i> u\ fiiii^ci i.^, xy±^. 
J^ -TV IN AV 
r\ i.y 1/ 
the latter grow restive. The German Empire has 
met the ditficulty in no such fashion. The enor- 
mous profits made by contractors and munition 
works, bv the great trusts that control food a-id 
raw material, by the Squires (the ofticcr class) 
above all, have been left unchecked, and the 
Government of the German Empire seems unable 
to tackle the financial interests that are its real 
masters. 
An extremel\' interesting point in this connec- 
tion is one that has, I think, been missed in the 
discussions on this side of the German shortage : 
to wit, the inability of the Government to insist 
upon the slaughter of cattle. 
There is a very real deficit in meat, but of the 
cattle in the Empire much the larger part must be 
regarded as the capital of the agrarian interest, 
only a fraction can be regarded as its income. 
Now the slaughter, by government order, of a 
comparatively small proportion of the stock or 
" capital " would reUeve the pressure. But that 
would be equivalent to interfering with the profits 
of the agrarian interest. It would be compelling 
them at the same time to suffer a loss of a portion 
of their capital, and to see a diminution in the \'aluc 
of their goods. Such a step as this the German 
Government does not dare to take. 
We have grown accustomed in this country to 
regarding modern Germany as a sort of absolute 
machine in which everything is done to the advan- 
tage of the State, and it is imagined that in time 
of war this mechanical way of living is extended 
until it covers the whole of German life. 
That is a great error and a piece with all other 
ignorant admiration of the enemy. 
The impression of clockwork movement is only 
obtained at the sacrifice of a great many other 
things necessary to the conduct of war which 
do not for the moment concern us, but especialh' 
of one thing, most essential to the conduct of war, 
which exactly concerns this very question. And 
that is the authority, the dictatorship, of go\ern- 
ment over its citizens in times of war. 
Germany only gets the appearance of mechani- 
cal accuracy by taking the greatest care not to use 
the authority of Government where it fears that 
authority might come under a strain. It is 
capricious in its newspaper censorship — far more 
capricious than are the French — and it is impotent 
in the face of any great financial power. Krupps 
is allowed an " Imperium in Imperio," which the 
French or British Governments would' not tolerate 
for a moment. It draws profits from the tax- 
payer at a rate which would make opinion in 
Paris or London explode. But no one in Berlin 
dares challenge them : least of all the Government. 
We have an excellent example of that in the 
advice — something more like an order — given by 
Ballin (whose name we shall do well to record and 
to remember long after the war is concluded) for 
the sinking of great liners. It appears to have been 
a policy by no means unanimously accepted, even 
among the few who direct naval affairs in Germany. 
Is was obviously extremely risky. If the sub- 
marine war were to fail, crimes of the Ltisitania 
sort would count very heavily against those who 
committed them. Nevertheless, the crimes were 
committed in spite of all misgivings, and would 
MR. HILAIRE BELLOCS WAR LECTURES. 
Wolverhampton : The Picturedrome, Wednesday, 8 p.m., Nov. 17. 
illustrated. WalsaS : New Town Hall, Thursday, 8 p.m., Nov. 18, 
illustrated. Chester : Music Hall, Fridav, 3 p.m., Nov. 19, not illus- 
trated. Liverpool : Philharmonic Hall, Friday, Nov. 19. 8 p.m., illus- 
trated. Kdinburgh ; Usher Hall, Saturday, 8 p.m., Nov. 20, illustrated. 
Glasgow: St., Andrew's Hall. Monday, 8 p.m., Nov. 22. illustrated. 
seem to have been committed mainly because 
Ballin, the financier, desired them. 
The hesitation to relieve meat pi'ices, though 
not in the same plane morally, is politically of the 
same nature. The go\crnment stopped short of 
an act of authority against things stronger than 
itself. You have exactly the same thing in the 
hesitation to tax. The contrast between British 
and German finance here, is perhaps the most 
striking of the minor effects of the war. 
The whole of this new phase is only just bc- 
gmnirig, and we must watch it with increasing 
interest as the hardship increases throughout the 
winter. 
The talk of revolution is nonsense. The 
North German never has, never can and never 
will rise against a master. He lives by the will 
of a master. He understands no other way of 
living. But though there will be no rebellion from 
within against the small wealthy class that orders 
Germany, its actions may breed despair ; and 
despair is more dangerous to a State at war than 
rebellion. 
The moral is, of course, that every kind of 
economic pressure we can possibly bring to bear 
against the enemy must now be brought to bear 
in _ full force. Had we brought that pressure to 
bear in good time with a wise disregard for the 
feelings of neutrals, the campaign would be more 
advanced than it is. 
, Talking of German supplies it is curious that 
part of the vague fears produced by the new 
German move in the Balkans, is that the enerny 
can now — by the Danube route — import the things 
he lacks. 
One paper has talked vaguely of his " tapping 
the resources of Asia," while another has saicl that 
the Balkan adventure is equivalent to the " raising 
of a siege." 
All that is great nonsense. The Turkish 
Empire can export a little corn and a httle wool. 
Cotton the enemy unfortunately stands in no need 
of for his propeilant explosiA-e for a long time to 
come. Oils and fats, which he is beginning to need 
very, seriously, it exports for less than a miUion 
aU told in normal years. Rubber, which the 
enemy needs more than anything, cannot reach 
him by this gate. Whatever else the junction 
with Constantinople effects it will have no serious 
effect upon Germany's lack of raw material in the 
future. H. Belloc. 
Messrs. Trcderick Warne and Co. arc responsible for the 
publication of a little shilling volume of verse entitled, At 
the Front, in which are included the bosi of war poems from 
.Shakespeare to Ruj)ert Brooke, including the " Battle Hymn 
of the I^opublic," and Browning's " Prospice." Both in its 
form and in the nature of its contents this little book makes 
an admirable companion for a man on active service, and it 
ought to rank as a jiopular Christmas gift from relatives at 
lome to their men on service. 
Some Pliases in ilic Life of Bitddlia (Kegan Paul, 2s. 6d.), 
taken from Sir Edwin Arnold's /./>/// of Asia, is a volume of 
e.vtracts from Arnold's work adapted for amateur performance 
with very few properties, and with incidental music by Hubert 
Bath. Full stage directions and instructions with regard to 
scenery are given, and the whole is w.!l witliin the capabilities 
of tlie average group of amateurs— s(j long as a sense of the 
dignity of the theme is maintained. Mr. Hubert Bath's 
incidental music is tasteful and fitting to the text, forming 
an apt illustration to the work, and showing great knowledge 
of and regard to the period which the " phases " represent, 
which evidently the composer has studied closely. He is' tc 
be congratulated on his success in by no means easy task, foi 
few Western minds are able to compass the true poetic spirit 
of the Orient. 
