Evening star., 1932-02-07
England Goes on a
Protective Tariff Basis
BY A. G. GARDINER

LONDON, February GA great ar
gument, which for more than quarter
of a century has dominated British
politics. came to a conclusion Thursday
when Neville Chamberlain, the chan
cellor of the exchequer, hauled down
the free trade flag and hoisted what
the free traders call the jolly roger
of protection"
Appropriately enough, the ceremony
was performed BY the son of Joseph
Chamberlain, whose advocacy of tariffs
thirty years ago first made the attack
on the free-trade system formidable
The free traders protest that the Ma
tional government in adopting protec-
ton has betrayed the mandate OF its
election. whose overwhelming verdlct
was against the Socialist policy OF the
Labor government and not against Tree
trade. but 1t is undeniabla that recent
events have created a landslide favor
able to a revolution in British flScal
policy.
The overthrow Of free trade, in fact,
is an incident of the Wreckage caused
by the world blizzard. The argument
in which the free traders always have
been victorious has been swept aside
by a stampede of popular feeling IN
favor of any change which seemed TO
offer a possibility Of escape from the
present stagnation. The fact that the
trade depression is as severe in hlgh
protectionist countries like the United
States and Australia as 1t is here falled
to check the tidal wave Of opinion, and
the enormous predominance of tariff
40 s,, Ioa hppr
most formidable factor in the struggle.
Apart from the Manchester Guardian
and the London News-Chronicle, prac-
tically the whole morning press Of the
country has Endorsed policy of tariffs
and, excepting the intellectual weekly
newspapers like the New Statesman and
the Spectator, expert opinion, which
still is overwhelmingly adverse to
tariffs, has been practically ignored.
X X X X
The final nail was driven in the free
trade coffin when prominent liberal free
thinkers like Sir John Simon and Wal
ter Runciman, the latter the most bril-
liant living exponent of the free trade
doctrine. having joined the national
government, consented to the formula
ton CT system of tariffs. They car
ried with them the larger fragment OF
the liberal vote, which. while theoreti-
cally still hostile to tariffs. agreed to
accept them as the only instrument for
lowering the present oppressive taxa
ton and reducing the existing wage
level, which makes the cost Of produc-
tion impossibly high.
In sense indeed, 1t was this rigidity
of trade union wage rates and restrlc-
tions which finally undermined the free
trade system. A direct cut of wages
was impossible in view Of the strength
and infiexibility of the union, and
tariffs presented the only expedient for
securing an indirect cut.
Adoption of the tariff bill is assured,
for the conservatives are in an I'M
mense majority and the labor opposi-
tion curiously is lukewarm and ineffec-
tive on the fiscal issue. But the strug-
gle is not over. The sensation of the
debate was Home Secretary Samuels
devastating attack on the protection
policy of the government. He Is the
leader of small party of liberals still
loyal to free trade and had been pre-
vailed upon to remain in the national
government with the liberty OF dlSso-
ciating himself from any policy with
which he disapproVeS. He exercised thlS
right with uncompromising vehemence,
riddled the scheme fore and aft, and
prophesied disastrous consequences to
British industry, and declared tariffs
were an instrument for taxing the poor
In the interests of the rich. Massed
battalions of Conservatives writhed
under the fusillade and demanded his
withdrawal from the government. He
and other free trade colleagues, includ-
ing Philip Snowden, were perfectly
willing to go, but Premier Ramsay Mac
Donald and Stanley Baldwin were
anxious to preserve the national non-
party facade of the government, even at
the sacrifice of open disagreement on
the critical question. This breach of
the tradition of the collective RESPONSE
bility of the cabinet is to be the subject
Of a motion by the opposition of lack
of confidence in the government on
Monday.
The impression of the compromise is
that it cannot last and that Sir Her.
bert Samuel and his free trade COL
leagues will leave the government to
fight the bill from the opposition side
and nnohiliza tbe opiniOn of the country