192 BRITAIN FOR THE BRITON 



What would HAPrEN were we at War 



Now, it requires neither a statesman nor a statistician to 

 determine what would surely happen to us if we were at war 

 with any European country, because every citizen of this 

 country can, if he chooses, sum up the position for himself. 



It is variously estimated that there is from three to six 

 weeks' wheat supply in the country, represented by floating 

 stocks, while, of other food supplies, it is estimated that such 

 as there are would be consumed within about fourteen weeks 

 of war breaking out, if once we lost command of the sea. 



There are a number of people who still believe in the 

 invincibility of the British Navy and the inviolability of the 

 British Isles ; and up to quite recent times such a belief was 

 justitied. Under the vastly altered conditions, however, in 

 the relative strength of naval armaments brought about by the 

 enormously rapid development of Germany's war vessels, the 

 justification for such a belief at once disappears. 



It is wathin the memory of even very young men that 

 Germany's naval power during the South African War was 

 represented by a few armoured vessels which are now obsolete ; 

 our naval power, on the other hand, dominated the seas at that 

 period, and the belief in its invincibility and the consequent 

 security of our insular position was justified. 



Germany's Powerful Squadrons 



To-day, everybody knows that the German North Sea fleet 

 represents one of the strongest squadrons of warships afloat, 

 and that the Germans are building others of the Dreadnought 

 class with the greatest rapidity, their means of production 

 being quite equal to our own. This being the case, it does 

 not require an Admiralty Lord to tell us that the status of 

 European sea power is so changed by this one fact alone as to 

 necessitate a complete change of front on our part. 



No man denies that our navy is now more powerful than 

 Germany's ; but, on the other hand, no man is foolish enough 

 to believe that if war broke out with that country the whole of 

 our fleet would, or could, be kept intact for home defence. 



We are, unfortunately, so dependent upon a number of 

 foreign countries for four-fifths of our corn, and for a vast 

 quantity of our otlier food supplies, that an enormous fleet of 

 vessels is constantly engaged in bringing these supplies to our 

 shores. To convoy this great flotilla in war time, and protect, 

 at the same time, our vast over-seas trade with all parts of the 



