It was after this hasty mention of monetary policy that
Mr. Baldwin launched his new Protectionist pro- gramme. With the already unfortunate repercussions of this scheme we deal in our first leading article. Here we merely put on record that Mr. Baldwin obviously felt that Protection was the one remedy for our present ills, and saw it as a plain duty to say so. He believes, he has repeatedly told us, that the cause of our ruined industries is a breakdown of the industrial system of Europe, so complete that we cannot carry on our essential trade with European countries. Yet he also believes that the cure for our ruined industries is to set up an artificial barrier between us and foreign countries in order to prevent, or at any rate to impede, such trading as is taking place. He strove all last summer to put the whole fiscal policy of his country in the hands of a man—Mr. McKenna—who is (1) a convinced Free Trader, and (2) the principal advocate of an enlightened financial policy as a remedy for industrial disorder. In the autumn he (1) declares for a policy of thorough- going Protection, and (2) pours scorn on the very idea of a financial remedy for trade depression.
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