The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times

GREAT PROGRESSIVE DEMONSTRATION AT NEWTOWN. Brilliant & Convincing Speech by Mr Lloyd George. Arresting Facts about Protection. The Homa Rule Bogey Exposed. "Don't Betray Wales." Liberal enthusiasm rose to a great height of enthusiasm on Monday evening, "When M r Lloyd George visited Newtown, and delivered a magnificent speech in the Victoria Hall, which unfortunately wa9 much too small to accommo- date within many hundreds those anxious to hear the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Motoring from Carnarvon, the Chancellor stopped at Machynlleth, where he delivered a brief, but stirring speech opposite\the town clock. After visiting Plas Dinam, where he had dinner with the County Member, he reached Newtown shortly before the hour of the meeting. The hall was crowded to its utmost capacity by half-past six o'clock, and the interval of waiting was pleasantly whiled away by selec- tions from the Young Lideral League Male Voice Choir, conducted by Mr J. R. O. Evans. "The Land Song," and "Tramp, tramp, the Boys are marching," and other popular election songs were finely rendered, and enthusiastically joined in by the audience. A mighty roar of cheering from outside the hall announced that the Chancellor and the other speakers had arrived, and then the excitement in the hall became tense. Seconds seemed to be minutes, as all awaited the arrival of Mr Lloyd George and of the Can. didate. The appearance of the Chairman (Mr Hugh Lewis), was the signal for a remarkable scene. As the Chancellor, Mr Geoige Thorne, and the Candidate took their places in the front rank on the platform, cheer after cheer rent the air, and the packed audience stood and shouted and waved in ectacies of enthusiasm and delight. At last when comparative silence was restored the Male Voice Choir, at the Chancellor's suggestion, gave another chorus, and then THE CHAIRMAN. The Chairman (Mr Hugh Lewis) said they had met that evening to welcome oncafmore to Newtown the Chancellor of the Erxchequer (applause). As Welshmen they were proud of what he had accomplished for their country, and they were grateful for what he was doing in that great fight against the Peers (loud applause), They recognised that it was due to him that the fight was precipitated (applause). For many years in the past Liberals bad been striving to cut down the power of the House of Lords. Mr Gladstone, Lord Rosebery and Campbell- Bannerman had all tried, but its accomplishment had been left to their little Welshman (laughter and applause). It was for their David to bring the burly giant to his knees. They were coming at last to grips with the inveterate foe of Liberalism. How their forefathers would have rejoiced in the struggle (hear, hear). He hoped that every Liberal elector in the Montgomery Boroughs would do his duty at the forthcoming election. Let them not be cajoled by paid hirelings or fright- ened by Tory bogies to vote against their prin- ciples (applause). Let not the Montgomery BOTOUghs desert to the Tories as their late member had d.me (laughter and applause). They were on the winning side (cheers), So let the voice of the Montgomery Boroughs join in the chorus of victory (loud cheers). THE CHANCELLOR- Loud and prolonged cheering greeted the Chancellor as he rose and approached the roatrum. He said:— Mr Chairman, and fellow countrymen (loud cheers, and an attempt at singing For he is a jolly good fellow"). I will take the intention for the deed (laughter). I came here about eleven months ago to support Liberal principles and Liberal pro- grammes. I have come here to-day, not merely to support Liberal principles and the Liberal programme, but to support a Liberal candidate (loud laughter and con- tinued applause). Now that he has gone to his own place-(laughter, and cries of "Rub it in," and "Let him have it )—I have nothing further to say about your late member (hear, hear). But I have this to say about your future member. You have secured a very admirable candidate. You have secured a young Welshman of real gifts, of real promise. I don't ask you to elect him because he is the oldest son of his father—(laughter),—although there^ is no Welshman I ever met for whom I had greater respect (loud cheers). There is no Welsh- man I have ever met who did more qu1^ steady, persistent, work for lns country, and if I were here to advocate the ca^se. ,°f hereditary representation, I should certain y find an excellent argument in the hereditary principle for your returning your candidate Mr Humphreys-Owen, to Parliament (loud and continued applause). I am advocating his cause on its merits. We really want a number of young Welshmen in the House of Commons. About twenty years ago Wales took it into its head very. wisely to send a number of young fellows to the House of Commons. Men who were flesh of your flesh, and bone of your bone, and who, when they got into the House of Commons, represented not merely in their argument, but in their person bodily, the sort of thing we grow in the Welsh hills (loud applause). I am very glad that you have chosen a young Welshman of that type, able, eloquent, gi"e^ with a real good political training, who I think you will find, if he gets in there, will MAKE YOU FEEL QUITE PROUD that you have such a representative.-(" He will go in," and cheers).-But I am advo- cating his cause not merely for personal reasons, but I am advocating ^1S can i- dature because he represents such prin- ciples (cheers). I am afraid I am a little hoarse, so that I must ask your indulgence. -Mr Lloyd George then took a drink of water, when a voice in the audience shouted H Good health, sir." Mr Lloyd George re- plied, with another sip, "Good health to you too good health to you all (laughter and' applause)—and to your candidate (loud cheers). You gave to the late candidate a majority of 13. That is an unlucky number. That is probably why he left us (laughter). I want you to increase that enormously, and I have two or three reasons why you should increase it. The first is, you have a better candidate but the second is that there are stronger reasons than ever why the Montgomery Boroughs should be Liberal this time. I am going to give you two of those reasons. The first deals with the position of trade. I remember when I came here last the Tories were full of prophecies. It was all over with regard to the trade of this country. and there were symptoms and cir- cumstances which rather justified them tak- ing a gloomy view for the moment. Un- employment had been rather bad. Our trade returns had been going down, and they were able to fasten upon two or three things of that kind in order to frighten the timid into ) the belief that there was something wrong I in our fiscal system. Since then what has happened ? Trade has improved enormously, unemployment has gone down, and so far from our being in a worse position than we were, we are at the present moment, as far as trade is concerned, in a better position than we ever were in this country (hear, hear, and cheers). Now IN THIS TOWN, and, I believe, in this county upon the whole, you depend more upon the woollen industry than they do in any county in Wales. What is the position of the woollen industry ? I want this to sink into the minds of every man who is in doubt about the future in reference to our fiscal system. All the great centres of the woollen industry have gone solid for Free Trade (hear, hear). Yorkshire, which is the most important woollen centre in the whole world has gone —(A Voice: "Bravo, bravo, bravo" and That's right).—I think he comes from Yorkshire (laughter). The most important woollen centre in the whole world, York- shire, has gone solid for Free Trade, and in the opinion of Yorkshire, and a Yorkshire- man is a very shrewd fellow, he comes to the conclusion that for him Free Trade is worth 50 tariffs. Well now. I went to another centre where they manufacture tweeds. I was down at Peebles. Peebles is a place where the Liberal majority has been a small one. It is only quite recently it has come over to the Liberal party. I think it came over on Free Trade. Before the banner of Tariff Reform was raised I think Peebles was Conservative or Unionist. On Free Trade it came over to the Liberal party. I was there about three weeks ago. And what did they tell me ? That in the Boer War they were very busy there spin- ning khaki (laughter). After the Boer War there was a sudden cessation of orders, and things looked blue for them. What hap- pened ? Luckily for them there came a great accession of orders. Where from do you think ? From Germany for tweeds, and that kept them going and since then they htve been spinning night and day. They are working overtime. They are now and they have got enormous orders for their tweeds from Germany. What was the re- sult ? A Tariff Reform candidate came along, and said, You are ruined." They said, "No, we are not" (laughter). But he said, Don't contradict me, I say you are." But they said, No, we are not, we are working overtime." Then," he said, if you are not now, you will be some time" (laughter). They said, On the contrary, we are doing better than ever." I was stay- ing there with the greatest woollen manu- facturer in the town and he told me that Free Trade was the only chance for their industry. That TARIFFS WOULD RUIN THEM, and for that reason he stood for Free Trade as a woollen manufacturer. And they have just returned a young fellow from Cardiff, a young Cardiff solicitor, they have just re- turned him as the Free Trade and Liberal member for Peebles, in the great centre of the tweed industry in Scotland. I then went over to Galashiels and the Border Boroughs. I was staying with my friend the Master of Elibank, a very shrewd Scotsman, and if you get a Scotsman and a Yorkshireman to agree on a business proposition you can venture to put your money on that propo- sition (laughter). I was there in the other centre of the tweed industry. Here was the chance. If Free Trade was ruining the woollen industry, why on earth didn't they bring in a Tariff Reform candidatp there ? They didn't even support a candidate there. Why ? They knew they hadn't the ghost of a chance of persuading those shrewd Scots- men that to put a Tariff on bread would make the German buy their tweeds (loud applause). Well, the whole of the woollen industry in Scotland and in England has gone for Free Trade, and the woollen in- dustry in Newtown is going for Free Trade (loud cheers). Here I have got in my hand the official returns of all commodities that are bought and sold to and from this coun- try. Everything every year that passes from this country of wool, whether from Newtown or Yorkshire or from Peebles, I have got it here—(laughter)—in this little parcel (more laughter, and Keep it all there "). I don't know what that means, perhaps he does (laughter). There you get all the woollen goods that are sold from this country. It is a very remarkable account. STRIKING FACTS. For those who tell you that Free Trade is ruining us listen to this: Two years ago we sold from this country to 'foreign and colonial countries 25 millions worth of wool- len goods. Now that is a pretty tidy little sum. 25 millions worth of woollen manu- factures, not of wool, mind you, but woollen manufactures, sold by this country to for- eign and colonial countries. That is the first eleven months of 1908. I have just had the account for the first eleven months of this year. We have sold 34 millions worth the first eleven months of this year (hear, hear, and loud cheers). In two years we have sold more by 9 millions of woollen manufactures from this country to countries across the seas than we did two years ago (hear, hear). But not only that. The rate of progress is accelerated. They say, "Oh, yes, but we are not getting on as we used to." Now follow this: Last year we sold two millions worth more of manufactures than we did the previous year. This year we have sold seven millions worth more in manufactures than we did last year (loud applause). I am very pleased at our pro- gress. That shows to you why the shrewd woollen operative and manufacturer of Yorkshire, and the equally canny manu- facturer and operative of Scotland, why they have gone for Free Trade. It is purely and simply because under the present system the trade has prospered enormously (cheers). I will eive you another fact. MR. BONAR LAW. I believe you have got a Tariff Reform gen- tleman here on Wednesday. He was not such a Tariff Reformer when candidate at Manchester, but now that Manchester will have nothing to do with him I have no doubt he will be tremendously Protectionist when he comes down here (laughter). I ask you, and I ask anybody who is here if there is a gentleman here who is a Tariff Re- former, I ask him now to give me an answer. (There was some disturbance at the back of the hall, and cries of Turn him out"). No, no, continued Mr Lloyd George. You listen to the question first. That is just like an intelligent Conservative. He answers first, and listens to the question after (loud laughter). I ask anybody to name a single country in the world-in the world-that has sold as much of its woollen manufactures as this country. Now, where is it ? We have heard a little about Japan recently. Ger- many, the United States of America, France, take any of these protected countries, not one of them comes within millions of this country in the sale of woollen manufactures (loud applause). But they say, Ah, but we are selling to the colonies." So we are, but we are selling to protected countries. Listen to this: This year already we have sold to Germany LI,100,000 more of our woollen manufactures than we did last year, and if you take our woollen tissues, flannel and things of that sort, you will find that we have an increase on our sales to Ger-1 THE RIGHT HON. D. LLOYD GEORGE (CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER). many this year over last year as great as the increase to the whole of our colonies put together. I want you to BEAR THESE THINGS IN MIND, because they are very, very important. But then they say, Ah, but we are importing stuff, too." We are not importing one-third what we are selling (hear, hear, and cheers). And what are we importing ? We are im- porting something which is called stuffs, and ladies will understand what it means,— (laughter)-the sort of stuffs which ladies use for their dresses. We are importing a considerable quantity of that from France. Why, do you think if you put a 10 per cent, duty that the ladies would stop buying French stuffs ? They are buying French stuffs because they have got it into their heads that it is more fashionable. A mere 10 per cent. duty would not stop them. But now, the Bradford people, having dis- covered that the ladies have taken a great fancy to the French stuff, put their brains into improving the quality of the stuff which they are turning out at Bradford, and gradually we are cutting out the French stuffs, not merely in this country, but in France as well. Now that is exactly what Free Trade does. In a foreign country you begin at a 10, 20, or 25 per cent. duty. If you are t>eaten in competition, you say Let us put an extra 5 per cent, on," and if you are beaten on that, they say, Put another 5 per cent. on," and it becomes more and more expensive. Whereas what do you do in this country, if you are beaten by a foreign country in, any case ? You would say, What is the reason, is it tariffs ?" You say "No, they have either got better machinery than we have, or they have got somehow or other better designs." What do the Englishman and the Scotch- man and the Welshman do ? They instantly buy the same sort of machinery, and better I if they can. They employ the best design- ers that money can procure, and in a very short time they BEAT THE FOREIGNER, who before that had beaten them in the market. That is what happen&d in the boot trade. We were somehow or other being beaten by the Americans. Now why ? We were beaten by the Americans not because of tariffs. We were beaten because the Americans had devised some of the most ingenious machinery--(" Right ")-that any- body had seen. I do not know whether you have been in one of these great boot factor- ies. I remember turning into one at Wol- verhampton, and it was one of the most uncanny things I have ever seen when I saw the things the machinery did. It did everything but talk, twisted and bored pegs and nails, and Aid the soles exactly as a shoemaker used to do. It was one of the most uncanny sights I have ever seen. Everything in perfect shape, polished and blacked, and almost buttoned your boots for you (laughter). What had happened ? The boot manufacturers of the country dis- covered they were being beaten in its mar- kets by American boots, and sent a deputa- tion over to America to find the reason why. WHAT DID THEY DISCOVER? rhey discovered that the Americans had got machinery which was worth fifty of ours. What did they do ? They scrapped all their machines, copied American machines, and they are now improving upon the American machines, and in a very short time we have not merely recaptured the trade, but we have whipped the Yankee boots all over Europe (loud applause). If we had been a Protectionist country, we should have put on 10 per cent. on every pair of boots for you and your children. Who would have gained by that ? I want you in this matter to use your common sense, and if you do it, you will see what folly Protection really is (hear, hear). They want you to put on 10 or 15 per cent. duty. What for ? To keep off competition. I want you to follow me. You have two mar- kets for your goods. One is the foreign market and the other is the home market. How does Protection enable you to get into the foreign market? I have never been able to get anybody to prove that to me. We depend in this country more on the foreign market than any country in the world. I want you to bear that in mind. Why, we are a very small country-a very small country. We are THE SMALLEST GREAT COUNTRY in the world (laughter). The United States of America is a gigantic continent, with every natural resource that Providence has deposited for the children of men in this earth. Everything-every kind of cereal, wheat, barley, oats, corn every kind of fruit grows there, every kind of mineral and metal deposited in the earth you have got there, things which you have not got here, except in very small quantities. Then there is a treasure of very great value— those great petroleum deposits there. You have got every kind of natural resources that nature has provided anywhere in America. You have not got it here. Here, before the farmer can get anything out of his soil, he has got to manure it carefully, study its chemical composition he has got to purchase enormous quantities of chemical composition in order to fertilise it. In ad- dition to that, he has got to pay a heavy rent. In America, what you do is this- you turn the sod, you sow the seed, and you wait until the reaping time comes. You are so rich you don't want the straw, you simply burn it, and that is all you do. The next year you turn the sod over again and sow the seed. You don't manure, you don't pay enormous sums for labour and chemicals, and things of that sort. A coun- try of that kind has natural resources- enormous ones. THE GREAT DIFFERENCE. A new country's wants are very much greater. Railway development is almost at an end here. You make a little railway from Welshpool to Llanfair, --(laughter)- and a very good thing, too but that is the sort of railway development that is left to this country. Sometimes you may de- velop a line here and there. Very occa- sionally you get a new railway like the central, which runs about 100 or 150 miles but when you get a new railway in America, they don't look at it under 500 or 1,000 miles. All that means a thousand miles of rails, a thousand miles of bridges, a thousand miles of girders and steel in every shape and form, rolling stock on that thousand miles, every kind of order that every manufacturer can possibly turn out. That is what you get in a new country, so that America can play pranks with tariffs,and everything else, because if you, froze her on the north, if you were to lock up the Atlantic ocean with icebergs, if you were to roll out the south, and simply gird her with an impassable gulf, America would not starve, America would still be rich ,America would still be a great country. But if you did that in this little island, in a fortnight we would DIE OF FAMINE (hear, hear, and loud applause). So that it is no use talking about America. It has no reference to the country at all. There is no comparison possible between them. But America has put up a tariff, and even America is revolting against it (loud ap- plause). Even America cannot stand it. Mr Roosevelt was one of the most popular men America ever saw. In New York he was acclaimed by the whole nation. He com- mitted himself to the Smith-Aldridge tariff and he got the biggest beating man ever had in America. There is a revolt against it. Why ? Tariffs had landed them in Trusts and costly living, where everything is al- most turned out for nothing by nature. You have simply got to put your sickle into the opulence of nature, reap it, garner it, and yet everything is dearer in that land of super-abundant plenty, everything is dearer than in this little island, which is just a little sort of back garden for Europe- (laughter and loud cheers)—where there is no room to turn round, and the room you get is walled out by parks (loud cheers). In that great rich country everything is dearer there than here, where we have got to carry it thousands of miles. Why ? I WILL TELL YOU WHY. We have trusted our markets to freedom—(hear, hear),—and there is no greater provider for the tables of the people than liberty (hear, hear, and loud cheers). I want you to follow this argument, unless you are getting tired of it (cries of No, no," "Go on," and cheers). America has greater material resources, as I told you, than any other country in the world. How is it she stands in international trade third ? Who comes second ? Germany. Who comes first? (Cries of "Eng- land," and "Free Trade"). It is this little ruined- (laugbter),-Free Trade wrecked country called Britain (hear, hear, and applause"), First, Britain, under the flag of freedom (hear, hear, and cheers). Second—a long way off, scores of millions of pounds away off (laughter); you have got to get a long telescope to see it (laughter); it is a long way off; a sort of a planet—(laughter) -just in space as it were (laughter and cheers); there you can see Germany (laughter). And if you look carefully with a powerful telescope you can see another speck-(Iaughter)-in a sort of commercial universe—that is America. That is how they stand. BRITAIN FIRST. And how does Germany come second ? I will tell you. It is very, very significant. How is it that Germany beats the United States? There Bfe two reasons. It has got a smaller tariff to begin with than America. The second reason is: In order to compete with us at all Germany has got to do two things. She has got to sell dear at home to her own people, in order to sell cheap to the foreigners (hear, hear, and cheers, and a voice, That's right "). How would you like that ? (laughter). I will tell you what it means. The Leicestershire and Northampton bootmakers would say, "Here we have got a tariff. Inside that tariff we can charge anything we like. We have a ten per cent. tariff. We can put up the price f of our boots by at least eight per cent. and still have a margin of two per cent. to beat the foreigner." So everyone of us, you and I, would have to pay eight per cent, more for our boots, for our boots for ourselves and our children. But i then going across the sea t > sell their boots in Argentina, China, and elsewhere they would say, t. Here we have to meet the German, the American, and the Frenchman," and, therefore, they put their goods down cheaper there, and you have to pay the difference (hear, hear, and cheers). I don't dislike the" Japs" or the people that live in Argentine, but I don't want my children to go barefooted in order to give boots to the Argentinian (hear, hear). I don't want him to pay more, but only to pay a fair price. I aleo want a fair price for myself (hear, hear, and cheers). But that is what you will never get with Protection. In Germany they put up the price against the people at home in order to be able to compete with England abroad, and that is why there is so much grumbling in Germany. Have you followed the German elections ? They are very significant. There is A REAL REVOLT IN GERMANY against tariffs. The Socialists are winning seats atter seats. The Free Trade party are winning seat after seat and seat after seat, (hear hear and cheers), and whv! Because there is a revolt against Protection. The German competes against us by putting up his charge against his own,people, and in the second place by paying his workers, (and I want every working man here to remember this), less wages, and requiting them to work longer hours, (hear hear). That is the only way in which he is able to enter the market and meet us at all. If the German had Free Trade he could give his workmen better wages (cheers), and better hours of labour! and why ? I will tell you why. Free Trade means tIaIt all the materials, everything that goes to make your manufactured articles at the cheapest, every- thing that contributes to your manufactured article-the machinery and all else. There are thousands of things that go to make a manufac- tured article. These little things contribute to the manufacture of the article. A machine is not made in one workshop, it is passed through stage after stage, until at last it is known as a perfect machine, and if you tax it at every stage, after you have developed it and put it together into a machine, that machine would be so costly that it will increase the whole expense of your workmanship, (hear hear), and you will have to pay the difference to the workmen (cheers). I have asked a question which I have not had an answer to; I am going to ask another. Here it is; If Protection is to be so good for this country CAN YOU TELL ME anybody, arty of you, how it is that wages in this Free Trade country of ours are higher than those paid in any country in Europe (hear, hear, and cheers), and hours of labour are shorter, and the conditions are better, and what is equally impor- tant, the necessaries of life are cheaper ? (cheers, and voices-" That's the point, and "Rub it in"). A sovereign is not a thing you eat. A sovereign is something that will purchase. Go with a sov- ereign to Johannesburg, and even your soda water would cost you that every week (laughter). Therefore, the value of a sovereign is exactly what it will buy (hear, hear). If things are cheaper in Great Britain, then a sovereign is worth more here than in any other country in the world (hear, hear and oheers). I want you to bear that in mind. But it is said You cannot get the foreign market without Protection." Free Trade is the thing that gives us the foreign market. If you look at all the neutral markets of the world you will find that we beat every other country in those markets, which means that Free Trade is undoubt- edly better for the foreign market. And then they say What about the home market ? Free Trade is infinitely better for the home market. I will tell you why. Protection must necessarily put up the prices of things. You have only to look at it like this. Supposing that you had a ring around Newtown, you could not bring any goods in here-woollens, cotton, boots, clothing, or anything else—without paying the tariffs upon it from outside. What would result? The prices would of course go up instantly. Why ? Because the competition would be less. What keeps prices down is competition on equal terms. If the tradesmen of Newtown know that the moment they put up the price goods would come in from I other districts at a lower rate, down go their prices at once (bear, hear). But if they knew that they can put 10 per cent on every pound which you buy from them-well. I dont blame them very much for doing it (laughter). Human nature being what it is, they would do it. Therefore, the inevitable effect of Protection is by prevent- ing competition to put up the prices (hear, hear). Now LET ME SHOW YOU how that affects the home market. A workman, let us say, earns 25s. He has got to make that 25s go; he has no banking account If prices go up, the man with the banking account merely shrugs his shoulders. He says," Well, groceries have gone up, clothing and boots have gone up," but he just writes out his cheque, and his balanoe at the bank is a little less than it was (hear, hear). That is the only thing that happens to the rich man with a bank balance. But what about the workman ? (hear, hear, and a voice. "Yes; that's the rub, sir.) He cannot draw a cheque on the bank; his wages are fixed at 25s. He gives so much of them to his wife, and she has got to make that go. If she finds that prices have gone up. she must buy less (hear, hear). She will have to try to make the boots last longer. Whereas she used to buy a pair at least once a year for the child, she finds that she cannot afford it this time. since the price of everything has gone up. I thought," she says to herself, that I would have been able to save a little, but neces- saries have increased in price, and so I shall have to make the old dress go a little further; the old bonnet has got to last a little longer, and the Sunday dress will have to do for a few years, where one or two have done before." That is what the housewife has got to do. I will tell you what I have seen as Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, it is my business «-v*-ry week on a Wednesday to consider tha revenue. Every Wednesday L gut an account of ..11 revenue, and I watch the Customs most keerJy -the spirits and the beer (lauyhter). Then I come to the tea. I found that;, tea and sugar He ralher disappointing, an.1 I asked the reason why. N hiskey is going up enoraiousiy, or ratiier going down (laughter) It is going up because it it going down (great laughter). I found that it was troing up. "Well," i paid, Why are tea and sugar going down ? The fact or whiskey and beer going up prores that trade is very much better, but tea and sugar always go up at tne si u, o tl m e. But I found they had not. Why?' I made inquiries, and found that for some reason or other tea was more expensive this year. A FARTHING I found that owing to the scarcity of plantations or some blight or other, tea was jutt a trifle dearer-a halfpenny or a farthing on the four ounces, Sugar was also more scarce and there was a farthing difference in the ptice. That l farthing put down the consumption. (Hear, hear). So the consumption of tea and sugar did not come up to what it otherwise would have, purely because of the farthing being added to it. The rich man said what nonsense, do iLoU think a farthing would make such a difference ? It would not make a difference to me anyway." But there are millions of households in this country in which they have to consider that little coin when they are buying their food (hear, hear, and cheers). So you see what it means. If you put up the price the consumption goes down-the consumption of bools-toe consumption of clothes —the consumption of mostly everything. Pro- tection diminishes the power of the people to buy things and therefore it ruin6 both the home and the foreign markets (cheers). One thing I should like to say about the Col- onies. It is said Ob, we are exporting a great quantity of things but that is to the Colonies ? The Colonies are excellent customers. And why ? Do you think a Colonial goes to a shop and says give me ten yards of British woolen goods ? He may. But why ? Is it because it is British ? No, it is because being British it is better than any other (hear, hear). The Colonial is just like one of us. We buy stuff either because it is bet- ter quality or because it is cheaper (hear, hear). Colonials do the same thing. Free Trade enables us to give better staff and give it cheaper, and as long as we do that we will keep the Colonial trade (cheers). There is no need to tax the bread of the poor (loud and prolonged cheers). BREAD IS SCARCE ENOUGH. in hundreds of thousands of households without taking the crust of it off for the tax gatherer '(hear, hear, and cheers) Why am I against it? Because it is absolutely needless. The most remarkable thing in the history of our trade during the last few years is the enormous increase in the quantity of goods we pour into Protected countries, I have the figures here, but I am not going to weary you with them now. I have got them if they are wanted. We are increasing our trade enormously, over America, Germany, and all the other protectionist countries in the world (hear, hear). And why ? At first tariffs somehow or other kept us out of the foreign markets. But we found a way round them (laughter and cheers). You have got a river at Newtown well. build a wall across it, and that channel would be dry. But not for long. Why ? The natural drift of the water is down in that direction, and by and by it would get over the wall or find a wiy round, and you could go and fish in that channel in a very short time (laughter). It is the same with tariffs. At first the great tariff walls kept the river of British trade out. But gradually it wore up and up and it has gone like a cataract over them, or is going round them, and we are increasing million by million in trade with protected countries. At this moment it is greater than it ever was (cheers). Therefore, I beg of you not to commit the foily, the double folly, the irretrievable folly, the irremediable folly, of going back sixty years (loud cheecs, and cries of We never will "). The nation that retraces its steps once it starts on the road to freedom is A DOOMED NATION (hear, hear). Sixty years ago under the leader- ship of some of the greatest and most consecrated statesmen whom this land has ever been blessed with-John Bright and Richard Cobden—(loud (cheers)—we left the land of bondage—(cheers)— and we started for the paradise of freedom (hear. hear). Don't go back (cheers and cries of Never "). It means misery, poverty, wretched- ness, hunger, aye hunger, to go back (never). Did I said it was a folly ? It is a crime (great cheering). Let us rather go on (cheers). It is the men who hate progress who are clamouring for tariffs (hear, hear). They are afraid to see the nation looking forward. Free Trade was but the beginning. It was only a step towards the promised land, and Cobden and Bright and Gladstone—(loud cheers)—and all the great Free Trade leaders wanted us to advance. And that is one thing we are asking at this election. We are asking you to take a st6p forward towards the dawn of liberty (cheers and cries of "We will"). We have got rid of the tyranny of the monopolist in trade; we have got to get rid of many another monopoly before we are done (cheers). We have got to get rid of the tyranny of the Lords (hear, hear, and loud and prolonged cheering). And we are going to get rid of it (cheers). We are cer- tain to get rid of it (cheers). But I want you to be there (prolonged cheering). Don't you be on the wrong side when victory comes. You be there to Bhout- (laughter) -with the victors (cheers and a voice "Humphreys-Owen will be there right enough "). Yes; I want him to be in at the death (laughter). I want you to be repre- sented there (laughter and cheers). That is what I want. Don't allow those side issues to interfere with you. Don't waste your time over these side issues. The Tories are trying to get your eyes glued to the right and left and every- where possible except forward. They are trying to frighten you with Home Rule (laughter, and voice They cannot frighten us "). WHAT HOME RULE MEANS. I must say you dont look like a sort of man to be frightened (laughter), They have got two or three peripatetic gentlemen about here (laughter), to tell you that Home Rule is to oppress the Protestants of Ireland. No Home Bill that will ever be passed will give an Irish parliament the power over religion-(loud cheers). They say, ah, but they may establish a Roman Catholic religion in Ireland." Of course, it is a frightful thing to establish the religion of the majority. When you establish a religion it must be the religion of the minority (laughter). The Home Rule bill will contain a clause which will prevent them from establishing any religion. (cheers), either Catholic or Protestant, so that as far as this cry about interfering with religion is concerned, the Irish parliament will have no power, and these people ought to have known that. (Cheers and a voice. they dont want to know it"). Of course they dont. But you know it now, don't you? (cheers). Just you tell them when they begin to frighten you with the establishment of Catholic religion in Ireland, that under Home Rule they will have no more right to do so than a Welsh parliament would have to establish the Rev. T. E. Williams and myself as Baptist archbishops (great laugh- ter). That is not the idea of a Home Sule parliament. The idea of a Home Rule.parliament is that the people should attend to their own affairs, which they can do so much better than is now done at Westminster. TAKE WALES FOR INSTANCE (hear, hear and cheers). Cannot we look after our own education much better than a number of clerks in Whitehall can do (cheers). Infinitely better. That is what Home Rule means. Cannot we look after our own licensing problems much better ? If we want to drink that is our own business. If we don't want to drink why should anybody else outside force it upon us? (hear, hear). If we want lots to drink that is our busi- ness (laughter). If we want a little drink that is our business (laughter). If we want no drink at all that is also our business (c-ers). Why should men from Kent tell us how iu ny pubs we want? (laughter). Surely that is var business entirely (bear, hear). The same thing in regard to our local and purely national affairs, all of which concern us and nobody else. But the idea that any Home Rule Parliament for either Ireland or Wales should be allowed to oppress and trample upon the religion of anybody-why, the thing is intolerable. The party that has protected the conscience of every sectioB, be they in the minor- ity or the majority, is the Liberal party—(cheers) —and the Liberal party is not going to set up any machinery for oppressing the conscience or the religion of anybody in any part of the land (cheers). Home Rule means Home Rule in Welsli education, Welsh licensing and Scotoh land (laughter). Cannot a Scotchman manage his owi land better than we can do it for him (hear, hear)- What do we kno-r of the Scotch farmer? If a [ Scotchman does not understand his own business 1 don't know who does (laughter). Gigantic icttresis wnich concerns the Empire as a whole we are neglecting b cause of ou>- ti-ne being j taken up witn matters th^t could be at'ie.1 better ) attended to by the people on the spot (hear, hear). If the Imperial Parliament were freed from these concerns we could devote more of our time to questions of trade. I do not r. collect a single day being giveij, during the whole 2u years I have been there, to traae, except to some motion of tariffs which took TWO or foret- daJR and during the whole time the Uni nists were in power for 15 years, there was hardly one day given to discussing trace. India with 350 millions of people we discussed ju-t before the dinner hcur- (laughter). But thtre cam* up a question about a school down at Towyn —(laughtt-r)—and that takes a couple of nights (laughter) Cannot we look after the Towyn schools ourselves very much better (hear, hear). Home Rule means that local affairs should be managed by the people they concern, and by the people who understand them (cheers). DON'T BETRA. Y WALES. Now, my final appeal to you is this. This ÍtJ far and away the most. important election for Wales that you and I have ever seen (hear, hear,. and cheers). The whole future (,f our country depends upon it. Whatever may bef ill the English democracy Wales has no chance from the House of Loras No chance. The House off Lords rules all our bills, great and small. There is not a little lamb from the Welsh mountain' that is ever allowed to pass that ravaging volt (laughter and cheers). A little scheme for settling a Welsh secondary school, a small thing- to everybody except to the people whom it con- cerns, nothing to the Lords, nothing to the Empire, but everything to Wales—it passes through the House of Commons, even through a ) Tory House of Commons; it goes up to the House of Lords; they lock at it, and they say, Where did it come from ? (great laughter). And they say of that little scheme, Thy speech betrayeth thee" (laughter). Another scheme or bill, how- ever modest, however timid, however frightened, if it talks with a Welsh accent it is flung out at the window (laughter and cries of Shame "). We will send the veto of the Lords after it (laughter and cheers). I ask you, each of you-I am not asking the Montgomery Boroughs. I am not asking Newtown; I am asking each individual man here who has got a vote-dont betray Wales (loud and prolonged cheers, which were followed by the singing of He's a jolly good fellow.") UNANIMOUS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. The Rev T E Williams proposed a vote of con- fidence in the candidate and Dr. Thomas of Welsh- pool seconded. Then the chairman called on Mr George Thorne The Hero of Wolverhampton to support.