Facts or Are we to be dealt with by authorities, or are we to be

authority? dealt with by the facts of the case? We have been

warned off the field of political economy, which we are

told is obfuscated and nebulous. So I takfe thy refuge in facts, but

when we go to facts then they come out, and fire at our heads the pistol

of authority. I doubt whether that is quite fair. Common sense

declares to my mind, and the general feeling declares, that the increase

of taxation means an increase of cost to the consumer. I think

Mr, Chamberlain must have held that view very strongly himself, since

he would not tax maize or bacon because it entered into the food of the

poor. Above all, he would not tax raw material. Why ? Because he

felt instinctively, he felt as the community feels, that the taxation of

objects does increase the price to the consumer.
