Why I am Leaving the Liberal Party

James Dundas White

[Reprinted from Single Tax Review, Vol. XIX, No.2, March-April 1919. Originally
published with the title: "James Dundas White Leave The Liberal Party"]

Mr. James Dundas Whiate, LL.D., who was Liberal M.P. for Dumbartonshire, from 1906 to 1910, and during the 1910 Parliament, and for the Tradeston Division of Glasgow from July 1911 to the end of the last Parliament, is another eminent Single Taxer to follow the example of Col. Wedgewood in forsaking the Liberals, who, like the Democrats in this country, have ceased to represent anything worth while. In a letter to Mr. Ramsay Macdonald he announces his adhesion to the Independent Labor Party. We quote the concluding part of Mr. White's letter:

"The taxation of Land Values was a Liberal watchword long before I entered politics; but official Liberals have gone back on it. Their pledges were not redeemed when they were in office. The Increment Value Duty, the Reversion Duty, and the other land taxes of 1910 were unworthy substitutes for the real reform. Even the valuations were unsatisfactory, and the proposals for their amendment were futile and came to nothing. Then, during the war, we had the Corn Production Act -- a reactionary corn-law which gives financial guarantees to the landed interest at the expense of the taxpayers -- and the attempt to set up Petroleum Royalties for landlords. These measures were brought in by Mr. Lloyd George's government; but Mr. Asquith and other leading Liberals must bear the responsibility of an acquiescence that amounted to consent. What opposition there was came from a few independent-minded men, who were either Liberals like myself or Labor members.

If we are to escape disaster, we must turn again towards the guiding stars of Liberty, Justice, and Human Brotherhood. Free Trade and Free Production are but applications of these principles in the economic sphere. Even economic justice, in its largest meaning, is not the ultimate aim; but it is a necessary condition for the development of a free co-operative commonwealth, with better opportunities for every one to realize the possibilities of life, and to develop those faculties and aspirations which are now so often starved and disappointed. It must ever be remembered that the well-being of each is bound up with the well-being of all, and the drawing together of the nations must be kept steadily in view. These ideals may seem far-off; but they will at least keep us heading in the right direction. They represent the direction in which the Liberal Party used to move, and in which the Independent Labor Party is moving now. Like many of that Party, I am strongly opposed to any policy that would narrow personal freedom or increase the power of the bureaucracy, from whatever quarter it may come. For the reasons already stated, I am fully convinced that, in this stage of our political progress, the course which I am taking is the right one."