16 MARCH 1912, Page 12

[To TEE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTITOR.1 SIR,—You seem to

be surprised at the economic attitude of Mr. Hobson as shown by his letter to the Nation. You think, and, no doubt, correctly, that it is a strange attitude for a Free Trader. The foundation of Mr. Hobson's economics, however, as avowed in his work, is the old notion that spend- ing is good for trade. Starting from that position, a man may well find himself in strange latitudes where you and I cannot follow him.—I am, Sir, &c., A. A. MITCHELL. 7 Hunlly Gardens, Glasgow.