The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-19


Frrnoh and German imports Of such
eommodities, and thereby stop all exporta-
zion of them from those countries. Were
Russia and the United States to withhold
food PRODUCTS from all the world, a., In the
event Of war with the British Empire. they
mechanically would withhold them, France
and Germany would be forced to prohibit
exports of food In order to prevent famine
and revolution at home.
The nations other han Russia and the
United States which, alone, could supply
food to England, send her 10Y only 4,271,.
600 quarters, which, presumably, consti.
tutes the greater portion of their surplus;
and they certainly could not furnish in ad.
dition more than q very small fraction Of the
additional 100000 quarters Of bread.
stufrs, which the United Kingdom would
require to feed her people, AS to the grains
other than wheat, which might be used for
food, the supply Of these also 10 badly
placed from a British viewpoint, Russia
and the United States controlling . very
large proportion of them, as they do of the
>bacon, ham, cheese, lard, and fresh beef
consumed in the British islands.
When Col. DENIsoN pointed out to Eng
lishmen the gravity Of these facts he re.
ceived various replies. Some assumedt that
q war with the United States was out of
the question. Touching this assumption,
Col. DENIsoN remarked that Canadians
were better able to judge of the state OF
feeling on the American continent, and he
expressed the opinion that IL England
found herself in q life-and.death struggle,
particularly il 1t were with Russia, the
United States would be almost GER
tain to throw In their whole strength
against England. To those who thought
that, In case of war. Russia and the United
States would not impose an embargo On
food products because 1t would Interfere
with their trade, our Canadian rejoins that,
II England had command Of the sea, her
opponents would have only one possible
weapon, namely, an embargo Oh food, and
would be driven to recur to the only often
sive action practicable.
Still other optimistic Englishmen relied
upon trade theories, which they thought
would override all military conditions, and
maintained that the demand would create
the supply, whereupon they were invited
to explain why the demand did not
create the supply for besieged Paris
in 1870. Those, again, who were pos
sessed with q vague confidence that
Great Britain, having command Of the
sea, would be able to get food somehow,
were requested to indicate where she
would get it, seeing that, according to the
statistics for 1896, there were only 4.271,-
900 quarters to be had outside of Russia
and the United States.
Moreover, Col. DENIsoN does not believe
that Great Britain could maintain an abso-
lutte control Of the sea everywhere. He
thinks she would be able to dominate GER
tain routes and keep them open, but he
deems it unreasonable to expect that even
her fleet could command all the sea
routes all the time in all parts of
the world. 1t is, therefore, by no
means certain that she could count
upon securing even the small fraction
of her breadstuffs which she now OBJ.
tains from countries other than the United
States and Russia. OF the few routes
which probably could be kept open one is
that from the Straits Of Belle Isle to the
North of Ireland, and it is this fact which
causes Col. DENIsoN to lay great stress
on the Importance of stimulating the
growth of wheat in British North America,
The imposition by England of a duty of two
or three shillings a quarter on foreign
wheat, while Canadian wheat was admitted
duty free, would increase, he says, Canada's
production of that staple by leaps and
bounds. It. would. at the same time. be
likely to bring back the United Kingdom's
home production Of wheat to something
like the figures which prevailed during the
Crimean war.
Such is the view of highlands predica
ment taken by a friendly Canadian OBJ
server. We add that the remedy suggested
by Col. DENIsoN will never be adopted, fol
the workmen in England's factories will
never submit to any material increase II
the price of breadstuffs. They would no
consent to 1t, even ifthe colonies would ad
NIT British manufactures duty free whilt
taxing similar commodities imported from
foreign nations.
There is, consequently. no escape for Eng
land from a situation which is daily grow
ing worse, the fatal character of which
will be revealed to every one should shl
ever fnd herself involved in wal with Rus
STA and the United States.