ITO THE EDITOR OP 'TDB "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I have never been on the illimitable veld, although I am told that it is a good position from which to study the stars, but I have succeeded in cultivating a certain degree of mental detachment in the cool vicinity of the village pump, so that when his Majesty's Government bring before me an aspiration, and ask me to think of a plan by which it can be embodied in the field of practical politics, I am quite willing to take the subject into consideration. Naturally, however, I ask them to give me some hints as to the direction in which they desire that I should proceed, and so far as I can under- stand them their ideas are
(1) That the United Kingdom is being ruined by obstinate adherence to a system of trade misnamed "Free," which lays us open to the attacks of our neighbours, who are im- poverishing our people by selling us their surplus goods under cost.
(2) That to save ourselves from ruin we must raise a wall of tariffs to keep out cheap goods.
(3) That as taxes on the raw material imported by manu- facturers would raise the cost of their products and seriously handicap them in competing in the world's markets, our import duties must be made applicable to food alone.
(4) In order to prevent our children beyond the seas detaching themselves from the maternal apron-strings, we are to make certain gaps in this tariff wall through which we are to allow their goods free entry.
(5) That as by far the largest proportion of our imported food- stuffs comes from the North American Continent, and as Canada has undeveloped resources which will within a short time enable her to feed the United Kingdom entirely, the tariff on food will only affect the price temporarily, and it will gradually disappear with the cessation of food imports from foreign countries.
(6) That as this scheme if carried out will certainly raise the cost of food so much as to make it necessary for the work- ing classes to earn higher• wages, the Government in exchange for a mandate to raise the cost of food will permit the working classes to raise their own wages.
(7) That as the Government has no need of money for purposes of ordinary expenditure, the revenue from the tariff could be applied to furnish funds for a scheme of old-age pensions.
Now, naturally, as a minute fraction of the great collective mother, I am very unwilling to see the children set up inde- pendent households of their• own if they can be persuaded to remain under the maternal roof ; but before making up my mind about the plan, it occurs to me that I would know better what to do if I were somebody else. For• instance, if I were a working man, I would prefer to begin with a rise in wages rather than with a rise in expenditure ; secondly, I would pre- fer my old-age pension structure, the expenditure in con- nection with which is sure to increase with the years, to be built on something more stable than a tariff which is sure to dwindle and finally disappear. If I were a manufacturer, I would say that an increased manufacturing cost brought about by higher wages would he just as bad for my export trade as an increase in the cost of the raw material caused by an import-duty. If I were a member of the party at present in office in Canada, I would think it very good business to enlist the help of the British Government in the tariff fight between Canada and the United States. If I were President of the United States, I would remember that the Canadian North- West is being rapidly filled up by people from the United States, that many of them do not become naturalised Canadians and that all of them retain their American patriotism, and that if the tariff controversy should ever become very acute it might be convenient to present an Out- lander problem to the British Colonial Office which they might find it difficult to settle. If I were German Emperor, I would bless the Imperial Zollverein scheme from the bottom of my heart, as I would see in it the final laying of the spectre of an alliance of the English-speaking peoples. Finally, if I were the Colonial Secretary, and once more put ray hand to the plough, I would not suspend proceedings every few yards to throw stones at the onlookers. I would also carefully scrutinise the plough before I touched it, lest it should suddenly transform itself into a live shell with the fuse burn- ing.—Meantime, while I am thinking what I will do about the plan, I return to my position beside the village pump, and
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