" UNEMPLOYMENT AND TARIFFS IN INDIA" [To the Editor of
the SPECTATOR.] SM,—Apropos of your remarks at the foot of my letter in the Spectator of. December 7th, France sends her cotton goods into her colonies free of any duty ; if we, or other countries, send any such goods to French colonies, we have
to pay a heavy duty. France looks after " No. 1." If it is right for France to make this arrangement, why should we not make arrangements in India to suit ourselves ?
We should rule India for her own good, and not be pushed aside by a small minority of the Indian population who are dissatisfied and who hate us like poison. You contend that the tariff policy must be adjusted to suit India's needs. Well, even if you are right in this, I contend that we should be greatly favoured, for India's greatest need is a strong Britain to protect her and to maintain internal peace within her borders, and to my mind Britain will go astern if she loses her cotton export trade (now between two and three times as large as her next largest export trade), and that she is losing it fast there is no doubt whatever. I think that the percentage of British voters who understand this matter is very small, and that they will be greatly surprised when the standard of living here goes down, as it surely will, if our exports should continue to diminish.—I am, Sir, &c.,
[What France, or any other country, may do is surely no precedent for Great Britain. Almost any Indian would prefer an anti-British tariff to a pro-British one, since it is from Great Britain that the chief danger to the Indian industries comes. This being so, it would be impossible, even if it were not, as it is, unjust, to institute a pro-British tariff. It is exactly this sort of proposal which gives Indian politicians their excuse for talking of " exploitation."— En. Spectator.]
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