"poster & The Only Hope Is Tariff Reform & Conservative Party & 1906" [NMLH.1994.168.312.1]

Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.312.1

Object Name
Poster

Title
The Only Hope Is Tariff Reform.

Date
1906

Description
Tariff Reform refers to the taxing of imports into Britain. It was a major issue during the Edwardian period (1901-1910). The artist of this poster has used a number of symbols to emphasise the benefits of Tariff Reform. The tug of Tariff Reform is pulling the British Constitution off the rocks of socialism in the turbulent seas of Free Trade. Britain is represented twice in the poster. Its history as a seafaring nation is evident in the ship. British industrial might is in the background as the sun rises over the smoking chimneys.


As in many posters of the period, the meaning was created through the combination of slogans and labelled images.

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