THE DANGER OF PROTECTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR-1 Sin,—In the Spectator of January 27th, "E. W." in discussing the attitude of the Labour Party to Free-trade says that "at the next General Election it will dictate, and, like other Labour Parties in other lands, it will go for Protection." Taking the German Socialists as "another Labour Party in another land.," we find that it contains the only Free-traders in the country. At nearly every Socialist Congress in Germany resolntions denouncing the Protectionist policy of the Government are passed with acclamation. The reason is obvious. The Socialist Party, representing the working-class electorate, aims at a cheap food-supply ; its opponents—the Agrarian landlords in particular—aim at the development of their own agricultural property, a result which can only be obtained by prohibitive duties on all corn entering the country from abroad. Thus it is evident that, on the point of food-taxation at least, the Labour Party in Germany is an uncompromisingly Free-trade party. I regret that I have no references here to offer "E. W.," but I am sure he will find ample corroboration of my contention in Mr. Harbutt Dawson's book on Germany, as also in various articles recently published in our monthly
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