Francis Wrigley Hirst - Views

Views

J. E. Allen called Hirst "a disciple of Adam Smith" who

"disliked indirect taxes, except a few on articles of general consumption which are not necessaries, such as tobacco, beer, spirits, and wine".

In his later years Hirst was

"more than doubtful about the value of the 'Welfare State', and of what he called 'The Beveridge Hoax'. He did not admit the right of Parliament to take money from one lot of citizens and give it to another lot; in fact he disliked the use of the Budget as an instrument for the redistribution of the national income. Borrowing by the Government or by local authorities seemed to him dangerous".

G. P. Gooch said of him that

"his horror of tariffs, huge armaments, and war was hardly greater than his detestation of the omnipotent State...he remained a 'Manchester' man to the end".

Hirst was a Cobdenite isolationist who disliked the balance of power theory and feared the League of Nations gave Britain obligations which might lead her into war. Roger Fulford has noted Hirst's hostility to

"'Mr. George' and the follies of his economic plans for curing unemployment".

Maurice Bowra described Hirst as believing

"the nation's finances were the most serious thing in its politics. He hated to see public extravagance...He thought the expense of war one of its most deadly characteristics. With him expenditure of public money was a moral activity which should be governed by the highest principles and never be prostituted to electoral or party needs. He believed firmly in private enterprise and had little affection for State control...one felt in the presence of a true disciple of Gladstone".

Another friend of Hirst's, A. F. Thompson, asserted that he was

"archetype of the stern and unbending Cobdenite...His denunciations of Keynes were particularly memorable".