It will be the part of unimaginative thinkers to exclaim
with horror that Lord Irwin has " surrendered " about the salt tax. As a matter of fact, he has yielded some- thing which only a craven fear of being called weak could have caused him to withhold. Sir George Schuster, the Finance Minister, has said that the free use of salt from the sea will not- affect the greater part of the salt revenue. To tell the coast-dwellers that they are not to make use of what Nature spreads at their doors would be rather like telling the coast-dwellers on the west coast of Ireland that seaweed must never be a part of their food. We dare say that the salt thus gathered will not be very satisfactory and that many people will go on buying the Government salt as before. The abandonment of actions against non-taxpayers who will now presumably pay their arrears is just such a concession as a successful commander would want to make to an enemy with whom he desired to live in peace. Germany and her friends were beaten to exhaustion in the Great War, but the trouble about the Peace Treaties is not that the Allies gave away too much but that they imposed some unnecessary hardships. Lord Irwin has no need what- ever to apologize to anyone for avoiding such a blunder. The recognition of peaceful picketing, so far as we understand it, does no more than bring Indians abreast of British practice. * * * *
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