WHAT THE OCEAN MEANS TO GREAT BRITAIN 313 



we possessed a monopoly of shipbuilding as of almost 

 every other form of manufactures, and although our 

 internal resources in the matter of food were dwindling 

 very rapidly, no one thought of that in view of the 

 great fact that all the new nations were eager to 

 supply us, and by reason of our magnificent system of 

 ocean-carriage, cheap food was poured into the country 

 in an ever-increasing ratio. Not only in non-perish- 

 able goods, such as grain, but refrigerating processes 

 had been discovered, and meat killed at the Antipodes 

 was being put upon the British markets as fresh and 

 sweet as if it had been slaughtered at home. Still, 

 with all these object-lessons before us, it is certain 

 that neither the working classes, the middle classes, 

 nor the ruling classes adequately realized whither all 

 this unexampled development of our oversea trade was 

 tending. Here and there warning voices were raised 

 as to the tremendous responsibility we were incurring 

 in thus making ourselves dependent upon seaborne 

 food, but for the most part these voices were unheeded. 

 At last, and mainly owing to the persistent hammering 

 away at the subject by one London newspaper, the 

 Pall Mall Gazette, a genuine scare was raised in 

 Parliament, and the public attention was focussed 

 upon the Navy. It was pointed out, in the strongest 

 and most unmistakable terms, that even supposing we 

 possessed (which we certainly did not) an army capable 

 of competing in point of numbers with that of any 

 European power, that army would be helpless if unfed, 

 and unfed it certainly would be if the constant 

 supplies of food from oversea upon which we had 

 grown to depend could be intercepted for only a few 

 days. In short, we were shown to be living in a fool's 



