LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNIONIST POLICY.
[TO TER EDITOR 01 TER "SPECTATOR."]
Sra,—I want to say how cordially I agree with the tenor of the first article in your paper of last Saturday. I accept the conclusion to which your arguments lead, namely, that Unionists ought to stand together and vote against the policy contained in the Home Rule Bill, and incur even the risk of that vote being interpreted as a vote in favour of the new taxes on food stuffs, which have unfortunately been placed so prominently in the policy of the leaders of the Unionist Party. I am not blind to the fact that although much of the argument has seemed recently to centre round a tax on wheat, the policy indicated must necessarily involve also a tax on flour, in itself a much more serious thing, in so far as it has a bearing upon the price of bread, but there is also implied, according to the schedule of the Tariff Reform League, a five per cent. tax on animals, meat, and bacon, as well as specific duties upon dairy produce, poultry, eggs, and other things. I will only add that, detesting equally the provisions of the Bill and the proposed taxation of such staple articles of food, it seems to me that the passage of the Home Rule Bill would be a greater evil than the risk of such taxation, just because once done it would be less easy to undo it than to reverse the policy of food taxation, as to which, in my humble opinion, the great mass of voters must ultimately have the remedy in their own bands. Surely, however, it cannot " pass the wit of man" to devise a means whereby those who want to defeat Home Rule without giving a mandate for the departure from the principles of Free Trade can express their opinion.—I am, 47 Cadogan 'Square, S.W.
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