LORD LANSDOWNE'S GLASGOW SPEECHES.
• ITO THE EDITOR OF THE"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As one of that " majority of Unionists who are opposed to you on the Fiscal question," may I say how entirely I agree with the sentence which follows in your article on Lord Lansdowne's Glasgow speeches in your last issue : " If such .a spirit as that which animates the Birmingham Daily Post once takes possession of a party, that party is doomed " ? The whole question is so complex, so many-sided, that any attempt on the part of the representatives of the two fiscal policies to brush aside the arguments of their opponents as matter unworthy of consideration can only be regarded as the mark of a singularly ill-balanced mind, whilst the idea of excommunicating the Unionist Free-traders is short-sighted, if not suicidal. But, Sir, it is not with a view to enlarging upon this latter portion of your article that I venture to address you, but rather, if you will pardon the suggestion, to beg that you will not cease to exert your utmost strength to enforce the doctrine so admirably proclaimed in the early portion of the same article,—that State-provided old-age pensions can only end in the demoralisation and pauperisation of those on whose behalf they are now so loudly demanded. With yourself, Sir, I have long looked, and looked in vain, for a leader on either side of the House to get up and proclaim to the people of this country that the benefits of civilised government are not to be had by any section of the community free of cost, and that it would be nothing short of a disaster to the national character were such a thing possible. The perpetual abuse of this word "free " is responsible for much of the loose and careless thought and speech that characterises modern newspaper utterance. The people are taught to think that they have received " free education." It is the unfortunate boast of the party which passed that Act that such is the case, and I for one shall always regret that some small direct payment was not exacted from the parents to remind them that, directly or indirectly, in smaller or in larger proportion, every man in a civilised community pays, and should pay, and always must pay, his share of the national expenditure. There is a very real danger that the working men of this country, who in many cases pay neither rates nor taxes, who, indeed, if they neither drink nor smoke may almost evade any contribution to the national Exchequer, may be led to think that by some strange process they are an exception to the homely truth that this is a world where you get nothing for nothing and precious little for sixpence. It has been my good fortune in the last few months to be the guest of more than one working man's Friendly Society, and I have ventured on each occasion to impress upon them as earnestly as I could how much it was to their best and truest interest that the encouragement of thrift and the spirit of manly independence should be the underlying principle of any scheme for the pro- vision of old-age pensions, and that any political party that came to them with the promise that these pensions could be provided at the sole expense of any other section of the com- munity would be promising them an impossibility, and offering them a gift that would one day be their own undoing. I must apologise for a letter of such length, and for one so entirely composed of truisms, but I venture to think with you, Sir, that it is the duty of every man in accordance with his ability to follow Lord Lansdowne in the high service he is doing to one and all in speaking out fearlessly and honestly while yet there is time to warn his fellow-countrymen of the danger that threatens the foundations of the national character.—I
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