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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ring in the depths of the British soul a£ 

 this has meant, for this has come in a 

 time and to a people alive with social 

 consciousness. 



Britain, giving its all for freedom, has 

 taken time to ask what it means by free- 

 dom, and has adopted some new defini- 

 tions. Freedom is not again to mean the 

 liberty of the few to live in palaces and 

 the many to live in hovels ; of the many 

 to pay with their toil for what the few 

 consume at their ease. No, this is not 

 Bolshevism. An ignorant peasantry 

 might translate it into Bolshevism, but the 

 English nation is translating it into terms 

 of social and industrial democracy. 



If this be socialism, make the most of 

 it. The Englishman, even the English- 

 man who a little time ago would have 

 been called a Tory (though today he is 

 apt to be the most liberal of his race), 

 prefers to call it socialization. His no- 

 tions about it are intensely practical. For 

 example : 



HOW BRITAIN SOLVED THE MILK 

 SHORTAGE 



Before the war had even approached 

 its climax, Britain discovered that it faced 

 a shortage, among other things, of milk. 

 The government guaranteed very high 

 prices to induce production ; but the sacri- 

 fice of herds, plowing up of grass lands, 

 and deficiency of labor rendered stimula- 

 tive efforts futile. There was not enough 

 milk to go round in the old, easy way, 

 and administration stepped in to insure 

 first against profiteering and second that 

 those who most needed it should have 

 their share of the milk. 



Observe the results. Some months ago 

 the British Medical Association discussed 

 some remarkable vital statistics. It found 

 that for the last preceding year the death 

 rate among infants under five years old 

 had been about one-half the rate in pre- 

 war times. It was a phenomenon be- 

 yond the comprehension of anything but 

 common sense. The medical authorities 

 applied that test and issued their verdict. 



For the first time in the modern history 

 of Britain there had been milk enough 

 for all the babies, and good milk. 



But if the adult patron of a public eat- 

 ing-house buys and drinks a glass of milk 

 as a beverage, he is liable to a fine of five 



pounds, and the proprietor subjects him- 

 self to a like penalty. 



If anybody imagines that hereafter 

 Britain will return to the customs of 

 "the good old days," when for want of 

 milk twice as many British babies en- 

 joyed the privilege of dying, he is far 

 from understanding what is going on in 

 the English public mind today. 



GOUT AND HUNGER ALIKE BANISHED IN 

 BRITAIN 



Britain, sending its merchant fleet 

 through all the danger zones, transport- 

 ing soldiers, munitions, supplies, keeping 

 the blood circulating in the arteries of 

 the commercial world, has lived month 

 after month fairly on the brink of star- 

 vation ; yet rationing has been for the 

 greater part voluntary, accomplished 

 through the cooperation of a willing pub- 

 lic with a patient food administration. 



Never in Britain's history have so many 

 people been amply fed ; never have so 

 few been hungry. Never, it may be 

 added, has the population enjoyed so 

 nearly unanimous immunity from those 

 aristocratic digestive ailments which con- 

 stitute the penalty of eating not wisely 

 but too well. A search warrant would 

 hardly find a dozen respectable cases of 

 gout in the entire Kingdom. 



Armies of people in Britain are for 

 the first time wearing their old clothes, 

 and glad to do it; other armies are for 

 the first time wearing good clothes, and 

 equally pleased. We have heard quite 

 too much about the extravagances of the 

 munitionettes who buy Astrakhan furs 

 and impossible jewelry. After all, people 

 associate more, and more intimately, with 

 their clothes than with any other incident 

 of life. 



To be decently clad is the first essential 

 to self-respect. Other and more exalted 

 tastes are presently induced. The factory 

 girl who begins with dressing like a lady 

 presently finds herself disposed to be a, 

 lady. 



And the community is making arrange- 

 ments accordingly. In recognition of her 

 services in shops and factories, in offices 

 and on the farm, manufacturing explo- 

 sives at Gretna and doing the work of 

 tens of thousands of men just behind the 

 firing lines in Fr 'nee, woman has been 



