December 2a, 1917 
LANO & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
5, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, W.C.2 
Telephone HOLBORN 2828. 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23. 1917 
CONTENTS 
Sound Advice. By* Louis Raemaekers 
The People's Food. (Leader) 
HistoricMl Sites of War. By Hilaire BcUoc 
Lcavts from a German Note Book 
M. CaUlaux. IL By .!• Couduner de Chassaigno 
Can the Battlefields of France be Farmed Again. By A 
American Farmer 
Hot Air. By Centurion r, t r, t i 
On Minding "Our Own Busmess, By L. i . Jacks 
Comrades of the Great War. By A Comrade 
British Printing. By J. C. Squire 
Books of the Week 
Literature in War Time. By James Milne 
C hristmas Morning, 1915- By An Lye Witness 
Where the Public Schools Fail. By S. P. B. Jlais 
The Big Guns of France. (Photographs) 
Campaign in Palestine. (Photographs) 
An hnperial Obligation. By Charles Marriott 
Domestic Economy 
•Notes on Kit 
r.\e.i: 
r 

II 
I.! 
M 
1.5 
10 
17 
18 
19 
20 
2Z 
26 
THE PEOPLES FOOD 
THl-: Clmstmas festival has been celebrated by the 
peoples of this kingdom in a more Christian spirit 
this year than ever before in the memory of living 
man. Through a rather obvious confusion of 
traditions, it is too often overlooked that excess of eating 
and drinking is simple paganism. In Bethlehem there was 
neither KiU nor Carlton at which the Wise Men might 
banquet after the presentation at the Manger of their gifts 
of gold and frankincense and myrth. Christianity had 
its birth in that very shortage of affluence which is the 
characteristic of the present times. Gluttony arose from the 
conjunction of this Birth Day with the Saturnalia of Imperial 
Rome, and the modern revival of the Saturnalia was due to 
an endeavour by an ardent publicist, Charles Dickens, to make 
the more fortunate in these islands realise, at least once in 
twelve months, the straitened conditions of the hulk of the 
people. This endeavour was both a success and a failure 
—a success in that it did attract the attention of the more 
thoughtful to the wretchness that surrounded them, but a 
failure in so far that it provided the self-complacent with an 
easy and (heap method of conscience-money. So long as 
beef, blankets and coal were forthcoming a^ Christmas, they 
felt they had fully discharged their duty towards their neigh- 
bours, and it is a little wonder that as education spread 
these doles became repulsive to the self-respecting poor. 
" Be temperate in all things " is an admirable Christian 
dictum, but temperance never consisted in privation and 
semi-star\ation for one and fifty weeks of the year balanced 
by gluttony and drunkenness during the remaining week, 
which was Christmas week. 
It would be a very good thing if the quiet and homely 
manner in which Christmas was spent this winter became the 
eustom hereafter. There is no reason why we should not 
maintain tlic kindly idea originated by Caligula, of providing 
presents for children or continue the habit of eliminating in 
our homes at this season for a few hours distinctions between 
master and man, between mistress and maid-servant, which 
though pagan in origin, is Christian in spirit, but we do hope 
there will be no return to that gross gorging tliat is so distinctly 
Teutonic. Also if the general well-being of the people is 
raised to a right stage, the horrid system of doles may well 
•lie. There will always be an interchange of presents between 
households and individuals in different ranks of life where 
good will is present on either side, but that is very different 
to i>roviding warmth and food during a few hours in the year 
I . :olks who are honestly entitled to both all the year round. 
Out of these abominable queues which Lord Rhondda is 
at last putting an end to, cven^ootl may come, in that they 
have made the more fortunate realise the difliculties that 
confront wagi^earnors who have to buy from hand to mouth, 
lacking the spare cash or larder-room to lay in stocks. 
Tliese queues have been the outward sign of the extra- 
ordinary difficulties surrounding distribution directly the 
ordinary channels of trade are interfered with, eitlu-r naturally 
or artificially These difficulties were anticipated in these 
columns weeks ago, because experience in other lands has 
proved that they always occur under such ^conditions. Wc 
ventured to suggest on the original formation of Food Com- 
•mittees that men of good will could not render better public 
orvices than by joining fhem, as the future of the nation's 
food supplies must turn largely on their labours. The 
Minister of Ftxid has rightly and wisely deputed large powers 
to these Committees to deal with all shortage in' local areas. 
jx»wers which, if rightly exercised, should put an end not 
merely to queues, but to unevenness of distribution. Speak- 
ing broadly, we are convinced it is the wish a\id desire of all 
classes to share alike ; there is as notable an absence of selfish- 
ness among the civil population as among the armies in the 
field. ILxceptions no doubt exist, but we sjjeak of the rule, 
and if the Food Committees will only exercise their new 
powers boldly and unselfishly, they will find they have belund 
them the support of everyone whose opinion and sujiport 
arc of any value. 
A disagreeable feature of these queues, according to Lord 
Rhondda, whose opinions arc confirmed by private ex- 
lierience, is that they have in some instances, and especially 
in the poorer districts, been occasioned by shops talcing 
advantage of their possession -of certain necessities, like tea 
or margarine, to advertise themselves. They have announced 
that such commodities would be on sale at certain hours, and 
thereby drawi buyers to themselves, who naturally prefer 
to spend their money on all kinds of goods in the shop where 
they can buy the special one they stand most in need of. In 
normal times this would be legitimate, to-day it is culpable 
if not criminal ; indeed, it might well be made a criminal 
ofTencc. But the Food Committees are now given the power 
to enter any shops where they have reason to beUeve such 
practices occur, commandeer their stocks, and distribute 
them among neigh.bouring retailers. It is probably the raosti 
drastic interference with individual right whidh " Dora " 
has hitherto permit*' '1 ''"t no general objection is likely to be 
raised to it. 
We are strongl}- cf the opinion that a Food Minister, to be 
fully effective, should be something of a Haroun-al-Raschi^^ 
he ought to -mix freely with the people, unknown to them, 
and ascertain for himself actual facts. This must not be 
taken to imply that we consider Lord Rhondda should himself 
stand in queues and personally investigate every complaint 
against Food Committees, but he ought certainly to have 
an efficient organisation at his disposal which would enable 
him instantly to ascertain the true circumstances of each 
4ase. many of which, from the very nature of his task, ■will be 
novel and unprecedented. Had such an organisation been 
in existence, the queue trouble need never have reached 
the dimensions it did. A secret of the power of the daily 
Press lies in this very fact ; it is able, through its organised 
staff to acquaint itself daily with the trend of public opinion 
and the actual conditions which cause it. -A staff such asis 
at the disposal of a " news-editor," to use a term well-defined 
in Fleet Street, is badly, needed at the Food Ministry, to 
enable the Food Minister to keep himself abreast of popular 
opinion. Inspectors or supervisors or any labelled official 
would be useless* for the work. As things are, how is Lord 
Rhondda to satisfy himself that the Food Committees are all 
doing their duties. The majority undoubtedly will, but 
there will be a minority which will either behave foolishly 
or neglectfully, nnd the chances arc that the Food Minister's 
first intimation of the seriousness of local conditions will be 
a riot or something equal to a riot. Lonl Rhondda has little 
idea of the sympathy and support he has behind him if he will 
only act promply. Mistakes can always be rectified ; it^ 
is hesitation that'initates, mofe especially if it be' combined* 
with spoken advice, perhaps good in itself, but utteriy 
worthless under local or class conditions. 
