314 LAND REFORM 



Modern warfare is so different from warfare of 

 former times that few sound conclusions can be drawn 

 from the past. Ships have increased in size and 

 might, but, as we have seen by the war in the East, 

 the means of destruction have increased with equal 

 rapidity. No one can forecast what would happen, 

 even to our Navy, however strong, in the event of a 

 war with a European power or combination of powers. 

 In any case, our enemies would be bad generals in- 

 deed if they did not concentrate their efforts on the 

 one vulnerable point in our defence which has never 

 before existed. 



In 1903 a Royal Commission was appointed to 

 inquire into the question of the supply of food 

 and raw material in the time of war. The evidence 

 given before the Commission by competent witnesses 

 contains the most valuable information, and fully re- 

 veals the dangers connected with our present position 

 as a nation. But the report of the Commission, so far 

 as remedies go, is vague and unsatisfactory. Perhaps 

 there never was a commission which received more 

 valuable evidence and information than that of Lord 

 Balfour's, and also never one whose report was more 

 disappointing.^ 



A large part of the evidence refers to the commer- 

 cial side of the question, to the manner in which the 

 corn trade, shipping trade, and other industries would 

 be affected by war. But several witnesses closely 

 touch what, after all, is the main part of the problem, 

 namely, to what extent and in what manner the great 

 mass of the people would be affected by the contin- 



^ Report of the Royal Commission on " Supply of Food and Raw 

 Material in Time of War," 1905. Lord Balfour of Burleigh chairman. 



