Laredo Weekly Times

It is years since the British House of Commons listened to such a brilliant maiden speech as that delivered the other day by James Welsh, one of the new Labor members. It captured the House from the start, and it was generally admitted that the member for Coatbridge is one of the greatest 'finds' of the present Parliament.

Mr. Welsh was born in a little Scotch mining village, and was one of a family of twelve. At the age of eleven he went to work at the pit-head, and was paid at the rate of a shilling a day. A year later he went down the pit, where he worked twelve hours for one shilling and threepence.

From the beginning he took an active interest in the organized labor movement and soon rose to leadership in the miners' organization. Before his debut in politics Mr. Welsh had already won considerable fame as a novelist and poet. His book, 'The Underworld,' caused something like a sensation several years ago.