On Friday, May 2nd, Mr. Baldwin, speaking to the Primrose
League, made an important statement on Unionist policy. The problem, he said, was to reconcile democracy with the management of the Empire. The Empire' must live under democracy or not at all. At present the Dominions thought that Great Britain was reluctant to enter into commercial arrangements with them, and the danger was that they would be attracted into other economic orbits. While we showed this reluctance to our own kith and kin we were taking the hand of strangers from Moscow. Unionists were ready to enter into any conference to consider the limitation of armaments, and the League of Nations would be the pivot of their foreign policy. The main- tenance of our connexion with India was vital ; the grant of constitutional liberties must be in proportion to the capacity of the Indian people. The Unionist Party accepted the electoral verdict of last December, and would put forward no general tariff. If returned to power they would deal with industries suffering from unfair foreign competition by some means analogous to that of the Safeguarding of Industries Act. In another speech last Saturday Mr. Baldwin pointed out the absence of any reasonable ratio between certain retail prices and wholesale prices. If returned to power he would institute an inquiry into retail " profiteering." * *
Previous page
