240 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



merely a local alarm on the seaboard that 

 a raid might be made on some of the coast 

 towns by Admiral Cervera's fleet ; yet its 

 influence was sufficient to cause pressure to 

 be brought to bear upon the Government, 

 which adversely affected the strategical dis- 

 position of the American fleet. 



" We have thought it our duty to consider 

 whether any measures could be devised to 

 minimize the risk of panic and to main- 

 tain so far as possible a steady level of prices 

 in time of war. It may be conceded that a 

 larger stock of grain existing within the 

 United Kingdom would be a powerful, if 

 not, indeed, the most powerful, or, as some 

 may think, the only adequate means of 

 attaining this end. The existence of larger 

 stocks within this country might go far to 

 allay the natural apprehension among the 

 poorer classes that war might mean scarcity, 

 or a serious and protracted enhancement 

 in the price of bread. It is also, perhaps, 

 worthy of consideration that the knowledge in 

 foreign countries that the United Kingdom was 

 provided, so far as food is concerned, against 



