THE PROBLEM 7 



sideration is how to increase his exploita- 

 tion of these enormous reserves and so 

 get the utmost advantage of the innumer- 

 able products which the seas provide. At 

 a time when the supply of food from the 

 earth is insufficient it should be one of the 

 first efforts of peace time to take toll of the 

 sea's supplies of guanos in order to fertilize 

 our soils, to obtain the raw materials, the 

 oils, glues, whalebones, isinglass, etc., the 

 products of the different ocean animals ; 

 but, above all, to procure as much food 

 as possible from our seas. There are 

 10,000,000 square miles of shallow water 

 of less than a hundred fathoms surrounding 

 the land on this globe. In this area are 

 sea-meadows of great productivity, prairies 

 fed and fertilized by ocean currents bringing 

 daily and hourly the food on which fish 

 subsist. This continental shelf of the 

 ocean is a productive tract presenting 

 great possibilities to the future endeavours 

 of mankind. We have every advantage, 

 and should lose no time in exercising our 

 utmost powers to exploit those districts 

 most conveniently situated near th British 

 Isles. 



