Mr. Balfour'e speech from the first word to the last
breathed the spirit of Free-trade, or, as the exact economists would say, of the principle of free exchange. The following passage deserves special notice. "For my own part," said Mr. Balfour, "I am one of those who have always said that the abolition of the Corn-laws was a necessarily inevitable, and, with some qualifications, a beneficial, change in our system." That abolition was intended to stimulate the growth of our manufacturing population, "which I personally view without dismay and without regret, because I recognise that it is the only possible mode by which the population of this country can increase or meet the great Imperial needs with which we have to deal." We must not talk as if the diminution of the rural population was an unexpected effect of Free-trade. It was a known and foreseen effect. "Our task now is not to try to turn back the inevitable current, but to see that in its progress it does as little damage as possible to the whole social fabric." We agree with this as far as it goes, though we think it should also be the task of Parliament to abolish whatever influences are accidentally and artificially making it easier to live in the town than in the country. Chief among these influences is to be reckoned our unfair system of rural taxation, under which we single out the industry of agriculture and expose it to fiscal burdens greater than those which are borne by any other trade.
Previous page
