* * * We do not ourselves think that preferential
tariffs would be profitable in the long run to anyone, but we should, of course, regard them as beyond the range of dispute if the alternative were the estrangement of the Dominions. We need only add that, from our point of view, subsidies would always be less objectionable than tariffs for home industries. A subsidy can be quickly removed if necessary and it does not set up all the complications of a tariff. Subject to these reservations we feel bound to support, as we have always done, the principle of Free Trade. We sincerely hope that the Unionist Party will not allow itself, through lethargy or carelessness, to be placed in the position of seeming to be indifferent either to the economic conditions upon which British prosperity was built up or to the natural demand of the people that the cost of living shall not be- artificially increased. *
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