LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

TIIE YOUNG CONSERVATIVES AND THE STATE OF THE PARTY.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —I ask the hospitality of your columns in order to bring forward a point of view which I and many of my contem-

poraries think it is time should be more strongly voiced.

We belong to a generation which leapt from childhood to manhood across the gulf of the War. We had no party ties in pre-War days—at most our political opinions were a reflection of a parental tradition—and we are the less stirred by the old labels and slogans in that we find a difficulty in linking up present problems with those •questions of former moment which seem to us to have almost disappeared into the mists of history. We are now faced by a set of new conditions wherein such of the old landmarks as remain are uncertain guides, yet we look in vain for a new inspiration, which, while avoiding violent and ill-considered changes, will yet be in tune with the times.

In the Labour Party alone do we see earnestness and enthu- siasm for an ideal, vague indeed, but sufficiently vivid to

cement an extremely heterogeneous body of citizens into a

single political force. We admire this earnestness and enthusiasm, but we cannot agree with a programme of State Socialism, nor, however much we may sympathize with

" Labour," can we support a party so many of whose leaders seem to be either cranks or embittered sufferers from 'the

present social system. That this system should have produced such results in certain people's minds is not unnatural and is a measure of its shortcomings, but we cannot believe in remedies which seem to us to have been contrived by a warped judgment of the situation.

Neither do we feel that the Liberal Party supplies what we want. Many of us have a temperamental attraction to Liberalism, but are alienated by the excessive intellectaalism and doctrinal economics of the present Liberal Party. More- over, we do not like the personal factiousness which robs the Liberals of such effectiveness as they might have. We do not want to be Asquithians or Lloyd Georgians.

That the existing social and economic system of this country has been profoundly strained 'by the effect of the War no one will deny, and it should follow from this that reconstruc- tion must be in the forefront of every party programme. But when we examine the aims and methods of the two parties who claim to be the more progressive, we cannot see the justification of their claim. The Labour Party is too, destructive, the Liberal Party too, obstructive, to give effi- cient and rapid effect to those repairs and alterations of which our social and economic system stands in such sore need. The Conservative Party has a great chance of becoming the constructive party in the State, of being more liberal than the Liberals- and more socialist than the Socialists, , because if it appeals, as it can if its principles are what they seem to be, to the British spirit of individual freedom and unfettered co-operation, it will rally to its banner all who

are not blinded by theory and dogma. Is the Conservative Party going to make the best of this chance ? Is it going to be a positive or a negative force ?

Conservatism, as we understand it, holds to the conviction that our traditional institutions 'have value because they represent the experience of a past out of which the present and the future spring, and that therefore in politics, as in

house building, you cannot begin with the roof, but must first be sure of the foundations. Conservatives believe that the only possible incentive for producing the best results from any - kind of work is the individual incentive, that nothing the State finds for a man, to do will be a substitute

for what he finds it in himself to do. They also believe that the value of corporate effort lies in its voluntary character, that for co-operation to be successful it is essential that the sovereignty of the individual and the nation be kept intact. We should further add the belief that such co- operation, which is of the essence of the British Empire and which is reflected in the best interpretation of the Covenant of the League of Nations, is a remedy of which the World stands in great need to-day. These seem to me and those who think like me to be the cardinal Conservative principles. But we want them to be positive principles, productive of a constructive policy, awaking enthusiasm and inspiring devotion. We are not satisfied to be members of a party which is merely less bad than others, nor will we worship at the shrine of the God of things as they are. The forces of reaction and inertia will no doubt always cling to Conservatism as providing the most hopeful prospect of putting a drag on the wheel of progress, but these are not the elements which should control the party. One hears much of the terrible results which will befall us if the extreme Socialists get control of the Labour Party, but it is well also to realize that the consequences of a reactionary and negative Conservatism will be just as disastrous. We believe that the only means of frustrating our opponents is to convince the electorate that Conservatives offer better and more practical solutions for the problems of the day. The champions of private enterprise should surely prove' their case by examples of their enterprise.

Among the points which we consider of vital importance for a rebirth of the Conservative Party we should like to give first place to the necessity of avoiding party cleavages ton class lines, and in this connexion to say that there seems in us almost as much danger- of the Conservative Party as there is' of the Labour Party becoming identified with the interests of a particular class. Conservatives are never tired of reiterating that the Conservative policy is a national ;policy and that the Labour Party has not got a monopoly of sympathy for the working man or a unique faculty for dealing with industrial problems. We are glad that this argument should be emphasized ; yet we do not see• that the organization of the party has been adapted to coincide with these democratic views. It is true that as many working arm vote for the Conservative as for any other party, but working men do not have the chance of becoming Con- servative Members of Parliament that they ought to have. !Conservative candidatures are still the preserve of those with private means, and snobbery is still rampant among the ' professional party organizers. Until' the wage earner has as good a chance of obtaining political distinction in the Conservative Party as he has in the Labour Party; and ;until the wage-earning representatives of wage-earning 'constituents 'can bring their direct and personal experience of industrial conditions from the " labour " point of view Ito bear on the councils of the Conservative Party, that party !will be open to the charge of being " capitalistic " and of being primarily moved in the interest of a privileged class of property holders.

When the Conservative Party has thus put itself into Ina touch with the needs and feelings of industrial workers lit will the better be able, with the undoubted advantage it lalready possesses of containing so many of the directing minds in industry within its ranks, to produce definite schemes for the reduction of Unemployment, for housing, for national '" all-in " insurance, for old-age pensions, &c., which are !required hi order that the principle of private enterprise should be vindicated. We shall then no longer have such wishy-washy pronouncements on these questions as appear in the recently published statement of Conservative aims.

In another direction we are entitled to look for more !definite guidance on the subject of Protection. If the Con- servative Party, as a whole, really believes in Protection, it is surely cowardly to drop a measure from which its advocates anticipate such important results just because of the adverse verdict at an election which took place before the ground had been prepared for such a startling move. We are not (Protectionists ourselves, and it is because Protection has been 'dropped that we have found ourselves able to become Con- servatives, but we should like to have a definite understanding about what the dropping amounts to. We are prepared to consider measures of Protection, even though we think them unprofitable, when they are dictated by the desire to diminish unemployment or to consolidate the Empire, but we will no more submit to a doctrinaire Protectionism than to doctrinaire Free Trade. Surely it is time that this question ceased to be considered one of principle and that each case should be judged on its merits.

Thus in conclusion of a letter, which has already exceeded the bounds within which it was intended to keep, we appeal for unity of purpose and directive energy from those to whom we look for leadership. If we are sure of the foundations of Conservative beliefs, let us not be timorous in experi- menting with the superstructure. We must ceaselessly strive to improve what we would defend or it will eventually be no longer worth defending. It will 113 better to make mistakes where it is recognized that an honest and serious effort has been made to meet difficulties squarely, than to be able to point to a blameless record of inactivity which is not even masterful.—I am, Sir, &c., A WOULD-BE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE.

[We are in strong sympathy with the spirit of our corre- spondent's letter—an admirably inspiring exposition of the true Conservative attitude. We deal with the subject as a whole in our leading columns and also in a review. We make no apology for speaking out so plainly and at such length. The matter is of vital import. If the Party does not restore the element of vitamines to its diet, it is doomed to perish by sleepy sickness, just as does the human body when it is deprived of vitamines. Down with the " Better- Nots " and up with the " Go-aheads " must be our watch- word.--En. Spectator.]