11 DECEMBER 1909, Page 13

THE GENERAL ELECTION.—ANOTHER FORECAST.,

[To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR.1 Sin,—I agree with your correspondent "C. M. W." (Spectator December 4th), and from my knowledge of the working classes of the West I am convinced that the advocacy of any tariff on food-stuffs will mean the loss of many elections to the Unionist Party. I base my calculation partly on the opinion of the middle-aged wife of a working man. She is the pre- dominant partner, and represents faithfully the views of her husband. According to her judgment, she is better and more cheaply clothed than in her younger days, and she fails to see bow she will be better or more cheaply clothed under a system which imposes a tax, however small, on the necessaries