POLITICAL SHORTCOMINGS.
Scarcely at any time has there been a stimulating lead from any of the political parties which, for the most part, have vied with each other in bribing the proletariat with promises of increases in various forms of unpro- ductive expenditure. Many years ago it required the appointment of the Geddes Committee—largely at the instigation of the banking community—to bring about overdue reductions in the national expenditure, and many of the recommendations of that Committee were rejected by the Government of the day. During the last Con- servative Administration and still more in the two years of the present Administration, we have had a reckless disregard of the effect of national extravagance, excessive taxation and unsound Socialist legislation upon the financial and economic condition of the country and upon the national credit. For more than two years we have seen the national financial year close with substantial deficits, and we are now faced with the prospect of similar conditions at the close of the current year. The result has been exactly what might have been expected ; growing indifference on the part of the public to the financial principles outraged, a growing impairment of confidence and a steady decline in financial and industrial prosperity.
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