New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-15
A NIGHT In THE COMMONS.
.Hr. Chamberlain uith HIS Back to
the WaU-A Great Debate.

close OF the Home ftuiS CdAhb~NoNS
with being the leader of lost cause Mr.. Ar
h,,r pearson. The chief hustler Of the Tarin
commission. has retired from active laoors' the
o,atire Protectionists are disheartened by IN
action and delay; the ever faithful Jesse Col
lings has invented new issue for Enghsh Ten,
ant farmers and agricultural iaborers IN q iaiN
purchase scheme. and the chief conservative
-uhtn has officially declared that the nscai ques
lon taken by itself. cannot be regarded as 'e"'
Of PARTY loyalty. onnortunism triurnphs when
she greenwich Conservatives are allowed TO
support Lord Hugh Cecil as their regular can
ssdate for the next Parliament: ana as ne mas
80, 6gbtinss the battle OF Unionist Free Trad
ers n IS a fair inference that the entire group
NAV be exempted from discipline In future Ill
visions on the tariff question, ana that MI
BowIes Sir John Gorst and possibly even MI.
Richie and Lord George Hamilton may De en-
abled to stand for Conservative seats at the
general elections The Liberal Opposition aban-
Goning hope OF defeating the government Win
1he help OF Lord Hugh Cecil's group. Is now at
tempting to goad disappointed tariff reformers
;fte. treacherv and disaffection. They describe
Mr. Chamberlain as the victim OF Balfourism'
hun5bled. despairing and hopelessly beaten. con-
tent ito take II lying down." and lacking the
spirit required for raising his hand as signal
20 his followers TO desert the government By
.er taupts like these show that the Liberals have
7,ttie confidence In their ability to defeat the
government with the help Of the irish members
n a snap division any side issue Appar-
entity they are convinced that they must have
Mr. Chamberlain's help IL they are 10 nave
general election this year.
r. Mr. Chamberlain be hopelessly beaten ana
background be slipping under his feet he does
not seem 10 know 1t. He keeps faith with the
Prime Minister when tariff reformers perceive
his own loss OF prestige and are eager TO force
on the general elections. A whisper from nun
would suffice TO defeat the government out IL
Is not heard. Paler than in former days ana
with q new habit Of outstanding his Strength
ne is still the most alert and aggressive inquire
in the Commons and he is fighting with MS
back 10 the wall weary, perhaps, and Jadeo' put
with the oldtime love OF conflict and with a
deeper tone of earnestness and sense of convic-
inn than ever before AS Mr.. Gladstone never
ceased TO remind his colleagues and his enemies
that the time had come for a great act or Justice
avllioh would reconcile Ireland, so Mr.. Chamber
ain warns the country often as he speaks
that the crowning opportunity for uniting the
empire is at hand, and that it may pass neg
Jected and unimproved because there is heslta-
lion or lack of statesmanlke courage or inability
to think imperiaIly." Like Mr.. Gladstone In
MS old age Mr.. Chamberlain is condemned to
Unequal combats with inferior antagonists. The
giants Of debate have gone; only few promis-
ing striplings like Mr.. LIoyd-George and Lord
iugh Cecil are foeInen worthy of his STEEL and
when he takes part In ordinary discussion
The oldtime stimulus is lacking. Yet 1t is
unique experience for a spectator to go to the
House and to watch such performance as his
mastery speech on the sugar bounty conven-
ton Il is indeed the best opportunity one can
have in England for seeing a practised debater
with lucidity of style and concentration Of pur-
fha 80 nF liz
Any stick may be good enough to beat the
Protection dog with, but the sugar convention
IS ? broken reed which scratches the clumsy
hand thai uses 1t as an offensive weapon.
That convention was wholly in accord with the
Fundamental principle of CobdenisIn. that prices
we're not 10 be artifcialIy affected by legisla-
Ion. II was designed to bring about the abs
ton OF Continental bounties beet sugar. by
which overproduction had been stimulated and
immense stock Of raw and refined sugar had
been dumped in Great Britain at an unnatural
price. While Golden contended that every ma
lion should supply the worlds markets with
what it could produce most cheaply, he never
advocated policies By which great staples could
0e sold below cost and at direct loss TO the
producers. He opposed bounties as strenuously
rs he did tariffs. and never swerved from the
conviction that unnatural prices were sources
u disturbances which unsettled the markets
Of the world. The Brussels convention was a
genuine Cobdenite measure, and was supported
as such by so convinced and thoroughgoing
free trader as Sir Michael Hicks-Beacn; but it
aas been condemned by the new and unscien-
ihc free traders a protectionist compact
which supplied object lesson of the era of
nigh prices and combinations which would In
evitably follow the adoption Of Mr. Chamber
AIMS policies. This is because the free trad
ers have become blind and infatuated advocates
Of cheapness as the only thing worth talking
about in economies. When sugar was sold IN
England at price below the cost Of production
The confecuoners and jam makers trade throve
ano there were large profits under unnatural
conditions. When there was a sudden shrinkage
N the production Of European beet sugar owing
% a prolonged Grouth. they forgot all that
Adam Smith had written and Golden had quoted
about tha natural law of demand and SUNNY
and~attempted TO hold the Brussels convention
responsible for the temporary rise in the price
OF sugar, by which various minor industries
mad suffered. Rarely have the free traders been
more hoslca4 than in the Reputation OF their
olotime principles in this discussion
Mr. Chamberlain. in his lucid and forcibIe
speech on the subject, has shown that there is
net~a single European country in which sugar
is now cheaper than 1t is in England. What
mas happened has been natural phenomenon
great rise IN an article Of common consuron
non through temporary failure of supply. su-
gar mas gone up in price precisely as cotton
advanced year ago under similar conditions.
and monopolists. spectators and roiadier,ar
nave taken advantage OF the opportunftv IN
one case as In the other. The prohibition az
ne exports from Russia and Argentina has
Deen an tnappreciable factor in the problen he
lhey formed SO insignificant fraction of
rFtr