This tariff issue, Irnpoitant though it is, may easily divert
attention from greater questions still. Mr. MacDonald's' address puts the three essentials—stabiliza- tion of the pound, the conclusion of international agree- ments regarding debts and reparations, and the restoration of the trade balance—in the right order, though in fact those undertakings must go forward side by side, not one before the other. Currency problems are technical stuff to put before the average election audience, but currency problems must form the main preoccupation of the new Government none the less, and the warnings of Mr. Keynes and others that it is on this that attention must be concentrated .need recalling. No stable tariff, even if tariffs are seriously contemplated, can be based on a fluctuating pound, and unstable tariffs are a curse of which Europe has had sufficiently bitter experience in recent years to warn any Government of their danger. The election has a little diverted attention from the need of an international conference on gold and wider financial questions, but it should be one of the first duties of the new administration to explore the possibilities of that. * *
