10 
LAND & WATER 
January lo , 1918 
him. Therein lies the whole secret of his success in England. 
But it would be unjust to irefcr that M. Clementel is only 
a deliglitful fellow who wins political victories through his 
agreeable looks and his straightfor\vard disposition. His 
intellectual gifts are remarkable and typical of his race. He 
has all the qiuUities ot the real Auvergnat ; patience, tenacity, 
commen sense, and ability for all things commercial. 
Though he started Hfe as a lawyer, and built up in the little 
town of Riom, where he was born, a very good practice as 
an avoiie (a profession very similar to that of a solicitor), 
he only came into his own when he entered the circle of great 
commtTcial and colonial enterprises. On being elected De- 
puty for his native town, he arrived in Paris to conquer an 
eminent situation in parhamentary as well as in business 
life. His fortune once made, he gave his full time and energy 
to affairs of State, and became Minister of the Colonies in 
1905 when still in the early forties. Since then his political 
career has been smooth and prosperous. Though he has held 
portfolios in various Cabinets, his real success dates from his 
entrance into the Briand Ministry (October, 1915). He was 
appointed Minister of Commerce and has retained that port- 
folio in the Cabinets of MM. Ribot, Painleve and Clemenceau, 
having become as it were, th,e indispensable Minister of Com- 
merce of France at war. 
I shall not analyse here the work done by M. Clementel 
on the French side of his administration. It is quite enough 
to say that he found the Ministry of Commerce an old- 
fashioned and sleepy place, which was usually given to begin- 
ners in a Ministerial career. H under former conditions this 
Ministry did nothing to hinder commerce, it certainly did 
little to 1 elp it. M. Cl^mentel's advent changed all that. 
He began by reorganising his Home Departments, and con- 
centrating all his energy on the problems which arose out 
of the war. Very soon he came to the conclusion that France 
alone, just as England alone, could not face the economic 
responsibilities of the present and of the future. He saw 
that both nations would have to unite and to pool all their 
resources if they were to feed and clothe their populations 
now and after the war. Thereupon, M. Clementel came to 
England and placed before the British Government his pro- 
posal for reorganising the economic life of the Allies, in accor- 
ance with this vital principle of unity. He put forward 
a practical scheme for tackling at once the grave problem of 
the wheat supply, and he was able to convince Mr. Runciman 
of the practicability of liis suggestion. 
•It included the appointment of an Executive Committee 
by the Allies — France, England and Italy — to which each 
country should nominate one representative, and this trium- 
virate was to be responsible for buying all the wheat available 
all over the world, in order to allot it to the Allies in proportion 
to their requirements. This Wheat Executive was appointed 
in November, 1916, and its work has been an unqualified 
success. The Alhes instead of competing against each other 
in all the markets of the world, have regulated the price of 
wheat and monopolised its production. Things have been 
made even easier since the United States have joined our 
ranks. Its representative has been added to the three original 
members of the Wheat' Executive, and now the Allies and 
their friends know that they need fear no shortage of wheat, 
if only they can provide sufficient transport to carry it from 
all the great centres which are accessible to us. 
Since then, other committees, inspired by the ,same princi - 
j)le have been created. They are the Meat and Fats Execu- 
tive and the Sugar E.xecutive, and others dealing with the 
remaining vital necessities are in course of formation. This 
alone would be enough to justify tlie gratitude of the Allies 
towards M. Clementel, or mark liimout as one of the statesmen 
who, since the war began, have deserved unstinted praise 
from us all. 
But what M. Clementel has done for essential foodstuffs 
might and ought to be done with regard to raw materials. 
Already we are organising on analogous lines the collecting 
and distributing of some kinds of raw material. But is it 
not equally Our duty to foresee what will happen when the 
war is over, and to take all due precautions in view of the 
enormous demand that will be made on those raw materials 
which are indispensable for the reconstruction of our commerce, 
of our industries, and of all the territories which have been 
laid bare by the enemy? 
Moreover, as it happens that by a stroke of good fortune, 
the Alhes have in their possession the actual monopoly of a 
great number of raw products, why should we not for once 
think before everything of onr own interest, and organise for 
the benefit of our own countries the different monopolies 
with which cirumstances have provided us ? Why should 
we not agree amongst ourselves to form special Executive 
Committees, on the pattern of the Wheat Executive, with 
the object of collecting, for instance, all the oil seeds which 
come from India and the Far East, and from the Western 
Coast of Africa, and distributing them among the Allied 
countries according to special agreements. Is it not our duty 
to think first of our own people ? Then, when the Germans 
come ultimately to us to buy oil seeds, we should be in a 
position to reply that we are not trying to boycott them, but 
that we intend to put before everything our own trade and our 
own industri-es. They might be allowed to buy the surplus 
we do not need for ourselves, hxxtnoihmg more. What is true 
of oil seeds is equally true of a long list of raw materials. It 
IS no exaggeration to say that the Allies have now the 
practical control of all the principal raw materials, while 
the German Empires and their confederates own only a very 
small percentage, quite insufficient for the necessities of their 
industries. Might it not be well if Germany were now con- 
vinced that, unless she consents to the peace we must one 
day dictate, in order to ensure our own and the world's se- 
curity, she will have no access to our raw material, except under 
conditions. Should we not be wielding a weapon as powerful 
as any possessed by army or navy if we were able to tell 
the Germans that their immediate consent to peace, at our 
price, would obtain for them out of the supply of raw material 
we need so badly for ourselves, a certain percentage which 
would grow smaller and smaller with every day, month or 
year that the war lasts ? 
Such a scheme is the natural and logical continuation of M. 
Clementel's economic policy, and would, if adopted, prove 
as useful as any military triumph. Here and now I can only 
indicate it briefly. The time has not yet come to enter into 
the details of this eminently practical project. Let us hope 
that M. Clementel, who has already won the complete approba- 
tion of the British Government, will be able to achieve this 
great object, and with the concordance of the United States 
It might not only shorten the war, but provide us after peace 
IS signed, with the real means of forcing Germany and her 
friends to respect their treaties in future, or to stai-ye. 
Leaves from a German Note Book 
A Nine Days' Wonder 
FORCE alone will not secure for us the position in 
the world to which we believe we are entitled. The 
sword has no power to thiiist aside the moral opposi- 
tion which has grown up against us. If the world 
Is to become reconciled to the greatness of our power, it will 
have to feel that behind our strength there is a World 
Conscience. 
These words, remarkable on the lips of a German were 
spoken at the opening Session of the Upper House of the Diet 
m Karlsruhe, by the President of that body, who happens 
to be a member of one of the German ruhng families No 
ess a person than Prince Max of Baden, heir to the Grand 
Duchy of that name, gave utterance to these sentiments 
and all Germany wondered. When professors and writers 
expressed views of tliis tenor, that w:as nothing out of the 
ordinarv'^ But that a royal prince should boldly come for- 
ward and have his say— that for Germany is truly "remarkable 
I he Liberal press took up the burden of his message amphfy- 
ing Its sahent points, agreeing with every senti ent. Prince 
Max. while abusing President Willson and Mr. Lloyd George 
m the orthodox German fashion, went on to say that Germans 
should be criUcal of themselves : there was a lack of freedom 
in Germany, and it was all the fault of large circles of the Ger 
man people who indolently submitted to authority, exercising 
no influence themselves on the destinies of the Fatlieriand ; 
and during the war a heathen outlook had been adopted by 
many intellectual men in all countries, and a moratorium had 
been declared on the Sermon on the Mount. 
^ The Sociahsts made the most of this declaration of faith. 
Where is the statesman among the Allies? " asks one of 
them, " who has spoken in this strain of Democracy, Freedom 
and Humanity?" The question only shows the mentality of 
the man who propounded it. It is needless to mention 
President Wilson or Mr. Asquith. The Sociahst writer in 
his joy seems to have forgotten the Kaiser's utterances about 
shimng armour and mailed fists and sharp swords. He has 
torgotten, likewise— an important consideration— that Prince 
Max of Baden, however generous and noble his sentiments 
may be, is of no significance in Germany, whereas the Kaiser 
matters. Prince Max is only the President of the Baden 
^^"se of Peers ; the Kaiser is the actual ruler. of Germany. 
And, finally, the writer has forgotten what the Pan-Geimans 
say about the coming peace. It must be a peace dictated 
by the victors, a peace purchased by militaiy success. The 
Fan-Germans of Hamburg deplore that the speech of Prince 
Max, with Its " silly sentimentalities," should have appeared 
