212 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



in England spring from political causes, neither 

 party can claim freedom from a share in the 

 responsibility ; and neither party to-day can 

 claim, either on its record of sincerity or its 

 proof of a sound appreciation of the situation, 

 to be entrusted with the work of remedy. The 

 best hope is in some non-party settlement, to 

 which, perhaps, the responsible defence leaders 

 of the nation will give the call, since the most 

 serious result of the decay of the industries of 

 the land in Great Britain is the nakedness it 

 forces upon us in time of war. 



But, perhaps, if the economic facts of the 

 position are brought home clearly to the popular 

 mind, a call for reform may come from the people 

 generally, as well as from the sailor and the 

 soldier — giving up in despair the task of for- 

 mulating a sound system of defence, when our 

 ruling system is that the United Kingdom, 

 singular among the combatants, imports four- 

 fifths of her bread materials, and must rely chiefly 

 upon outside sources for food supplies during the 

 course of the struggle. The economic facts are 

 so clear. We employ less than a million people 

 upon the land. France, a neighbouring nation, 



