320 



NATURE 



[May 13, 1920 



at Quetta. His foundation of this college and 

 his establishment of the institution at Khartum 

 are evidence sufficient of his interest in education. 

 Indeed, in his knowledge of science and in his 

 appreciation of its utility Kitchener may be said 

 to stand alone amongst great military adminis- 

 trators. 



We get some clue to the Kitchener method if 

 we bear these facts in mind, and we are enabled 

 to see how, forsaking the practice of a scientific 

 profession for the more ambitious sphere of civil 

 administration and diplomacy, varying these with 

 intervals of command of armies in peace and war, 

 ending as an organiser of victory, he accomplished 

 his ends with such extraordinary success. 



No account of the life and work of this man 

 will ever be complete which neglects a considera- 

 tion of the influence exerted upon him by his early 

 education. Kitchener understood the language of 

 men of science. Consciously or unconsciously he 

 adopted their methods. He was never out of date. 

 We get a clue to his dislike of the bureaucrat, 

 to his hatred of red tape, and to his contempt for 

 precedent and of War Office methods, if we bear 

 these in mind. We are not surprised when we 

 hear that he "would rather sweep a crossing" 

 than go to the War Office, for freedom to work 

 on new lines — "always a learner, "as his biographer 

 tells us — was the very essence of the Kitchener 

 method. When Lord Curzon and Lord Haldane 

 characterised his organisation of the Army in India 

 as "scientific" they were nearer the mark than 

 perhaps even they recognised; for in the widest 

 acceptation of the term Kitchener was a man of 

 science, and Sir George Arthur's record of his 

 remarkable career will find many appreciative 

 readers in the scientific world. 



The Nation's Food. 



Food Supplies in Peace and War. By Sir R. 

 Henry Rew. Pp. vii+183. (London: Long- 

 mans, Green, and Co., 1920.) Price 6s, 6d. 

 net. 



SIR HENRY REW has the happy and unusual 

 faculty of making statistics interesting; in- 

 deed, the only time when he is less interesting 

 than usual is when he is quoting fewer figures. In 

 this little book he has brought together the vital 

 statistics of British food supplies and set them 

 out : they tell their own tale so plainly that even 

 the ordinary non-statistical person can under- 

 stand. 



The book was badly needed, for it is highly im- 

 portant that the average man should realise the 

 facts. Unfortunately, agricultural policy is a 

 NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



matter for politics and emotions, and political con- 

 siderations have sometimes been more in evidence 

 than facts or business principles. Recently a 

 bishop wrote to the Times making the aston- 

 ishing statement that he thought the bread 

 subsidy was paid to farmers to encourage corn 

 production. If such amazing lack of knowledge 

 can occur in high places, what must be the state 

 of the ordinary voter's mind? Sir Henry Rew's 

 book will supply the facts for those who will take 

 the trouble to read it. 



In the first chapter he deals with the problem 

 as it was before the war, when we had a con- 

 siderable balance of money due from abroad which 

 we could take either in food or in other com- 

 modities. The general result is shown in the 

 following table : — 



1 A certain amount of cottage and farm produce is not included ia the 

 above jable. 



About one-fifth of the cereals, more than half 

 the meat, and nine-tenths of the dairy produce 

 and of the potatoes were home-grown. The total 

 amount of foodstuffs, home-grown and imported, 

 was considerable, and the nation was amply sup- 

 plied with food. In 1913 the main sources of 

 supply outside the United Kingdom were, in order 

 of value of shipments, the United States, Argen- 

 tina, Denmark, Canada, India, Australia, Russia, 

 the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Austria- 

 Hungary, France, Spain, and Ceylon. 



The second section of the book deals with war- 

 time conditions. The outbreak of the war came, 

 no doubt deliberately, at the time when the 

 harvest of Central Europe was practically all 

 gathered in, and when, therefore, there were 

 ample stocks of food for a year. On our side the 

 wheat crop in the United States was good, and 

 although in Canada it was short, the total North 

 American supply was well above the average. The 

 year 191 5 opened badly, as the Russian supplies 

 were cut off in February. The situation was saved. 



