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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



most of the smaller nations of Europe, 

 leaving the peoples of Poland, Belgium, 

 northern France, Serbia, Roumania, and 

 Armenia without capital or hope, unless 

 some great wealthy nation comes to their 

 rescue after the war. 



If the war continues another year, the 

 belligerent nations of Europe will be so 

 impoverished that for the next genera- 

 tion there will be a wild scramble among 

 them to get on their own feet — a fierce, 

 uncompromising commercial war, for 

 which Germany has already laid the most 

 elaborate plans. 



THE PART FOOD PLAYS AT THE FRONT 



What part is food playing on the other 

 side of the battle lines with our associates 

 in the war — England, France, and Italy ? 



Italy, although torn by political in- 

 trigue, might not have lost in two weeks 

 all the ground her armies had gained in 

 two years but for the fact that there were 

 serious food riots in several of her prin- 

 cipal cities immediately preceding the re- 

 treat last fall. The Austrians captured 

 400,000 tons of wheat and several of the 

 most important Italian sugar refineries. 

 If they succeed in taking the northern 

 valleys before May, they will have a large 

 part of the sugar crop of Italy and most 

 of the refined sugar. 



Italy is still very short of food, chiefly 

 sugar and wheat, in several districts, and 

 her needs must be supplied by imports if 

 she is to continue in the war. Italy's fuel 

 is practically exhausted — coal is $140 per 

 ton — and as there is scarcely enough to 

 supply the railroads, an unequal distribu- 

 tion of the foodstuffs in the country has 

 resulted. 



In France, the cereal crop in 191 7 was 

 less than 40 per cent of the pre-war aver- 

 age ; but since before the war France was 

 obliged to import 30 per cent of her food, 

 she will require 60 per cent this year. 

 France, because of the abnormal uses for 

 her transportation facilities, shows a very 

 unequal distribution of foodstuffs, so that 

 in some districts today the people are liv- 

 ing from hand to mouth, practically on 

 cereals. France has large areas that are 

 entirely without native wheat, because of 

 the killing of the winter wheat last year. 

 She is also very short of animal fats and 

 dairy products. 



England is fortunately more nearly 

 self-supporting, thanks to a large potato 

 crop ; but even England must have meat, 

 animal fats, sugar, and some wheat. She 

 is today getting 65 per cent of her total 

 food supply from America. 



CONDITIONS IN GERMANY 



In Germany, the industrial conditions 

 show marked deterioration. Germany is 

 reported as gradually failing. Her ship- 

 ments of coal to neutrals are only 60 per 

 cent of what they were a year ago, which 

 means that she is having difficulty in 

 maintaining the output of her mines. 

 Labor is getting more scarce. The tim- 

 bering for the mines is more difficult to 

 secure ; it has come largely from Sweden 

 and Poland. The mining output is fall- 

 ing off, while the internal uses for coal 

 are increasing. 



Judging from statistics available here, 

 the output of iron and steel is also falling 

 off. No non-essential industries are al- 

 lowed to run, and the quality of all manu- 

 factured articles that come from Ger- 

 many is inferior to the quality at the be- 

 ginning of the war. Her steel rails are 

 not as good as they were, because there 

 is a shortage of nickel ; her rolling stock 

 and transportation equipment are visibly 

 breaking down. 



In foodstuffs, Germany is on the whole 

 rather better off than a year ago. She 

 has more grain ; she is exporting substan- 

 tial amounts of wheat to Sweden at the 

 present time. The flour ration has been 

 brought up from 220 grams per capita 

 last year to 250 grams this year. Her 

 potato crop, which in 1916 was well be- 

 low the pre-war average — a total of 28,- 

 000,000 tons — was last year 34,000,000 

 tons. Her live-stock is sufficient to carry 

 her through. She is well supplied with 

 alcohol for munition works. 



There was a serious failure last season 

 in fodder; consequently she must reduce 

 her live-stock herds and consume much 

 less milk than last year. Her milk pro- 

 duction, because of the failure of the 

 fodder crop, particularly hay, is only one- 

 third of normal. The pinch will come, 

 if at all, next summer, partly from lack 

 of animal fats, partly from shortage in 

 industrial commodities, such as wool, 

 railway equipment, and cotton. No fod- 



