But great as is the diminution of exchanges caused by
Protection, an even greater diminution is caused by that lack of security which Mr. Balfour rightly described as the essence of industrial success. A sense of insecurity destroys exchanges as a frost or a blighting East wind cuts down the shoots in a garden. Be the intentions of the present Government what they may, it is unquestionable that legislation like the Budget, and speeches like the Limehouse speech of Mr. Lloyd George and the Leicester speech of Mr. Winston Churchill, destroy the sense of security, and induce men in every rank of life to tread warily and slowly in commercial transactions for fear of loss,—that is, they paralyse exchanges. Thus Socialism is an even greater destroyer of exchanges, and therefore of wealth, than Protection. One only wastes, the other annihilates. If, then, we are obliged to adopt one of these two evils, we shall unhesitatingly choose the lesser. Our hope still is, however, that men who hold the opinions which we do will, in spite of all the signs and omens to the contrary, not be obliged in the end to make the choice of which we speak.
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