The clerks come down into the aisles. They seem to move
listlessly and indifferently; yet very quickly they have checked
the membership to insure that the excessively large quorum
requisite is present. Now the Speaker calls for the vote.
Massively and stiffly, as at a word of command the "ayes" rise in
their seats. There is a round of applause; the bill has been
carried almost unanimously. That, however, is not always so. When
there is an obstreperous mood abroad, the House will decline to
proceed with the agenda, and a dozen men will rise at a time and
speak from behind their desks, trying to talk each other down. The
Speaker stands patiently wrestling with the problem of procedure--
and often failing since practice is still in process of being
formed. Years must elapse before absolutely hard-and-fast rules
are established. Still the progress already made since August,
1916, is remarkable, and something is being learned every day. The
business of a Parliament is after all to debate--to give voice to
the uppermost thoughts in the nation's mind; and how those
thoughts are expressed is a continual exposition of the real state
of the nation's political beliefs. Parliament is--or should be--a
microcosm of the race; parliament is never any better or any worse
than the mass of the people. The rule of the majority as expressed
in the voting of the National Assembly must be taken as a
fundamental thing; China is no exception to the rule--the rule of
the majority must be decisive.
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