I40 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



reached in a whole session of debate in the House of Commons. If par- 

 liamentary procedure were to take a leaf out of the book of one of these 

 business houses, it would enable ten times as much useful work to be 

 done in a session. Here are a few suggestions. Cut down the number 

 of members to a number that can comfortably sit in the House. Give 

 each an appointed seat fitted with an automatic recording apparatus to 

 show the constituency when its member is at work. Each seat should be 

 provided with two press buttons for voting ' Aye ' or ' No ' (also recorded). 

 Let all bills be circulated some weeks before being read and all members 

 who have anything to say asked to dictate their remarks to a typist or 

 otherwise prepare them. These remarks are then to be sent to a staff of 

 under-secretaries, who make a synopsis of the whole. When a bill comes 

 up for consideration an official reads Clause No. i and says, ' Twenty 

 members have said so and so, eleven say so and so. As against this 

 fifteen express this view, nine express the opposite view and give the 

 following reasons.' In fifteen minutes all members in the House will 

 have a better idea of the pros and cons than if they had listened to a debate 

 lasting many days. If any member is misrepresented by this synopsis 

 he would have an opportunity of amending it, but woe to the member 

 who takes up the time of the House by any unnecessary remarks. Having 

 fresh in their minds the views of far more members than could possibly 

 be heard in a week of debating, the question is then put. Members press 

 the buttons and go on to Clause No. 2. Or if a clause has to be amended, 

 the amendments can be dealt with in the same business-like manner. 

 Such a procedure with suitable extension would enable members to have 

 before them, not only the views of the other members, but the views of 

 outside experts. The necessity for Royal Commissions would in this 

 way be sometimes avoided. 



One of the things wrong with democracy to-day is that its representa- 

 tives come to decisions upon matters about which they know very little 

 after long desultory discussion. The listeners find these discussions 

 very uninformative and their votes as a rule are uninfluenced by anything 

 that is said. If these discussions could be replaced by short, clear 

 synopses of the pros and cons put forward in an impartial way, law- 

 making would be very much more efficient. 



I have made reference to this matter because if ever the world is 

 managed at all, it will probably be managed by some sort of committee, 

 and no committee can work efficiently until desultory discussions are 

 absolutely barred. 



When we understand what is wrong with the world, it is easy to see 

 that such solutions as have been proposed are inadequate. Some people 

 say war debts are the cause of the trouble. ' Wipe out war debts,' they 

 say, ' and things will be better.' At present Germany is a debtor country, 

 while the U.S.A. is a creditor country. It is difficult to believe that both 

 debt and credit have the same effect in creating unemployment. How 

 can the fact that the U.S.A. have money owing to them, giving them 

 power to buy even more raw material or manufactured products than they 

 have already, be in any way disadvantageous ? The existence of ten 



