TARIFF REFORM AND SOO - Fa - LIM
[TO THE EDITOR OP TILE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—Mr. Clark's letter in your issue of September 3rd on Tariff Reform and Socialism is more ingenious than con- vincing. If " Free-trade is a specific against Socialism," is it not strange that the majority of Socialists profess Free- trade ? And if Protection "is the fruitful parent of Socialism," is it not singular that in America Socialism is more barren than in any other civilised country in the world? Your correspondent's reference to the growth of Socialism in Germany is misleading. There is a great difference between convinced adherence to the creed of Socialism and merely voting for Socialist candidates at an election; and in Germany, as elsewhere, many electors vote for Socialism, not because they are convinced Socialists, but because they are dissatisfied with other parties, or on the principle of " giving it a chance." Thus in 1903 the Socialists won a great triumph in Saxony because a great many shopkeepers voted for them for special reasons, but at the next election they reverted. This fickle- ness on the part of democracy is demonstrated by Dr. Michels in his masterly analysis of the German Socialist vote, from which it may be inferred that the firm body of adherents who subscribe to the economic creed of Socialism in full is only about one-tenth of the Socialist vote. It is also recognised in your article on the Kaiser's recent speech when you say : "There are thousands of German voters who use the Socialists as a means of arriving at what they desire without in the least approving of their final aims." Mr. Clark would do • J,tistranaLaied in the spectator referred to.
well to consider the fundamental differences between Socialism and Tariff Reform, and not be carried away by superficial resemblances. For example, Socialism, not as a Utopian dream, but as a practical project, resolves itself more and more into a question of taxation. Socialism, in fact, stripped of all verbal dressing and seen in unabashed nakedness, is simply and solely a reasoned theory of confiscation. Mr. Clark will not, I think, deny this. Then I put it to him, whether in political temper, in practical methods, or in ultimate aim, Socialism corresponds more nearly to Tariff Reform or Liberal. Free-trade ? So far, indeed, has Liberal Free-trade, with its Limehouse speeches and its predatory legislation, advanced in the direction of practical Socialism that it is quite possible to maintain that at the present time, if you are not a Tariff Reformer, then in effect you are a Socialist, or ultimately will be.—I am, Sir, &c., •
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