LIBERAL PROSPECTS SIR,—Mr. Fulford does not lack courage when he
puts the blame on the Conservative party for not looking to the defences of the country. The leading - supporters of the wave. of Pacifism which swept the country were chiefly Liberals and members of the Labour party, and where the Conservative leaders were to blame was in. not courageously facing the agitation and strengthening the Navy and Air Force. The explanation of the debacle of the Liberal party was largely explained by the proceedings at the Methodist Conference in Birmingham where it was with difficulty that such innocent things as dancing and whist drives were sanctioned. In Scotland and the North of England it was largely men of this narrow type of mind who were in control of the Liberal party. I remember telling the chairman of the Scottish Temper- ance Association that in opposing licences in new colliery districts they were entrenching the liquor trade. This rather astonished him but he saw it when I pointed out that too licence-holders had too votes, but too clubs with Soo members had 50,000 votes. One of the chief breweries in the North of England is a Co-operative Club Brewery supplying these clubs. No body of men have done more for the industries of England than the Nonconformists, but many of them who were employers had not a liberal standpoint where workers were concerned, and it is noticeable that about half of the Labour members sit for mining con- stituencies, most of which were formerly Liberal seats.—Yours truly, Car/ton Club, 69 St. James's Street, S.W. z. TORN J. CALDER.
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