It is doubtful whether Mr. Ramsay MacDonald had reflected upon
all the implications of a statement on safeguarding which he made at the Labour Conference. He said that the right way to prevent unfair competition by means of sweated wages was through the League of Nations. We agree. But he added that if this could not be done he would rather resort to a prohibition of imports produced under sweated wages than have safe- guarding. What are " sweated wages," and by what tests could we recognize them in the case of the necessaries of life that pour into Great Britain from every corner of the globe ? Would Mr. MacDonald shut out the food produced for a pittance by uncivilized races ? If that is what he suggests we can only say that the rise of prices which most Labour speakers consider to be threatened by safeguarding would be as nothing compared with the scarcity threatened by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's proposal.
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