request had been accompanied by a threat, while others were horrified at
the idea of recognising the present _régime_ in Russia, and drew from
Mr. Law a hasty disclaimer. The House as a whole would, I think, have
liked to learn how you can do business with a person whom you do not
recognise?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer refused to accept Mr. George Terrell's
proposal to reduce the Excess Profits Tax from sixty per cent. to forty,
but, in reply to Sir G. Younger--who "has such a way wid him"--promised
that next year he would make the reduction. He admitted that it was in
many ways an unsatisfactory tax, but the Government could not afford to
part with it unless a substitute was provided. Somebody suggested
"Economy," and Sir F. Banbury proved to his own satisfaction that the
present estimates could be reduced by a hundred-and-fifty millions. But
unexpected support for the Government came from Mr. Asquith, who as the
original sponsor of the tax felt it his duty to support it.

[Illustration: SIR FREDERICK BANBURY SHOWS HOW IT'S DONE. "To produce a
saving of one hundred-and-fifty millions you merely have to hold the hat
firmly in the left hand--thus."]

There was a perfect E.P.D.mic of criticism, but it was brilliantly
countered by Mr. Baldwin, who declared that the Chancellor, far from
leading the country down the rapids, "was the one man who had seized a
rock in mid-stream and was hanging on to it with hands and feet." The
Amendment was rejected by 289 to 117, and the clause as a whole was
passed by 202 to 16.

[Illustration: THE LIMPET OF THE EXCHEQUER. Mr. Baldwin portrays his
chief "hanging to a rock with hands and feet."]