VIRTUE AND ITS COST.
[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—My attention has been called to the article that you pub- lished in your last issue under the above heading which professes to deal with the methods and accounts of the Gladstone League. You state at the commencement of the article that you have not yourself seen the balance-sheet of the League. This is a pity, as if you had done so, and read the annual report accompanying it, you would have been saved from the many inaccuracies which your article contains.
I have no intention of entering fully into the many misstate- ments which you allow yourself to make, as the result of a cursory reading of an anonymous article in an evening paper. There are, however, a few points which in fairness to the League ought to be corrected.
The whole article is based on a misapprehension of the objects and work of the Gladstone League. You are apparently not aware that the League is a political organization and that its work consists largely of propaganda. The objects of the League are as follows :---(1) To defend the independence of the elector. (2) To secure the supremacy of the House of Commons. (3) To oppose taxes on the food of the people. (4) To establish the people's rights in the land. The work is thus divided into two main branches : First, the investigation of cases of political intimida- tion and taking steps by legal proceedings, protest meetings, and otherwise to deal with the evil ; and secondly, the enrolment and organization of members and the carrying on of an organized propaganda to secure the above-mentioned objects. Whilst the suppression of intimidation is one of the objects which the League has in view, it will be seen that it is not by any means the whole of its work, as you suggest. The League has never professed nor taught that all Unionist landlords and employers of labour are guilty of intimidation. We are quite aware that the practice is exceptional and discountenanced by the responsible leaders of the Party. At the same time our experience has convinced us that t great deal of this kind of oppression is carried on by a certain class of people, especially in our rural districts. On the other hand, though we have been ready to investigate all charges brought to our notice, from whatever quarter they come, we have failed to discover more than one or two cases where it was even alleged that a Liberal had intimidated a Conservative. That this evil is known to exist in Unionist quarters is proved by the fact that the Primrose League finds it necessary to warn their members that "any attempt to gain members by threats of with- drawal of custom or favour, or by anything of the nature of what is popularly known as boycotting, is absolutely forbidden " (Prim- rose L w.gue Manual, 1911, p. 3).
You have also been grossly misled by your contemporary with reference to the methods adopted by the Gladstone League in dealing with intimidation. We do not exist for the purpose of making grants of money to the victims of intimidation. It is true that grants have been made in certain cases of hardship. These, however, were not made from our General Fund, but from the Indemnity Fund, which consists of moneys specially subscribed for this purpose, and which are kept absolutely separate from the fands of the League. To use your own words, the League has from the outset endeavoured "to implant in the breasts of Unionist sinners the healthy dread of detection and punishment," and I am glad to say that the methods adopted with this view have proved very successful. Our experience is that in many places where intimidation was rife in January it was practically unknown in December.
Your statement that "a General Election has only shown forty- six instances of intimidation on the Unionist side" is equally untrue, as you would have seen had you read the report before writing the article. We there state that we took action in seventy- eight cases, and make the further statement, which, of course, can be verified, that in addition to these a very large number of cases were abandoned, not on account of the insufficiency of evidence, but because the victims themselves did not wish for any public action to be taken. In many cases such action would only have made it more difficult for them to find employment.
The method you adopt in commenting on the balance-sheet of the League is totally unfair and misleading, and several of your facts are completely wrong. In view of your intimation that your space is limited, I will content myself, however, with asking you to compare the accounts of the Gladstone League with those of the Primrose League. Your readers who are interested in the Primrose League would no doubt be glad to know your views on these accounts as well as on those of the Gladstone League.
You make a great point of the amount which the Gladstone League spent on badges, and try to hold the League up to ridicule on this account. On this point, also, I would invite comparison with the Primrose League. We have only one kind of badge, which is given to every member free. The PrimroseLeague, how- ever, have no fewer than forty kinds of badges and other numerous adornments. They sell their badges to members at prices ranging from 3d. to 23s. each, and no doubt make a very handsome profit on the transaction. Of this, however, no indication is given in their statement of accounts.
A few months ago we were challenged by the President of the Tariff Reform League to publish our accounts. We then announced our intention of doing so, but I note that the Tariff Reform League have not yet published theirs. It would be instructive to see these accounts published in the same open manner as those of the Gladstone League. Perhaps when this is done you will find it advantageous to adopt the same methods of calling public attention to these as you did in respect of those of the Gladstone League.
As you have not seen our annual report I am very glad to enclose a copy herewith for your perusal.-1 am, Sir, &c.,
Westminster Bridge ,lioad, General Secretary [If the report and accounts of the Tariff Reform League are only half as blimorons as those of the Gladstone League we assuredly riot fail to deal with them.—En. Spectator.]
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