tion when called upon by ,the government to defend 

 their country. The gigantic extent of the war being 

 waged at present is forcing Germany, France, Austria, 

 Russia, Servia and Belgium to call more and more on 

 the reserves of humanity in these countries up to the 

 utmost limit, from boys of eighteen up to elderly men, to 

 decide the destinies of half the world. So great are the 

 problems to be decided. So great is the number of people 

 gathered to force a solution of the questions at issue. 

 From these islands, from our own country, we are send- 

 ing larger numbers of men than have ever before in our 

 history left our shores on a martial enterprise. Even 

 from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, from the 

 uttermost ends of the earth, men are journeying, drawn 

 on by this maelstrom which is swallowing up our hu- 

 manity. A very large part, perhaps the largest part of 

 these armies, have been called from agricultural occu- 

 pations; only the women and children and the very old 

 are left in the warring countries in Europe to till and 

 harvest as best they can. You know what production 

 you might expect from your own farms if all the able- 

 bodied men from eighteen to forty-five were called away 

 and the work was left to your wives and) children and the 

 elders who remained. Besides this certain decline in 

 production in the future there has been actual great 

 destruction of crops in the field. Armies stretcling over 

 hundreds of miles, in their rushings to and fro across 

 the continent, make havoc of the land they fight over. 

 Though the last harvest, tilled in times of peace and 

 gathered in war, was a full one, anticipation of future 

 shortage is affecting prices. They have gone up steadily, 

 and will rise still more. It is towards the middle and 

 latter end of this year that those who have thought most 

 over this question look with painful apprehension. 

 They fear, nay, they are certain of a shortage in the food 

 supply of the world. They fear for the workers in the 

 towns. They anticipate food riots and a red conflagra- 

 tion breaking out of men and women maddened by the 

 hunger of their families and their own hunger. 



