Mr. Asquith addressed several meetings in East Fife on Thursday,
and in particular made an admirable comment on the alarm professed by certain persons at the return of so many Labour Members on the strength of their alleged Socialistic tendencies. The Socialist section, observed Mr. Asquith, was comparatively small. He himself was not a Socialist, as he did not believe that it was by such a system that the democracy would attain to* better enjoyment of the • good things of the world. But, he went on, as long as there was in this country a strain of Socialist opinion, it was infinitely better that it should be represented in the House of Commons, where it would come into collision with other forms of opinion, than that it should be driven to secret and subter- ranean methods of propaganda. We may also note Mr. Asquith's protest against the notion that trade between nations was a form of war. On the contrary, it was like the quality of mercy,—it blessed him that gave and him that received. Hecklers have always flourished in East Fife, but Mr. Asquith left nothing to be desired in the frankness of his replies, and created great amusement by his unhesitating refusal to support the reduction of the whole of the Cabinet Ministers' pay as a means of reducing taxation, and by the simple affirmation with which he answered a questioner who asked whether he considered any gentleman filling such a position was worth 25,000.
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