Should it prove impossible for Sir Michael Hicks Beach to
continue as Chancellor of the Exchequer, which seems certain, we trust that Mr. Balfour may be induced to -follow the example of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Gladstone and be his own Chancellor of the Exchequer. As we had occasion to point out not long ago, there are many very weighty reasons for closely linking the power of the purse with the supreme power. All Policies' depend in the long run on money, and unless the choice of policy and the filial control of the Administration
are in the same hands as those which hold the purse-strings, we are apt to get a certain dislocation in the work of govern- ment. Sometimes a policy is adopted without sufficient thought as to the cost, and the Treasury has to pay the bill because the country is committed. At other times the best policy is not adopted because the Treasury vetos the necessary proposals absolutely. It will be said, we presume, that no one man can lead the House, act as Premier, and be Chancellor of the Exchequer, but we doubt whether the plea is really as sound as it looks. If the Prime Minister is himself Chancellor of the Exchequer, he can settle many problems between the Treasury and the Departments quicker than if he has to act as a kind of arbitrator between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Departments. It is often far quicker to do a thing yourself than to discuss how it is to be done with two other people.
