Friday's Times gives an interesting account of a. criti- cism
of the English Insurance Bill by an Austrian economist. On the whole he treats the Bill sympathetically, but concludes with a remark to which we hope Liberal Free Traders will give their closest and most earnest attention.
Mr. Lloyd George, he tells us, adduces the evidence of great German employers to prove that they lose nothing by the German social insurance, but he adds :-
" No one has yet asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the pertinent question whether the great German employers would hold fast to this view if they were deprived of a protective tariff and of the possibility of forming trusts and rings."
The fundamental issue is, in Dr. von Baernreither's opinion;
" whether the mighty Free Trade tendency of British national economy will be able to bear the new burden to be imposed on producers in favour of the worki g classes, or whether the State will be compelled, in order to preserve industry, to indemnify pro- ducers by a protective tariff and thus to enter upon fresh paths in the domain of commercial policy."
If too heavy a burden is put upon our industries by the State we are certain to see the demand for Protection stimulated. Such a demand is at the root of Protection in the Colonies.
No doubt Protection will not really help ; industries depressed by Government action would only make the situation worse. But that is not the point. The point is that both masters and men are pretty sure if !profits, and so wages, diminish to 11 y to the quack remedy of Protection.
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