The old world and its ways

by William Jennings Bryan

Nothing has impressed me more in my visit to the British Isles than the interest which the leading citizens of the various municipalities are taking in problems of government and sociology. It must be remembered that here the members of the city councils receive no pay. The work they do is entirely gratuitous, and I have found that the councils are composed of representatives of all classes of society.

Many of the successful business men, professional men and educators are to be found devoting a portion of their time, sometimes a very considerable portion, to the work of the city. They attend meetings, serve on committees and carry on investigations, and find their recompense not in a salary, but in the honor which attaches to the position and in the consciousness that they are giving something of value to their fellows.

The fact that English cities are doing the work that in American cities is largely let out to private corporations, may explain the relative absence of corruption as compared with some of our American cities, but there is no doubt that among the people generally, service in the city government is more highly regarded than it is in most of the large cities of the United States.

I observed with interest the enthusiasm manifested by the officials in the work being done by the respective cities. At Birmingham, Mr. Roland H. Barkley, a member of the city council, by request of the lord mayor called upon me, and not only showed great familiarity with the work of the city government, but manifested an intense desire to secure for his city the methods that had been shown by experience to be the best.

Mr. Black, recently mayor of Nottingham, is a very successful lace manufacturer, and yet he seemed as much concerned about the affairs of the city as about the details of his own business. Lord Mayor Harrington of Dublin, Lord Mayor Dixon of Belfast and Lord Provost Primrose of Glasgow were all alive to the importance of their work, and seemed to make the discharge of their duties their chief concern.

In this connection, I desire to record my appreciation of the public service of one of the most interesting and agreeable men whom I have met in the Old World, Mr. John Burns. He began his industrial life at the age of ten as a maker of candles. He was afterward apprenticed as a machinist, and after acquiring proficiency in his trade followed that line of employment until his associates made him their representative in the city government. He was soon afterwards sent to parliament, and has for some fifteen years represented his district in both bodies. He is only 45, but his hair and beard are so streaked with gray that one would think him ten years older. He is a little below medium height, strongly built and very active and energetic. A diligent student, quick-witted and effective in speech, it is not surprising that he stands today among the world's foremost representatives of the wage-earners. He is opposed to both drinking and gambling. He receives no salary, either as a member of the county council or as a member of parliament, but is supported by his association, which pays him what is equivalent to a thousand dollars a year. With this very meager income he devotes his life to public work, and I have not met a more conscientious or unselfish public servant, and yet what Mr. Burns is doing on a large scale many others are doing in a lesser degree.

I wish that all the citizens of my country could come into contact with the public men whom I have met, and catch something of the earnestness with which they are applying themselves to the solution of the municipal problems that press upon the present generation. It would certainly increase the velocity of American reforms, and arouse that latent patriotism which only needs arousing to cope successfully with all difficulties.

While it may seem that the leaders of municipal government in Europe are somewhat altruistic in their labors, there is a broader sense in which they are quite selfish, but it is that laudable selfishness which manifests itself in one's desire to lift himself up, not by dragging down others or doing injustice to others but by lifting up the level upon which all stand. Those who add to the comfort and happiness of their community are making their own lives and property more secure. Those who are endeavoring to infuse hope and ambition into the hearts of the hopeless and their children are working more wisely than those who are so short-sighted as to believe that the accumulation of money is the only object of life.

Let us hope that the time is near at hand when the successful business men in the United States, instead of continuing their accumulations to the very end of life, will be satisfied with a competency and, when this is secured, give to the country the benefit of their experience, their intelligence and their conscience, as many of the business men of England, Scotland and Ireland are now doing.