320 LAND REFORM 



panic on the corn-market, the enemy having made 

 food contraband of war." 



In the face of these strong opinions, and having 

 regard to the evidence given before the Royal Com- 

 mission, it would be a bold course for any First Lord 

 to tell the country that he is satisfied that a strong- 

 navy is sufficient to secure a supply of food for the 

 people in the time of war. 



In warfare, it has often happened that towns and 

 strongholds have been starved into surrender, but 

 probably no case in history can be found in which 

 a whole nation has been subjected to that fate. But, 

 though difficult to realize, it is useless to deny that 

 that is the danger to which this country would be 

 exposed in the event of war. 



Such a crisis might never arise, but it is possible, 

 and the possibility is actually advanced by the Govern- 

 ment as a prime reason for spending the vast sum 

 of above 36 millions sterling on our Navy in a single 

 year. Should it arise, it must end in national disaster 

 and humiliation. Unlike other nations, the great bulk 

 of our population has been reduced to a proletariat, on 

 whom, with their wives and children, the suffering 

 would fall. Food, if it could be got at all, would be 

 at famine prices. Our foreign trade, through dearness 

 and scarcity of raw material, with freights and insur- 

 ance at war rates, would speedily pass into other 

 hands, and — having so largely destroyed our home 

 trade — there would be no employment for the people. 

 Enforced idleness and starvation, together, form a 

 dangerous situation. It might be taken for granted 

 that the great mass of the people would not for long 

 quietly endure their sufferings. Why should they ? 



