June 22, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 2828 
THURSDAY, JUNE 22. 1916 
CONTENTS 
PAGE 
Union Jack Club: Special Appeal. By Louis 
Raemaekers ^ 
Foundations of Peace. (Leading Article) . 3 
Kovel and Lemberg. By Hilaire Belloc 4 
" Your Splendid Work." By Arthur Pollen lo 
Italian Artists and the War I2 and 19 
Germany's Mistakes : Political. By Colonel Feyler 13 
Adventures of Richard Hannay. By S. P. B. Mais 14 
Letters to a Lonely Civilian 15 
New Steps to Economic Reform. By Arthur Kitson 16 
Roof of Armageddon. By Will Irwin 17 
The Club with Five MiUion Members 20 
The West End 22 
Town and Country 24 
Choosing Kit xiii. 
THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE. 
THE recommendations made by the Economic 
Conference, held in Paris last week are now 
published, and will be heartily approved by all 
who regard these questions of trade and com- 
merce from the Imperial point of view. The representa- 
tives of the Allied Governments declare that "after forcing 
upon them the military contest in spite of all their efforts 
to avoid the conflict, the Empires of Central Europe are 
to-day preparing in corjcert with their Allies for a contest 
on an economic plane which will not only survive the re- 
establishment of peace but will at that moment attain its 
full scope and intensity." This statement, though it 
only confirms what was generally known before, has a 
double importance — it proves that the nations are all 
equally alive to the perils of peace, and it makes clear 
the reason why it is necessary without delay to so reform 
our trade systems and methods as to secure protection 
after the war from German aggression. 
This journal is conducted on non-party lines, but 
since our leader of last week on the Economic Conference, 
we have received a letter protesting that we have 
departed from this policy, as if forsooth economic 
questions were the monopoly of partisan platforms 
because in the past they have been their favourite shuttle- 
cocks. It is high time we awoke out of sleep and realised 
that such questions have a much deeper and more far- 
reaching import than is touched by academic arguments 
about supply and demand, free-trade and protection. 
Only this week the Kaiser informed the world at large 
that the untiring activity of the late von Moltke was 
devoted to the " brilhant preparation " for this war ; 
though the deceased General confined his activity to 
military matters, it may be accepted without demur 
that the same "brilliant preparation" included every 
possible weapon in the armoury of economics. Germany 
has chuckled with evil glee over our endless disputations 
about shibboleths and phrases, while she went on her 
way silently absorbing every fraction of trade that could 
eventually bo turned to her direct benefit. 
In this economic pact we may behold the first founda- 
tions of peace. Here they are laid, and truly laid, but 
we have to build upon them. The denial of " most- 
favoured-nation " treatment to the Enemy Powers for a 
period to be fixed by agreement, to which we made allu- 
sion last week, is one of the main recommendations for 
what is called the reconstruction period. And the deter- 
mination is expressed to restore to those countries suffer- 
ing from destruction and spoliation the industrial plant 
and raw materials of which they have been despoiled. 
The systematic manner in which Germany at the time 
of the invasion of Belgium, Northern France and Poland, 
not only commandeered all raw materials but dismantled 
factories and industrial works, destro3dng wiiat could not 
be removed, is not as generally realised as it should be. 
The idea was_ to cripple instantly possible competition 
after the war, and to ensure a period of time when certain 
manufactures could practically be furnished by Germany 
alone, owing to her having destroyed for the time being the 
rivalry of France and Belgium. This is further evidence 
how Germany's brilliant preparation and conduct of 
war embraces every branch and department of national 
life, both her own and her neighbours. We must accept 
this truth and act accordingly; wasting no more time 
listening to elderly prophets who wrangle and abuse each 
other in the market-place over empty catchwords and 
worm-eaten gospels. 
They who drafted this international agreement have 
taken long views, and have made several excellent 
recommendations for permanent measures of mutual 
assistance. A common law covering patents, indications 
of origin and trade marks will go far towards establishing 
a firm commercial alliance, which in the end must prove 
the surest defence against the recurrence of war. We 
would not suggest that this pact of peace is the first 
grey streak of the dawn of the millennium, but it is 
certainly a step towards the federation of mankind 
which is the ideal unto which humanity still toils 
painfully. That there will be trade jealousies and dis- 
putes in the future as in the past is obvious, but they will 
not be quarrels out of which armed conflict will arise. 
It is to be hoped, so far as this country is concerned, 
there will be a thorough overhauling of antique manners 
and customs. May we not anticipate the aboHtion of 
our ancient system of weights and measures and the 
adoption of a decimal coinage — on which subject we 
publish a special article to-day. The commercial harm 
which British conservatism in this respect has wrought 
is incalculable. And the change could be made, if not as 
easily as we adopted paper currency or gained an extra 
hour's daylight by putting on our clocks, certainly with 
infinitely less trouble and expense than 'it has cost us 
to reclothe our. army in khaki, or refurnish it with 
newer kinds of munitions. This is the age of transition ; 
let us tread courageously the new roads and be done 
with the easy contentment and " don't bother me " 
ruts of the past. The Economic Conference has given 
the country the lead it requires ; we must look to 
our statesmen to build up this new defence of civilisa- 
tion against commercial attack by scientific barbarism 
which prepares the paths of peace for the wheels of its 
big guns and makes friendly commerce the harbinger 
of the foulest horrors of war. 
Attempts will doubtless not be lacking by a certain 
school of economists to prove that these dangers, once 
the enemy is defeated, will be more or less imaginary, and 
that the sole salvation of the working-classes of the United 
Kingdom will lie in the future as in the past in cheapness 
irrespective of consequences. We have suffered so 
heavily through the blind worship of this abominable 
fetish that it may reasonably be hoped that such efforts 
will make small headway. But we must be ready for 
them. Trade and commerce is now part and parcel of 
Imperial defence. We know how the enemy works and 
who are our friends and must act accordingly. Great 
Britain has not hesitated to depart from old traditions 
in defence of freedom, and now she m-ust display equal 
courage and firmness in the maintenance of independence 
when the war is over. It is for us to set an example in 
putting into practice the wise and well-cdhsidered 
recommendations of the Economic Conference. 
