Page:Confessions of an Economic Heretic.djvu/128

 taxation involved in a Protectionist policy of tariffs, embargoes, and subsidies, is a large qualification of this humanitarian policy, it none the less remains true that Conservatism is not a conscious technique of the defence of capitalism by a policy of minor concessions, but carries a new and more conscious interest in the welfare of the workers. There is, indeed, a little group of Conservatives whose “Socialism” carries them further in the reform policy than most Liberal politicians are yet prepared to go. While, therefore, the belief of most Conservatives in the “rights of property” and the control of industry by the owning class remains unimpaired and forms the basis of opposition to Socialism and Communism, this belief is modified or even undermined in the minds of an influential minority.

It is, however, in the Liberal Party that the shattering effects of recent events are most discernible. Free Trade, its most cherished policy, was a War casualty. For though the tariffs of the War Government were intended as emergency measures, their extension into the post-War period indicated the early jettisoning of the whole Free Trade system. During the War Liberals reluctantly bowed before the emergency and later on lent their support to its continuance for a period of post-War settlement. Then came the demand of the Dominions for a practical response to their voluntary preferences, and Liberals as a party were divided. Most leaders and the rank and