New-York tribune., 1909-05-30
FREE TRADE BUDGET
Trend TosC0rd american Policies
A Transition Period.
London, May 10.


eoo5s the newspapers, listens TO debates IN Par-
IT, - I'D observes the signs of a national re-
-. ooainst Cobdenism he has cumulative evil
-, that the Free Trade cause is in desperate
s.aits from which it be rescued, If at ALL
o,z, by, a hard and fast coalition with sociallsm
ID trade unionism. The trend OF the by
.,octions is in a single direction and with IN
a.eiyp momentum toward complete revision
,+be fiscal system. American policies, once de-
s5ed as ignorant and barbarous, are now COM
a.. - as rational and scientific economics
o6spted TO the modern world, with its costly ao-
-,inistration and naval armaments. They seem
destined to displace and survive principles whlch
-,.ra considered sacrosanct for two generations
nv Tories as we'll as Liberals. Perhaps their
srnerior vitality is due TO the fact that they
have been justified by eXpedIency Cer'alhly
Hamilton, Clay. Greeley, Lincoln Mckinley ana
,pe other champions of the American Industrial
and revenue system have never magnifed It's
importance as an immutable, Heaven-sent prln-
cjple, as the devotees Of Free Trade have done IN
England. It has been advocated and maintained
ss useful policy for multiplying industries
keeping workmen employed and raising reve-
n,e and the necessity for adapting it TO altered
conditions has always been recognized by Amer
ican protectionists Cobdenism is apparently
doomed in England because it has been treated
as q higher revelation Of superior economies, TO
be followed blindly and never changed
one Of the stock arguments of the Golden
school against the American policies is now
brought TO bear against Free Trade. It used TO
be said that Protection made the rich richer and
the moor poorer in America, and that is the plea
IN justification of Mr.. Lloyd Georges Free Trade
budget with its extraordinary levies Of direct
taxation. Progressive Radicals assert that the
horde Of unemployed has been steadily recruited
and that wages have declined, whereas the in
comes Of the weather. section of the COM
munity have risen by leaps and bounds. and
need 10 be scaled down by death duties and sur
taxes. The necessary inference from such
budget as the now before Parliament is that
the rich have been enriched and the poor impov-
erished under Free Trade. Otherwise it would
not be proposed TO transfer taxation on large
scale from the working masses to the rich. The
death and legacy duties We're very high as Sir
william Harcourt and Mr.. Asquith left them.
but they are 10 be Increased at least one-third
60 as 10 turn into the Treasury over S125O00
900 annually. Toll is demanded at Somerset
House every year upon about four thousand
fortunes Of $4,000 and upward each. with an
aggregate of S1.OO0OO0O0O to be released by the
Dead Hand. The charges for succession and in
heritance reach the maximum rate of 10 per
cent when the estate exceeds S5000000 and
necessarily they are paid to large extent cut
Of capital rather than income. Could there be
palmer demonstrate that, Free Traders them
selves being the witnesses, their system tends to
make the rich richer and the poor poorer. and
that levelling process is necessary for the ben
eft Of the have-nots against the haves?
Mr. Lloyd George, being a clever debater. does
not put the in that way. He states that
taxation is bad thing, and must in the long
run be a burden upon industry, but that f16,-
000000 of additional revenues are needed and
and try TO have the new levies as fairly dis
tributed as possible. In the next breath he asks
how the tariff refOrners Will raise the money
required for battleships and old age pensions.
Both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor
when their backs are TO the wall strike out
boldly at the alternative system Of finance. II
Si0O000.00o of additional revenue be ex-
pected from the tentative tariff on food and
manufactured goods, viii not the burden fall
mainly upon the poor? That is their plea, and
II is promptly answered by Lord Miner and
Mr. Bonar Law, who contend that tariff reform
VIII be an effective system of graduated taxa
ton without inquistoriaI methods or costly
mechanism. The rich, who have many require
ments viii pay the bulk Of the increased cost
involved by import duties, and the Door with
few wants, will have TO bear only a fraction Of
it That is the effective reply to the Free Trade
assumption that import duties will fall directly
ulte- NOllSALleISs since everything VIII be taxed
and raised in price. The wel-to-do classes, so
far from escaping taxation, if Tariff Reform
makes everything dear will be heavily bled.
That is what also happens under the Free Trade
system Of direct taxation
The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have
been greatly harassed by the protest Of the
bankers against the new budget. The bankers
since Cobden's time have been the soundest and
sincerest Free Traders in the kingdom. While
the majority Of them in the City have been Con-
servatives IN politics. they have offered strenu-
Gus opposition to any change in the fiscal sys-
ten. Mr.. Chamberlain did not influence the
bankers when he proclaimed Tariff, Reform an
imperial policy. The financial and mercantile
centres were against him throughout his educa
uonal campaign. and it was with their active
sympathy and assistance that the Liberals re-
turned 10 power with authority to maintain Free
Trade as the most important national asset.
The bankers have been thoroughly frightened by
the budget. They are warning the Treasury
that an enormous shrinkage of capital will fol-
low the Increased levies Of death and succession
duties and income taxation, and that the in
huence OF London will be impaired as the money
market of the world. The Chancellor wrinkles
up his face in sardonic smiles and replies that
money is here and that foreign nations and the
colonies cannot get it elsewhere; but the bank
efs know what is going on, and emphatic in
Declaring that the increased stamp duties will
oT1Fe business out Of London and that capital
WIZ be invested abroad where il cannot be
'eFled upon by the Treasury for Dreadnoughts
sno social reform.
me most serious charge against the Free
Irsde Chancellor is that he is budgeting enor-
nously in excess Of current needs. Although he
sornits that taxation is a great evil and direct
D1rden upon c3pital and industry he has pro-