THE RISKS OF A TARIFF
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—S0 we are to have a tariff. " Everybody " says so. It is not to be a tariff such as the benighted peoples of the
world seek after. It is to be a genuine,- all British tariff, fool proof, knave proof, immaculate and scientific : " A tariff never seen on land or sea, An inspiration and a poet's dream."
It is to relieve our distressed Chancellor of the Exchequer by yielding a revenue on imports. It is to save our distressed industries by excluding imports. It is to emancipate the farmer by raising the price of wheat, while the baker is to be forbidden to raise the price of bread. Our exports are to be stimulated, our imports restricted, and our trade balance restored. It is to unite the British Dominions together in bonds of affection hitherto unknown, and, having scattered blessings o'er a smiling land, it is to be utilized as a weapon to " learn the foreigner " not to set up tariffs against us.
It is a beautiful picture verging on the idyllic, but half of those who are now certain that all of those blessings will follow its imposition, were equally certain five years ago that it would produce effects directly contrary to those now predicated for it. While it may be easy for them to denounce what they formerly advocated and to preach what they formerly destroyed, it is not so easy for those who looked up to them for guidance to turn a somersault with the same aplomb.
What those very numerous persons the man-in-the-street and the woman-in-the-street are thinking about it remains undisclosed, but it is just possible that those who are deter- mined to force the question to the arbitament of a General Election may find that the silent voter may put to shame the wisdom of the wise, and give them the surprise of their lives. Let us, in Asquithian phrase, " wait and see."—I am,
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