TOPICS OF THE DAY.
MR. BONAR LAW'S SPEECH.
AT a crisis like the present we must refuse to discuss Mr. Bonar Law's speech from any point of view except that of its effect upon the Unionist cause. The house is on fire, and we want to see every available man rallied to the work of extinguishing the flames and driving off the incendiaries. Everything that conduces to the accomplishment of this object, i.e., the rallying of the maximum number of people to fight the fire, will have our support, and nothing shall be allowed to divert our attention from the main purpose. When, again, the moment for fairly getting to work upon the flames arrives, we are not going to hesitate or give up the attempt even if the fire brigade is not so large as it might have been or ought to have been, or because some of the best men are sulking—and sulking with just cause. Whatever the nature, organization, and size of the brigade, we shall work with those who are working to put out the fire. We shall, however, at the same time, do our best to induce the leader of the brigade to increase its size and efficiency.
If we consider Mr. Bonar Law's speech in the light of these principles, what judgment are we to pass upon it ? Undoubtedly the speech, besides being a very honest speech, is a considerable advance upon the speeches made by him and Lord Lansdowne at the Albert Hall. Instead of Food Taxes being treated as an irrevocable portion of the Unionist programme, almost comparable to the maintenance of the Union and the preservation of the National Church, we have it most clearly put on record that the victory of the Unionist Party does not 'necessarily mean the imposition of such taxes. " We do not pro- pose, if our countrymen return us to power, to impose Food. Duties." Such are Mr. Bomar Law's words. He goes on to tell us that if the Unionists are returned to power what they propose to do is to summon a conference of the Colonies and consider with them whether a system of Imperial Preference is practicable, and what steps are necessary to secure it. Only if the Colonies thereupon explicitly demand food taxation as in their opinion generally necessary to Imperial salvation, will the Unionist Party adopt it.
We do not profess to say that this compromise satisfies us or is likely to satisfy the moderate Tariff Reformers. Indeed, we still see in it the capital danger that the success of the Unionist Party may be misrepresented to the working man as necessarily involving the taxation of his food. We fear that in many cases those neutral voters who from many points of view desire to support the Unionist Party, and who would support it if there were no thought of Food Taxes, will either abstain or be actually hostile. The compro- mise, though no doubt in reality it ultimately means " no Food Taxes," will, we fear, not be so understood by the electorate as a whole. The balancing elector will not feel certain—as he would have felt bad the Referendum pledge remained—that he will have another opportunity of pro- nouncing his opinion on Food Taxes. There is still a great danger that be will be haunted by the thought that in voting for the Union he will be entangled in a pledge for Food Taxation.
In fine, though Mr. Bonar Law has by his words set free a good many votes, we do not feel certain that he has set free enough. Therefore, while we mean to support him, in any case, with all the strength at our disposal, we cannot honestly say that we feel victory is as per- fectly assured as it might have been, and ought to have been. At the same time, though the candour which is essential on issues so tremendous obliges us to say this, it must not be supposed that we do not recognize the immense difficulty in which Mr. Bonar Law and Lord Lansdowne find themselves. It is true no doubt that at least seventy, and more probably eighty per cent. of the Unionist Party in Parliament would like to see the Food Taxes dropped altogether. But no doubt also the twenty Per cent. who take the opposite view, or at any rate support leaders who take the opposite view, exercise a very great influence in the party. Our hope is that gradually the steady weight of opinion will influence the minority. That minority, we fully acknowledge, is as genuinely anxious to win as the majority and as genuinely con- cerned for the cause of the Union.
When the public opinion of the Colonies declares itself fully on Mr. Bonar Law's speech, we believe, nay, we are sure, that it will be to the effect that the Colonies are most anxious to avoid any risk of appearing to impose Food Taxes upon the people of these islands. But for the Colonies to ask for Food Taxes would in exist- ing circumstances be perilously near such imposition. Therefore they will never ask for such taxes. The fact that Mr. Bonar Law has said they will not be imposed by the Unionists unless the Colonies ask for them is an absolute bar. Now we venture to say that when the minority in the Unionist Party who have hitherto been so unyielding in the matter of Food Taxes recognize this—recognize, that is, that the Dominions will refuse to ask for Food Taxes—they will like men of common sense recognize also that it would be absurd in that case to lose the electoral advantage which we should. gain by saying that Food Taxes will in no case be imposed without another appeal to the country. This means that what the Unionist Party will ultimately do will be to go to the country united on the Union, on the Church, and on opposition to socialistic tyranny. Tariff Reform will no doubt be also an essential plank in their programme, but on the far more difficult question of Colonial Preference they will merely promise an Imperial Conference to discuss by what means Preference can be secured. If it should be decided by such Conference that Preference can only be secured by means of Food Taxes —that is, by putting on taxes which are not wanted for revenue and which would not give any appreciable advantage to agriculture in this country, and then by exempting Colonial food products from such taxes—the country would have to be consulted on them in some form or other. That is the position which we believe will ba found in the course of the next few months to have been automatically and almost universally assumed by the Tariff Reform Party. It already is the view of the majority, and when Colonial opinion is more clearly understood it will, we are sure, become the view of the greater part of that minority who are now doubt- ful. It sounds, no doubt, a little cumbrous, and it seems also as if it might result in postponing the decision on Preference too long. As a matter of fact, however, we are convinced. that this will not really be the case. No Imperial Conference will in fact ever ask for Food Taxes, and therefore they will never be referred. to the country.
Our grounds for holding the view we have just expressed ought perhaps to be set forth somewhat more in detail. The Dominions will never demand anything which can appear, either directly or indirectly, to involve interference in our fiscal affairs. Absolute independence in all fiscal matters is recognized by the self-governing States of the Empire as essential to their development. This was shown when Mr. Chamberlain first proposed his Imperial Zollverein, a system based upon free trade within the Empire. That system was disfavoured and rejected, distinctly on the ground that it must limit Colonial fiscal autonomy. The statesmen of the Dominions are exceedingly shrewd. Parliamentary politicians. They know that they could not do what would in effect involve interference in our fiscal system by demanding Food Taxes with a preference for the Colonies without setting up a pre- cedent which they would regard as most dangerous. "We love our parents," say the sons who have set up households of their own, " but we do not want either to interfere with the weekly bills of the mater, or to let her interfere with ours. Such interference might possibly lead to economies all round, but it would also be very likely to lead to friction, and the savings are not worth that."
In other words, we are convinced that though the Colonies will be delighted to confer with us and discuss trade relations, they will never ask for Food Taxes or any other specific taxes. What they will do, and what from their point of view we fully admit they can do it'iout any interference and without setting up dangerous precedents, is to suggest that we should adopt as an Imperial principle that whenever a Customs duty is imposed here, whether for revenue or, for any other purpose, .a preference shall be given to the Colonies. This principle would, of course, bind the Colonies as much as ourselves. No State in the Empire would be obliged to put on or take off a specific tax, but there would be a general adhesion to the principle that all taxes ought to be differentiated in the respect just named. We should be bound, that is, always to give more favourable treatment to Colonial products than to any other. It might, indeed, be possible to lay down that such preference should never be less than, say, ten per cent. ad valorem. As Free Traders, of course, we infinitely prefer the policy of the open port. Assuming, however, that certain taxes on commodities exist or are agreed to be imposed, the whole question of preference is altered. As Free Traders we prefer a preference to no preference. In the circumstances assumed it is a slight movement towards Free Trade. Every Free Trader must prefer a low tax over a portion of the area to a high tax over the whole area. The only difficulty is one of wasted revenue, but that, we think, could be got over if the preference were moderate.
We have felt it necessary to dwell upon and emphasize this question of the Imperial Conference because we are convinced that it is most important that the country should realize its true nature. In truth, what Mr. Bonar Law's proposal comes to, though we do not believe that he or his colleagues yet realize it in the least, is that instead of Food Taxes being referred to the electors of this country, they are to be referred to the Governments of the Colonies. But when the Governments of the self-governing Colonies recog- nize this, as they soon will, we are absolutely convinced that though they may recognize the fine spirit in which the offer is made, they will absolutely refuse to accept a responsibility so tremendous, or to take a course which is so liable to misrepresentation. In a word, they will say : "This is a matter so serious that only you can decide it. We will never put it in the power of any British statesman or party leader to represent us as having imposed taxes upon the British people. Nothing will induce us to run the risk of allowing the over-sea Empire to be described, however untruly and unfairly, as an engine for taking food out of the mouths of the poor." That is as certain to be the attitude of the self-governing States of the Empire, when they understand the situation, as that the sun will rise to-morrow.
For the reasons we have given above, and in spite of the fact that Mr. Bonar Law meant that his speech should be the final terms of compromise between the two sections of his party, we are convinced that in time the country will recognize that a Unionist victory at the next election cannot mean the imposition of Food Taxes. It might be supposed that this would make us more optimistic as to the situation and more satisfied with Mr. Bonar Law's speech. We regret that it does not. And for this reason. We cannot help fearing that a General Election will be on us before the country has fully recognized what, as we have said above, Mr. Bonar Law clearly has not yet recognized himself. Our opponents may very well feel that it will be to their interest to dissolve while we are still talking about Food Taxes. We are glad to see that this danger is foreseen by Lord Curzon, who most wisely urges the party not to talk any more about Food Taxes. In that we thoroughly agree with him.
What is wanted, to go back to our initial metaphor, is to apply ourselves vigorously to putting out the fire. At this moment all our efforts should be bent upon explaining to the country what the Home Rule Bill really means. But instead we are only wrangling over Preference. Say what we may, people will not stop talking about Food Taxes or concentrate on putting out the fire until it is plain that the Food Tax issue is to be eliminated from the work of the next Parliament. Therefore we must reluctantly express our regret that Mr. Bonar Law's declaration did not go a little further. We can only hope that when the refusal of the Colonies to allow Food Taxes to be referred to them becomes clear, as we are convinced it will, he may be able to take the further step of declaring that no recommendation of the Imperial Conference, should it involve Food Taxes, will be carried out without a further appeal to the electors. The Food Taxers will, in fact, lose nothing by this suggested addition to the Ashton declara- tion, for the Colonies will never demand Food Taxes, but it will render it impossible for our opponents to represent us as " committed " to Food Taxes.
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