LANCASHIRE COTTON TRADE.
[To THE EDITOR 07 TEE " SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—In a letter to the Manchester Guardian dated June 2nd, 1903, I said: "There can hardly be any doubt that Lancashire will be found to be dead against Mr. Chamber- lain's fiscal proposals. This feeling ought to be publicly expressed without any delay." Then in the Spectator of July 1st, 1905, I wrote : "One thing I am pretty sure about, and it is that the cotton trade will have nothing to do with the principles of the Tariff Reform League." What have we seen this week in Lancashire? An unqualified refusal to tamper with Free-trade. Next week the several county divisions closely connected with spinning and weaving will ,speak, and the voice will be the same as the towns. I cannot for the life of me understand any one in our staple industry lifting a finger to help forward the Birmingham heresy. The 'country, and Lancashire in particular, is indeed saved from a terrible step towards disaster.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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