However that may be, the appointment of a professing Free
Trader as Chancellor of the Exchequer is an earnest that Mr. Baldwin means to be scrupulously faithful to his pledges neither to tax food nor to impose a general tariff. Mr. Churchill has inherited. a family tradition of public economy. It was in that cause that Lord Randolph Churchill dramatically resigned his office. Altogether we feel as though we were living again in the first days of Mr. Baldwin's first Administration. Our expectation then was that Mr. Baldwin would develop a " Left Centre " policy, and that he would respect the often declared verdict of the nation against Protection. The fact that he invited Mr. McKenna to be Chancellor of the Ekchequer undoubtedly justified our high hopes. Unfortunately events made it impossible. for Mr. McKenna to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and before long Mr. 'Baldwin subordinated all other interests to a Protectionist policy. Now, within a year,. the wheel of fortune has come full circle and our original hopes are renewed. .
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