The Imperial Conference Wednesday was an extremely important, and it
may be a memorable, day in the Imperial Conference. The first approach was made to closer economic union. Mr. Thomas surveyed the situation but proposed nothing. Then came Mr. Bennett, the Prime Minister of Canada— whom Mr. Scullin followed later in a similar sense— telling the Conference that something must be done, that the Empire could not afford failure, that a scheme ought to be adopted at once. Nor was he without a scheme. He proposed a great extension of reciprocal Preferences. Thus the inevitable crash has already come to what is loosely called "Empire Free Trade." Mr. Bennett said bluntly that Empire Free Trade was "neither possible nor desirable." He explained that it "would defeat the very purpose we are striving to achieve."
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