THE UNIONIST PARTY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 216, 5 June 1908, Page 7

THE UNIONIST PARTY.

A WARNING. '■ ■ ■ TARIFFITES'MAY COMPROMISE WITH HOME RULE. W-itEIiEGBAPn—PRESS ASSOCIATION— COPYRICRI . '-, London, Juno 3. Lord Cromer, in his presidential address to tho Unionist Freo Trade Club, after remarking that parties at tho next general election would probably bo moro equally divided, warned his hearers of tho danger, of' tho moro ardent tariff; reformers seoking to capturo iho. Irish v'oto by concessions which, if not fat-il, would perhaps be very damaging to the ciiiiso of the union.

, CONFLICTING SECTIONS. The'.present st,ate of the Unionist party was tho. subject of an interesting lottcr in '"The Tinies" by "Zollverein," who quoted a leading article from a Unionist newspaper, iirging that only by opposing every Free Trnrlo candidate general'elections by a Tariff Reformer an a- Tariff Reform majority bo secured. "Zollverein" comments:—'"Please' note, a Tariff Reform majority—not a Unionist majority. Truly this is a case of Tariff Reform overywhere and tho rest—that, is; the union, tho struggle against Socialism, predatory , or olcemosynary, tho maintenance of a second chambor, the dofencb of Conservative principles—nowhere." In tho opinion of Zollveroin," it is high time to recognise that tho Unionist party contains, not two wings, but three sections: the old "Free Traders, the Fiscal Reformers (i.0., tho Balfo'urites), and the extreme Tariff Reformers. Unless a, vigorous stand is made , against this last, section—the noisiest, if' not the. most linfiuential—ho fears that it will either drag tho whole party into a common defeat, or "purchaso a Pyrrhic victory in its' name by pledging the party to Socialistic schemes which-can neither bo repudiated without discredit nor bo fulfilled without disastrous consequences." .