103 



it very truthfully adds: "It is very important to Great Britain 

 to keep the tropical industries going, and great efforts have been 

 made to support markets and prevent the discouragement of na- 

 tive growers." Further on our contemporary, speaking of the 

 utilization of the potato in Germany and its enormous economic 

 value during the war, says : "Vast quantities of this product are 

 used for making spirit, and the industrial position of the coun- 

 try largely rests on this abundant and cheap supply. Some 

 forty-five million tons of potatoes are grown annually, and a 

 considerable portion of this is dried in factories and used as a 

 food for both men and cattle. This dried stock is now forming 

 a very important food reserve, and is being largely used in the 

 making of bread." Compared to this, England and her Domi- 

 nions overseas no doubt are safe for their wheat supplies, for "it 

 is estimated that this spring 13,000,000 acres will be sown with 

 wheat in Canada alone." a quantity which at twenty bushels per 

 acre would suffice to feed the whole poipulation of Great Britain, 

 especially as, besides this, has to be added the production chcz 

 nous.'^ In the tropics, however, things are not as they should be. 

 Many centers, both under the British flag as well as those be- 

 longing to other countries, as w^e have already pointed out, are 

 not producing sufficient foodstuffs to feed themselves. "A nation 

 that cannot free itself is not worthy to be free," and in like man- 

 ner a people that has not the foresight and energy to grow its 

 own foodstuff's is not worth troubling about, like "the ass that 

 was left to starve because it was too obstinate to carry its owm 

 fodder." Many of the natives do not deserve any pity; unfor- 

 tunately, w^e must put up with their easy-going life when times 

 are prosperous and feed them at times like these ; but this animal 

 indifference to the future diverts any antipathy we might have to 

 the suggestion that thriftless natives should be taxed in normal 

 times as they will never be induced to grow more than their im- 

 mediate requirements demand, and so the authorities must act 

 for them, and lay up for a rainy day to provide them with the 

 food that they neglect to grow for themselves, or having grown 

 it. eat up greedily so long as it lasts. The Americans complain 

 of the Philippines for this reason, but our own island of Trinidad, 

 British West Indies, has always been a bad offender in the same 

 way, as we pointed out in our October issue, when we discussed 

 'Tropical Gardening" and expressed the hope that the book of 

 Mr. Macmillan (of Ceylon) on the subject would be widely read 

 and acted upon. 



* Tt may be of interest to note that Germany is said to produce 28 

 bushels of wheat per acre, against 20 bushels in France, and only 15 in 

 the United States. Our American cousins^ to whom we owe these figures, 

 produce, it seems, 80 bushels of potatoes only to the acre, against 190 

 in France, 226 in Germany, and 286 in Belgium. Efforts are being made 

 to increase the American output. 



