THE CANDIDATURE OF UNIONIST WORKING MEN FOR PARLIAMENT.
tTo TIM EID1TOB OP TEM " SIMOTAT014.1 SIn,—A movement existed at the last election to promote the candidature of Unionist working men for Parliament. As secretary of this movement I found that the objection raisea. against our candidates was that they were nominees of the rich and not representatives of the poor. In other words,. critics could point to the Independent Labour Party's funds for candidates, which is raised largely by way of a levy through the medium of the trade unions. The difficulty from our point of view lay in the absence of any trade union of an essentially Conservative complexion to act as a medium for raising funds. But it has since occurred to me that a counter- part might be found in the Conservative olubs scattered throughout the country. There are no fewer than 1,500 of these with a membership of over 500,000. I have therefore written to each club and asked for every member to give me one penny a year. If every member does I shall secure enough to run half a dozen Tory working men at the next election. So far my appeal has been splendidly responded to and I received £110 the first day. My reason for writing to you is in the hope that Borne of your readers may be members of clubs hitherto backward in helping us, and that the knowledge of our work may make them ready to stimulate these clubs to action. Complete success on our part will furnish the party with a body of supporters in Parliament who, unlike the Labour-Socialist M.P., will veritably voice the aspirations of democracy ; and this in itself must be a lasting element of strength to the cause of a Great England and a Greater [Unquestionably Conservative working men exist and in very large numbers. It is therefore most desirable that some of them should find their way to Parliament. Mr. Lampson's proposal for getting together the necessary funds seems to us thoroughly sound.—En. Spectator.]
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