198 BrJTAIN FOR THE BKITON 



socks ; prices had considerably advanced, and he asked Uie 

 reason why. " The war lias affected tlie price," was the answer. 

 " But," he remarked, " we don't get our silk from South Africa." 

 " Oh," said the shopman, " I don't know about that, socks are 

 dearer, anyway." 



Do not pass this little incident over with a sndle, for it is 

 no laughing matter, but one of serious import and full of 

 tragedy. 



AVhat War avith Germany -would Mean 



War with a great European Power means far more to the 

 l)eople of Great Britain than the South African affair did, and 

 It is our business to understand what it does mean to us. 



If there be one among us who is foolish enough to suppose 

 that once war breaks out there will be set up among our shop- 

 keepers and traders a bond of brotherhood, of love and goodwill 

 whence will spring a generous philanthropic spirit and a keen 

 desire to keep prices down : that man had better divest his mind 

 of so fatuous a belief and accept the hard matter-of-fact reality, 

 or betake himself to some other world where wars vex not. 



War is a catastrophe, and although in certain directions it 

 may develo]) loyalty and ])atriotisra, nobility of character, self- 

 sacrifice and heroism, it is sure, on the other hand, to bring to 

 the surface much that is ignoble, base, selfish, cruel, and 

 avaricious in human nature. 



At any rate, the sad experience of the past plainly tells us 

 that, whatever else may happen, prices are sure to rise, and 

 once this takes place it matters not whether the cause bo 

 the cupidity of shopkeepers, the holding up of supplies by 

 " cornerers " or by the secret agents of the country we may be 

 at war with, the result is always the same — disaster to the 

 nation, and misery and semi-starvation to the people. 



AYhatever else may happen then — the xKoph must svffcr and 

 suffer terribly. 



Said the writer in the Windsor Magazine — * 



" with trade disorganised, and wages therefore lower, or non-existent, 

 it would mean grievous suflferiug, bread riots, revolution — unless the 

 country sought peace on any terms the enemy would give it." 



He then adds — 



" But would there be gi'ain to convoy ? By a few smart and 

 secret operations, agents of the enemy could corner the world's 



* "Our National Peril," Ernest E. Williams; WimUor Magazine, April, 

 l'J02. 



