LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
"THE CONFEDERATES." [To THR EDITOR OF TUX "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—It is stated in to-day's papers that this little band of wreckers is again trying its best to smash the Conservative Party. They say that at recent by-elections Tariff Reform has been thrust into the background and that in future they will run candidates of their own, if any Conservative tries to shelve Tariff Reform. It is quite true that the South Man- chester election was won by keeping Tariff Reform in the background. It is equally true that if there were a General Election to-morrow we should lose that seat again. Anumber of the 3,000 Conservative Free Traders in that division would again vote for Free Trade. The Confederates were intensely annoyed that the assistance of Mr. Chaplin and other promi- nent Tariff Reformers in the by-election in 1908 in North- West Manchester was declined, and that we turned Mr. Churchill out without their help and by shelving Tariff Reform. Of course we lost the seat again at the next General Election, just as we should lose South Manchester again if them were a General Election to-morrow. Five seats out of six could almost to a certainty be won by our party in Manchester if there were by-elections to-morrow ; probably not one seat would be held at a General Election if one followed a month later. Mr. Bonar Law reduced the Liberal majority in North- West Manchester in December 1910 to a much smaller extent than it was reduced in the other four divisions where contests took place, because he was such a prominent Tariff Reformer. Are these Confederates really Conservative P They say in effect : Perish the Church, perish Ulster, perish the Constitu- tion, and long live the tariff, which no one has ever seen, and to which, if some of the Confederates ever did see it, they would probably say, " Oh ! I didn't mean that." Why does not our party take a leaf out of the Liberal book? That party is hopelessly split on the subject of women's suffrage, so the Liberal Party agrees to treat it as a non- party measure. Why does not our party do the same with regard to Tariff Reform P We are hopelessly split on that subject. Why not treat Tariff Reform as a non-party measure P It is a business question for business men, not a party question, and should never have been made one.
There is one other alternative, and that is for Mr. Bonar Law to renew Mr. Balfour's pledge of a Referendum on Tariff Reform. The Confederates are wreckers and seem to have very little sense of proportion. They advocate a Radical leap in the dark and call themselves Conservatives!—I am, Sir, &c., E. L. OLIVER. The Waterhouse, Bollington, Macclesfield.
Tune 17th.
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