THE TARIFF REFORM CHALLENGE.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Szn,—The "reply " of the secretary of the Free-Trade Union to the challenge of the Tariff Reform League is, as might have been expected, a pitiable evasion of the points at issue. The principal object of the working men's tours in Germany organised by the Tariff Reform League is to ascertain on the spot by personal investigation the truth or otherwise of the statements made by Mr. Lloyd George, and repeated by " Free- trade " speakers on almost every platform, concerning the condition and the food of the German people. These state- ments include the following :—" In Germany workmen ate horseflesh, dog and cat flesh The British working men were now asked to vote for Protection and a skinned cat."—(Pwllheli, January 16th, 1906.) " Are you worried at all in the country districts with tramps P Well, I'll tell you how to get rid of them. Buy a few loaves of the best German black bread, and whenever a tramp comes round cut him a chunk. He'll never come near you again. And this food, which will be scorned by British tramps, this is the food which is recommended by our Protectionists to the working men of Britain as a wholesome alternative to white bread."— (Plymouth, January 8th, 1910.) "In Germany they knew what it (Protection) had brought. It had brought the people to poverty; it had brought them to feed on what we would not give our tramps."—(Wolverhampton, January 12th, 1910.)
These assertions of Mr. Lloyd George are entirely ignored by the secretary of the Free-Trade Union. He refers to the First Fiscal Blue-book, published in 1903, and to the Board of Trade "Report on the Cost of Living in German Towns," and says :—" While the reports of these official inquiries hold the field what is the use of asking the Free-Trade Union or anybody else to carry out investigations on amateur lines P" There would be some sense in Mr. Wallace Carter's question if the official Reports named by him bore out Mr. Lloyd George's statements ; but no one knows better than Mr. Carter that they do not. The consensus of evidence collected by working men of all political parties during their German tours proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the statements of the Chancellor of the Exchequer are a travesty of truth and a ridiculous distortion of fact.
Another object of the working men's tours is to see whether poverty exists to so great and degrading an extent in Germany as in this country. The Reports already published show con- clusively that loafers and beggars are almost non-existent in Germany, and that slums such as are to be seen in London and other large English cities are nowhere to be found. This point also is ignored by Mr. Carter.
The insincerity of Mr. Wallace Carter in deriding "investi- gations on amateur lines" is shown by the fact that his own organisation, only a few months ago, sent out one of their staff—Miss Annie Esplin—on a tour of inquiry through Germany. Moreover, this lady had no knowledge of the language, and had to obtain her information through an interpreter. If amateur investigations are of no account, what value does Mr. Carter attach to Miss Esplin's Report P And in what category would he place the Report of the Free- traders supposed to have been sent out by the Parliamentary Labour Party, but whose expenses do not appear in the recently published statement of accounts of that body P—I am,
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