OUR FOOD SUPPLY IN TIME OF WAR 321 



They would demand — and perhaps enforce the demand 

 by methods that would have to be heeded — a peace 

 and settlement on any terms, and at any price, how- 

 ever costly and humiliating. 



Mr. J. Macdonald (Secretary of the London Trades 

 Council), who spoke at the meeting referred to, 

 said : — 



" Mills and factories would either be shut up or be 

 running on short time, and wages not obtainable by 

 the working-man. . . . You will see hundreds, nay, 

 thousands of men, able and willing to work, parading 

 your streets, and not being able to work cannot get 

 food." 



He goes on to say that these men will ask the 

 Government why no provisions were made to meet 

 these conditions, and will resolve that "if there is 

 food in the country we mean to have it, or our share 

 of it." Mr. Macdonald adds :— 



"That is what you have to face ; and frankly I say 

 that, did such a condition arise, I should be one of the 

 very first to advise the working-men, who have pro- 

 duced the food, to go and take it if they are hungry, 

 and not allow it to be stored up." 



One other thing would be certain to happen. Men's 

 eyes would be turned on the millions of acres of idle 

 land which, had they been properly cultivated, would 

 have been the means of averting the disaster. All 

 classes would then see the extent to which a nation is 

 dependent on agriculture for its safety and very exist- 

 ence. 



Another proposal which, so far as can be gathered 

 from the various reports, is supported by a majority 

 of the Commissioners, is to provide huge granaries, 



