Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-04

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF
NATIONS.-The other day, in order TO
avert q split Of the Conservative party
Stanley Baldwin, chief of that party
professed q change of attitude on GER
tain grand matters. He had before re-
peatedly declared that 1t was foolish to
consider imposition of duties on food
imports into Britain; the people would
not stand for 1t. His ideal was the
same as that Of the crusaders" for free
trade within the British Commonwealth
Of Nations, coupled with common pro-
tective barriers against the rest OF the
planet; but one must make terms with
realities and there was no reality more
evident than the hostility Of the Brit
ish people to food duties.
He now announced o new program
implying the possibility Of food duties,
Is follows:
/. The next general elections should
not be fought on the issue Of food
duties, since, in his opinion Il do not
quite get" Mr. Baldwin, but he should
know, the party Is pledged against
such policy over q period to include It's
next tenure Of the power.
z. The Conservatives again In power,
there should be conference in which
representatives OF all the member states
Of the British Commonwealth of Nations
and Of all the imperial dependencies
should participate, to consider every
aspect of the tariff problem and to
reach o conclusion as to the feasible
amount Of intra-imperial free trade
coupled with protection against the out
side world.
8. Should the conclusion substan-
TALLY approximate the ideal Of eco
nonic unity Of the empire" q. e., the
British Commonwealth Of Nations)
there should be a referendum Of that
conclusion to the United Kingdom
l. e., the voters should declare whether
they are or are not willing to have as
much free trade as is possible with the
rest Of the British Commonwealth OF
Nations at the cost of a protective
tariff, including food taxes, against the
rest of the world" Rejection OF the
proposal should not prejudice the life
OF the government.
4. Should the proposal be approved
by the voters the government would at
once 60 to the country In o general
election, asking to be returned with Q
mandate to revise the British fiscal
system In the sense Of the proposal.
I suspect that 1t was with great re.
luctance that Mr.. Baldwin evolved ana
issued this program. but, the thing
done, his skeptical inhibitions lapsed
for the nonce and he found himself
declaring: Believe me, there Is no
alternative to the vision Of the eco
nonic unity of our empire except It's
ultimate dissolution. We must wed I'M
perial policy with domestic policy II we
are going to make the greatest enort
possible toward the development OF our
country and the solution OF our own
economic problems"
All, nobody knows better than your
excellency that marriage is generally an
affair Of great and continuous compro-
mise. It is a pity that the extremists,
the Rothermeres and the Beaverbrooks,
should constrain you to repudiate 1or
the nonce the principle Of compromise,
the informing principle OF the pre-
eminent British achievement. Since
that speech we have had astounding
evidence that the dominions propose 10
construct their fiscal systems, each witn
reference to Its own interest. real or
imagined, and with little reference TO
the exigencies Of the mother country.
There was a surplus of $4,000 on
the budget operations Of the fiscal year
of the Irish Free State Just ended. The
new budget is practically a reproduction
OF the old, the latter having worked out
very well. The total public debt OF
the Free State is about the equivalent
Of $4,000, 900. comparatively very