Mr. Reid's speech largely justified the remarks made on the
same day by Mr. Asquith at Preston. Dealing with the proposed Conference, Mr. Asquith said the truth was that the Colonies, so far from making an offer to us, were waiting to know what we proposed to offer them, and warning us at the same time that they were not going to allow our manu- factures to compete with their own domestic industries. On one point all responsible Colonial statesmen were agreed : Colonial loyalty was not for sale, and, Preference or no Preference, they would remain true to the Empire, and the Empire would remain true to them. Mr. Asquith dealt effectively with the danger of restricting imports, which would cut at the roots of the prosperity of the cotton in- dustry, and exposed the fallacy of such fiscal nostrums as that of "letting the foreigner pay for our Army and Navy." The temptation to resort to these quack remedies was not the least of the dangers incident to a swollen expenditure ; but once these theories were put in practice, they would find it was not the foreigner, but the consumer, who paid thrice— nay, ten times—the amount which the tax brought into the Exchequer.
Previous page
