, 1881-10-15
THE MEANING CT THE "FAIR-
TRADE CRY.
(From the Spectators

that we hoped to escape d Protectl0nlst
discussion, as the Tory leaders would be
wiser than the Tory takers, but tie hope
has grown very thin. Candidate after
candidate, in towns as well as counties
defends " fair trade" or reciprocity" or
like Mr.. Lowther, open 4" protection,' the
farmers or the vorkmen approve, more oT
less heartily, and the seat is lost to the
Liberal cause. In several large bOroughs
there are signs of the growth of a kind Of
passion for a war Of tariffs, while in mcdi-
UNI boroughs and country districts we
never take up a local paper without read.
ing columns of argument against the EEK
listing" F ee.Trade. Nobody, except Mir.
Lowther, says Free trade is unwiSe. but
everybody says it must be made ''fair'
that is, foreign nations must adopt 1t
before we do. So powerful is tie current,
that it has startled Sir Stafford Northcote
himself, and as his wont is, he las jumped
lightly Oh the fence, prepared to descend Oh
the side to which the opinion Of his party
seems to incline 1t is a note Of Sir
Stafford, that while perfectly faithful to
his party,end Incapable Of cCqucttirG with
its opponents, OF OF the alliances to which
other leaders Eave stOored, he is within
the party itself intellectually most UrSclU-
pul0uS. No man was ever more hostile to
the forward policy in At hauistar, yet,
when his leader decided on that foolish
enterprise, he defended it as if he believed
that the Suleiman lad G|i>&rTc"rd d. and
that tie Afghans might march to Delhi.
Ie is enc OF the most convinced ETce,trAd-
els in Er2lard, "iut." as he says,
ne wants ''1air trace ilat is, if she
party insists CT Projections, he VIII
accept that policy. 1t is tco bad.
but it is Of little use to ~cIit;cise Sir
Stafford EOrthcotc, except as The prophet
who tells us What is coming from Tory
counSeLS. The truth is that a certain
section Of the town population have hit
upon the idea, not unnatural. for it was
once held by statesmen Of intelligence far
above that OF the ~artiZan, that the way to
remove the hClyv duties imposed b. some
foreign States on British goods is to
impose heavy duties on goods from the
country so behaving, Till they are taken
off. It IS the Old ''war Of tariffs notion,
and is not, nader all circumstances and at
all times, economically wrong. As a rule,
it fails, because The passion Of resistance
is aroused, and because the duties are
cvaded; but it might occasionally succeed.
II, for example, LugliShmen agreed to Go
without French wine, and the French
rjGRerCns governed the elections Of France,
and were willing 70 subordinate their pride
to ii cir interests, it might be possible to
compel France to adm it bradford goods
the scmiwool. semi cotton manufactures
at low rates Of duty. The war would be
very costly, because we should lose not
only light wines, but the sale OF the
articles purchased by Frenchmen from us
out of the profit OF those wines but still
the end might c0nceIyably be achieved
at the price. 1t would not be. for the
Tigney0nS do net govern, and France, if
possessed with the FTotectioniSt flll&cy,
would not yield to any such pressure; but
Sti | it might be. The idea was not pure
folly, and though widely spread, would not
have done much harm, as there are very
few cases like that of the French Treaty,
and would hardly have influenced politics,
but that a very powerful and very much
irritated interest suddenly saw its chance.
There is no doubt whatever that English
landlords and farmers are suffering terri
bly,, the former i'll particular, to q degree
which renders them almost desperate.
Rents are going down, farms are thrown.
up, every rent day is accompanied by
cries for reductions, till i'll the south,
and east, and centre Of England,
and in Scotland, the landlords, already
pressed by the permanent charges on their
estates, find their available incomes,
after those charges are paid, reduced
almost one half. The farmers, too, who
cannot force reductions, and cannot under
existing law recover the capital sunk
in the soil if they quit their farms, are
equally troubled. and both welcome the