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The U. S. Mace. Perhaps because no Congressman ever raped it, few U. S. citizens know that the House of Representatives has its distinctive Mace, topped by a silver American Eagle rampant. Should two Congressmen quarrel in the House, Sergeant-at-Arms J. G. Rodgers or his assistant would instantly snatch the Mace from its pedestal at the right of Speaker Longworth's chair and advance upon the hotheads. Such quarrels instantly and almost invariably cool. Probably apocryphal is the story that a Congress man once refused to cool, whereupon the quick-witted Sergeant-at-Arms placed the silver eagle's beak within a half-inch of the Congressman's nose and exclaimed: "Sit down or he'll peck you!"
Impenitent Beckett. One policeman was sufficient to escort Gandhite Brockway and Mace-Snatcher Beckett last week "from the Parliamentary precincts." Suspended, they might not resume their seats until this week. It was even said that at the next election the Labor Party will' refuse to let Mr. Beckett run again as one of their candidates, so furious were mem bers of that party at his unseemly con duct.
"When I got to the Speaker's table I was boiling with indignation," said he last week to reporters, "I stood by my friend Mr. Brockway to protest against our effete Parliamentary system. The Labor Government will be faced with many more such protests while it continues to ape its so-called betters. Lord Tom Noddy may cut a gracious figure in silk breeches, but the same cannot be said of Jimmy Thomas [the Rt. Hon. James Henry Thomas, M. P., P. C., onetime engine greaser, today Secretary of State for the Dominions]!"
"What did you say to the teller next to you?" asked the newshawks. "It was Will Brown, wasn't it? Why did he shake his head?"
"I said to him: 'They can't suspend Brockway if the Mace is not on the table, can they?' " explained Mr. Beckett, adding stoutly to protect his friend Brown: "Before he could reply I had already picked up the Mace. My first surprise was to find how light it was. I thought I could get away with it. If I had, I would have deposited it in the cloakroom and left the House."
Work Done by Parliament last week:
The Lords
¶ Began to greet their colleague, the onetime British Ambassador to the U. S. by his new title, announced in the Official Gazette last week: "Baron Howard of Penrith and of Gowbarrow in the County of Cumberland."
¶ Again voted down Viscount Astor's annual motion to admit peeresses-in-their-own-right to seats in the House of Lords.
The Commons
¶ Handsomely supported Mr. Mac-Donald's Egyptian policy (see below).
¶ Threw out a Conservative motion censuring the Labor Party's free trade policy by a vote of 312 to 241, the largest majority Mr. MacDonald has received in recent weeks.
*In London to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union (see p. 24).