If the Election is looked at from the point of
view of the extreme Tariff Reformers, it can hardly be said to be more satisfactory. No doubt owing to the fact that they have been reinforced by the very large number of moderate men who accept the Spectator policy and who have chosen the lesser of the two evils, and also no doubt owing to conversions to their policy, the Tariff Reform vote has enormously increased. At the same time, at an Election which may fairly be regarded as the high-water mark of Tariff Reform nothing like enough votes have been secured to accomplish the policy. To carry out the system of Preference and Protection—something very different, we may remark, from the policy of tariffs for revenue—a large and homogeneous . majority is required. But such a majority is no more likely to he obtained in this country than a solid majority for Socialism. To put the net results of the elections into a sentence, the country has decided to take away from the Liberals their power of doing harm through Socialistic legislation, and at the same time has declared its unwilling- ness fundamentally to alter our present fiscal system.
