LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNIONIST PARTY.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If criticism and advice can save the Unionist Party its future ought to be assured. But if, as some of us believe, the dangers threatening the country and Empire at this moment are due to the neglect of certain principles which the Unionist Party has always maintained, it is those prin- ciples rather than policy which we want to preach—for principles underlie policy.
What are the essential facts of the situation which every party has to face to-day ? Briefly these. There is in Great Britain a population of some forty-five millions which must be fed. The soil of the country is producing about one- third of the foodstuffs required. The position with regard to raw material for our industries is similar. How then can our population live ? Only by producing goods of such quality and at such price as the world will buy, in exchange for food and raw material. The services rendered by our shipping and by the business community also lc-ou- t-Amide their quota to pay for our necessary imports. The production of the country has not yet reached pre-War volume, but even if it had, the population is at least a million in excess of the pre-War figure. If this situation continues there can be only one result—the lowering of the standard of the life of our people.
How do the three parties propose to deal with these facts ? The Socialist Party is pledged to pull down the existing economic system and to substitute another which, where it has been tried, has brought misery and disaster. It ignores the fact that political stability, security, and individual enterprise are the three pillars of the infinitely complicated business, commercial and industrial structure by which the population of this country is maintained. The Liberal Tarty are doomed to sterility by a fanatical adherence to an economic formula which has no relation to the facts of the world to-day. In social policy they naively hope, with , an utter disregard of elementary business principles, to secure votes by bidding 2s. 64. when the Socialist market is 10s. The Unionist Party alone, with its watchwords of Stability, Individual Enterprise and Imperial Development, is in a position to evolve a policy which fits the urgent needs of to-day. Any man who honestly faces the facts of the situation and understands the issues can surely find an outlet for his enthusiasm, and opportunities for service, in the party to which. I have the honour to belong. Personally, I ask no greater privilege than to. fight for the future of the Empire and the welfare—nay, existence- of the masses of my fellow-citizens, and those ends can only be attained by adherence to the principles which the Unionist Party exists to uphold.—I am, Sir, 8re.,
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