The House of Commons, the real arena of Canadian political life, is a long, high-ceilinged room, with a broad aisle extending from the door to the speaker’s dais. On each side of the aisle are rows of double desks behind which sit the two hundred and thirty-five members. Those belonging to the majority party are on the speaker’s right, and those of the opposition on his left. The speaker’s big chair is patterned after the one in the English House of Commons. I sat in it and found it very uncomfortable. Above it is the coat of arms of Canada, carved in wood from Westminster six hundred years old. All around the chamber are galleries for visitors. The members of the Canadian Congress are not as generously provided for as ours. They get salaries of four thousand dollars a year, with nothing extra for secretaries. Instead of cash mileage allowances they receive railroad passes. The Parliament must meet every year, and the sessions usually last from early in January until May or June. Because of the tendency of members to go home before the adjournment, the House passed a law imposing fines of twenty-five dollars a day for absences during the final two weeks. Our Congress might do well to enact a similar law. Yesterday morning I drove out to Rideau Hall, a big gray stone mansion in park-like grounds overlooking the Rideau and Ottawa rivers. It is the residence of the Governor-General of Canada, the representative of His Majesty, the King of Great Britain, and the nominal head of the Canadian government. The Canadians pay him a princely salary, furnish him this palatial country residence, and make him a generous allowance for entertainment and travel. They sincerely desire that he enjoy his five years among them, provided that he does not interfere in the conduct of their affairs. “Just consider,” said a Canadian statesman to me to-day, “that the position of the Governor-General in Canada is identical with that of the King in Great Britain. He is a symbol of the unity and continuity of the empire, but his executive duties are purely formal, as he must not take the initiative and must always get the advice of his ministers. Control of the government may shift from one party to another here as in England, but the Governor-General, like the King, continues undisturbed in his office. When his term expires the King names his successor, but no government in London dreams of making the appointment until it has consulted with Ottawa and ascertained that the man chosen is acceptable to us.” The speaker was a man who has frequently held high offices in the government. Like other Canadians I have met, he believes his country has a more democratic form of government than that of the United States.