no THE STATE AS FARMER 



I may urge that if we get as far as this, we 

 might surely begin to discuss with our larger 

 authorities the complete scheme. The matter 

 of transport is unquestionably a County 

 Council one, and the Report indicates how 

 the farmer was inconvenienced and injured 

 upon the outbreak of war, by ' the claims of 

 the Government upon the transit services.' 

 There is much food for thought in this feeble 

 complaint or querulousness. It is a common- 

 place, which even the newspapers admit, that 

 an army marches on its belly, and nothing 

 would have assisted us more ' on the outbreak 

 of war ' than a system which marshalled our 

 resources in home-grown produce. A steady 

 delivery from the headquarters of every 

 valley of food which could be estimated to 

 a nicety, delivered to a moment, and packed 

 in a condition suitable for commercial or 

 military handling, would have been an untold 

 boon to our commanders. Instead of the 

 chaotic management of ' gluts,' of which no 

 man knew the contents and none could 

 trust the condition, the daily delivery of 

 prime foods would have been part of the 

 regular requirements of the troops. The 



