THE ROARING FORTIES 141 



off of the raw material for the cotton-mills. 

 At the earlier date, moreover, the peril was 

 greater; for as yet Great Britain was still feed 

 ing her people from her own crops, and the 

 people often went hungry. Starvation on a 

 large scale would have ensued very promptly 

 if the cotton supply had been stopped in the 

 early forties. 



This was one disturbing result of the growth 

 of population in the United Kingdom a result 

 that had no parallel in the United States. 

 Where the food supply was redundant and cheap 

 any interruption of normal economic processes 

 by war or other disaster produced loss and dis 

 comfort but not famine. Where, as in England 

 and Ireland, the food supply was precarious and 

 dear, any interference with the normal condi 

 tions brought famine and revolt. In the early 

 forties recurring distress and agitation among 

 the working classes gave abundant warning to 

 the leading statesmen that so grave an economic 

 disturbance as would be involved in a war with 

 the United States was not to be risked so long 

 as any way of escape was open. 



The task of handling the delicate issues that 

 were presented by the international and the 

 internal problems that have been noticed fell 



