Aylmer Express Newspaper
WHAT AN EXPERT THINKS OF THE SITUATION.
He Says That Great Britain Will Have to Depend On Russia.
Rutledge Rutherford, a food expert who recently toured Europe studying food conditions, says in the New York Herald:-
Should the Armageddon come, it will be a war of foods. Already the famine scare had seized parts of Germany and England, and it would not be surprising if it soon developed into a panic. France, too, remembering the days of 1871 when meat sold at $20 a pound, is feeling tremulous.
To England and Germany the problem is of most momentous concern, for these two nations are dependent on the outside for most of their sustenance. “Starvation, not invasion, is the danger of the country,” declared A. J. Balfour several years ago in arguing against the declaration of London. The declaration will prevent America from contributing prominently to the relief of war-ridden nations. England expects to gain by her treaty with Russia more than she will have lost through the restricted relations with the United States, and maybe in that she has shown wisdom. That remains to be determined.
England’s Serious Problem.
It is the most serious problem England has to consider, the continuance for her food supply. With her it is not a question of quality. Hence little attention is paid there to the purity of foods. The food laws are lax and inadequately enforced. Chemical preservatives are used freely. A report of the Local Government Board of Scotland shows that of three hundred and fifty-two samples of British origin submitted to chemical analysis, one hundred and fifty-eight were found to contain boron compounds, and twelve preservative sulphites. Any means of obtaining the requisite amount of food and making them keep as long as possible is welcome in England. Should the nation’s food supply be shut off by any means, starvation would impend immediately.
London’s Plight.
Think what it would mean to London alone. London with its environs has a population of nine millions, which receives it sustenance through the London markets and produces no food at all. Not in history is there situation like this – such a vast assemblage of people huddled together in such a small area on an island and all dependent for their food on outside sources.
If London should be besieged as was Paris in 1871 famine would set in immediately. This mighty swarm of people consumes each day five million loaves of bread, four thousand tons of potatoes, 350,000 gallons of milk, nearly a million cabbages, and in season 20,000 pecks of peas and beans. All over the world people are busy growing the grain, raising the cattle, looking after the poultry, catching the fish and tending the fruits and vegetables to keep London and England supplied with their foods from day to day. America has been supplying an enormous proportion of it.
Rearrange Food Avenues.
But there must be a great rearrangement of the food avenues in case of war. The way to America is long and perilous. This perhaps is the cause of certain articles in the Declaration of London. It helps to explain the cause of England’s alliance with Russia so soon after the Russo-Japanese War, when we found her a firm ally of Japan. Britain’s main source of supply in case of war will be Russia and the British colonies that are not too far distant.
That is one great disadvantage with most of the British colonies. They are so far away that the route is beset with all manner of perils in case of war. And then it is difficult to keep many routes open and protected. Far simpler it would be to maintain one great route of supply from Russia, patrolled by the most powerful of England’s warships. It is for such a purpose that they were built. It is for such purposes that they will be used if war is to be. Considering England’s position, then, we must admit that she has been far-sighted in building her mighty fleet of battleships and forming an alliance with Russia, the greatest food producing nation on earth. The same is true of France.
Austria’s Position.
Austria-Hungary is a great food producing country herself, but nothing compared with Russia. Then the art of agriculture is but poorly developed there. In many parts people are almost in a state of pre-civilization. It is a country where the women go barefoot and do most of the work, while the men drink beer. In nearly all respects the nation is far behind the other great powers of the world. Italy is largely dependent on outside sources for her food supply and is a very weak nation from many standpoints.
Germany’s alliance with Austria, like England’s with Russia, is for the purpose of assuring a food supply in case of war. Austria-Hungary is Germany’s cupboard, and Russia is England’s. Germany’s cupboard is more accessible but less productive. Long Germany has realized her weakness in this respect, and she has taken heroic measures to remedy it. Despite all this, however, Germany’s capacity for producing food is exceedingly small compared to her population. The whole nation might be compared to a great manufacturing centre producing little food for herself, but calling on the outside world for supply, just as cities call upon the surrounding farms. Of necessity, then, conservation plays an important part in the nation’s administration. It governs everything and everywhere.
The German Problem.
With an area of less than 208,780 square miles – less than the Sate of Texas- Germany has seventy million mouths to feed. What this means can best be understood by comparison with the United States. America, with a population of 90,000,000, has an area of 3,624,022 square miles, or more than seventeen times that of Germany. America has 22.6-7 acres of land for every inhabitant. Germany has only 1.9.
And this is true, notwithstanding the nation’s great efforts toward conservation. Every foot, indeed, almost every inch, of Germany’s area is called upon to contribute its share toward the nation’s subsistence. All possible sources of waste are avoided. Owners of vacant lots are compelled to leave them to tenants at regulated prices for garden purposes. The trees along many of the highways and country lanes are food bearing trees and the shrubbery is so far as consistency permits yields berries and other edibles. The fruits cannot be plucked except at specified times and by licensed persons. Even the wild nuts and berries of the forest are governed by such restrictions, and anyone gathering them without license is liable to arrest and fine. Since most of the soil is poor in quality the Government has given a great deal of encouragement to the raising of potatoes, as this vegetable will thrive in poor land. Potatoes, geese and sugar beets are three of German’s most important sources of economy.
Test For Many.
Now, with war on hand, Germany has a chance to test the efficacy of her conservation scheme as well as her other prearranged schemes for preventing a food famine. Each city and village as a unit is commissioned to look out for its own population. Likelihood that the railroad system will be blocked to ordinary traffic has caused each to take steps to increase the stock of provisions within its own jurisdiction. The Berlin City Council has commissioned a number of firms to purchase and bring in supplies of grain and flour. Most of the other municipalities have followed suit.
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