[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Your challenge last week
to the leaders of the Unionist Party was a splendid effort. There must be a new spirit infused into the directors of a party that should be the great National Party of Britain, but which, for the moment, appears to be so sterile that it cannot possibly represent anything which possesses vitality. What does the party offer to the business man -who is anxious to assist in the government of his country ? Certainly not a definite policy. What does it offer to the professional man who is willing to help ? What reception does it give to the salaried man who wants to help ,bear the burden ? And what actual intimate appeal does it make to the working man.? Isuggest that it fails in each and every one of these cases because of its cold personality, because of its aloofness from public opinion. When it is still the largest party in the House, it should be leading the public mind in the electorate. It is failing, ignominiously. I stand for it, I believe in it, but, like you, because of my regard for it, I want to see it lashed until it moves vigorously. I am one of those for whom you spoke, and spoke so well.—I am,. Sir, &C.,
ONE OF THEM.
Miss Cornell writes :—What are they doing, all these Con- servative associations up and down England ? Oh, they are holdingletes and sports in the summer and dances and wlii-st drives and concerts in the winters ' Social events of this kind arc politically useful only for heightening the enthusiasm of the faithful and advertising the party among the indifferent. But enthusiasm is no use unless there is a rock of faith behind it, and rocks of faith are not made of blue bunting. And what is the use of advertising hard and then being a little confused when asked for the goods, and are not members of the Conservative associations sometimes a little confused when asked for the goods in question—the policy of the Conservative Party ? Most of them have yet to learn that one little Socialist, with enthusiasm in his heart and a soap- box under his arm, setting forth to cry in the wilderness of a Conservative constituency, will do more to further his cause than the best of our well-organized, but too often silent, associations do for ours. If the Conservative Party is to obtain any hold on the democratic young men and young women of this democratic century, the last trace of class influence must be swept away. In -the Socialist Party anyone can rise to any height if he has the ability and the desire. It is useless to pretend that this is the case in the Conservative Party.
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