not helpful
in debate, and were not popular with the electors.

The member who would succeed in the House of Commons must respect the
usages of the House, and show himself loyal to its laws of debate. As long
as this respect and loyalty are shown the Labour member is accepted by his
fellow-members as one who has been elected to the greatest club in the
world, and is justly entitled to all the privileges of membership. For the
British House of Commons is a democratic assembly, and in its collective
pride it cares nothing for the opinions or social rank of its members. All
it asks is that the newly-elected member should be alive to the honour of
membership, should be modest in his bearing, and should as soon as possible
"catch the tone of the House." He may be a labourer, or the son of a belted
earl; the House is indifferent so long as his parliamentary manners are
good.

The House of Commons is a far more orderly assembly than it was a hundred
years ago; it is more sober and less noisy, and the arrival of Labour
members has increased rather than diminished its good behaviour. It is also
a far more industrious assembly, and the influence of the Labour party
compels an amount of legislation that honourable members would have thought
impossible fifty years ago.

WORKING-CLASS LEADERS IN PARLIAMENT

Three representative working-class leaders in the House of Commons stand
out pre-eminently in contemporary politics--the Right Hon. John Burns, Mr.
J. Keir Hardie, and Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald. The Right Hon. D. Lloyd George