THE MOCK HOUSE OF COMMONS AT JOHNS HOPKINS.

EDITORS DAILY CRIMSON.-My attention has been called to an article in your issue of March 14, entitled "Practice in Politics," in which you note an experiment in the line of debating societies which is now being tried at Connell. It has been suggested to me by Dr. H. B. Adams, Professor of History in the Johns Hopkins University, to call your attention to an organization of our own, similar in purpose to that at Cornell, although not entirely so in form. Instead of a Mock House of Commons. The classic form of a "Literary Society" has been dragging along a precarious existence ever since the foundation of the university, but has been lamentably unsuccessful. Our new plan combines, we think, the advantages of the old system in having an official committee charged with bringing in subjects for discussion, with those of the Cornell experiment. This official committee is in the "Hopkins House of Commons" represented by the ministry. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Speaker of the House, and selects two collegians, Secretaries of House and Foreign Affairs respectively. The minstry thus constituted are charged with the government of the House, and propose questions in the form of bills, which are placed by the clerk upon the docket in the order of their presentation. On the refusal of the House to pass such a bill, if the measure is of a political nature, the ministry resign. They can also be deposed by a direct vote of censure, and hold office simply at the will of the House, irrespective of the expipiration of the speaker's term. All bills pass through the regular parliamentary course in their consideration, and we have indeed found it possible to imitate our model, the British House of Commons, quite closely. This, I am compelled to say, I do not see how the Cornell students can very well do. The rules of Congress are designed to check debate; those of the House of Commons to facilitate it. But apart from this, the Cornell men cannot for simplicity's sake carry to its full application the distinctive feature of the American Congress, the standing committee system. Our new plan works well; men always come to debate on the occasion of a ministerial crisis, while mere abstract interest in the question under discussion has been found generally unable to move them. Each party in the House always feels itself called upon to put forth its most strenuous efforts, the opposition to win the honors, the ministry to retain them. All this adds a color to the contests, in which we also receive training in parliamentary law and "practice in politics."

Very truly yours,

ALLAN C. WOODS, Johns Hopkins University.