Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-04-08
BRITISH FOOD SUPPLY.
Want of Food May Render All Means
of Defense Ineffective.

Want of Food May Render All Means
of Defense Ineffective.
In a lecture delivered by Capt. S. l..
Murray, Gordon highlanders, at the
! Royal United Service Institution, the
food supply of England was discussed
and a method or organizing safety was
proposed, as follows:
GAS we are at present organized, if
our enemies could but manage to de-
stroy our fleet we should be absolutely
/ at their mercy, to conquer us by an
overwhelming invasion or to starve us
into submission, whichever they
/ pleased. Yet, if our nation we're but
properly organized for defense we
| possess ample resources within our
selves to enable us to bid defiance
both to invasion and to starvation.
But these great defensive resources
we have not as yet even attempted to
organize.
"The discussion in Germany, France
and Russia as to the possibility of in
vasion should open our eyes and cause
us, before it is too late, to make the
necessary preparations for defense.
/ These might be comprised as: First,
| navy increased to a three-power
scale instead of two-power scale;
secondly, an army on the principle OF
universal militia service for home de-
Tense, and thirdly, food supply de-
| partment to guarntee us against star
| walton. That we could easily raise
| enough revenue thus to put our i'm
peria1 defnse on a proper footing |
have been Informed on very good au-
| thority. It is with the last of these
three equally necessary components of
a thorough and properly reasoned
scheme of imperial defense that pro
pose to deal The question of our
food supply lies at the very root of any
properly reasoned scheme of imperial
defense, because it determines our
staying power in the event of Europ-
can war.
Even supposing that continuous
supply of sufficient food could be
brought into the country, which is
extremely doubtful, it would undoubt-
edly be brought in at such greatly en-.
HANGED prices as would place it quite
beyond the purchasing power of the
poorer classes. 1t is manifestly use
less to have navy equal to those of
any two powers, or even three, if it is
possible for those powers, without
sending a single ship to sea, to raise
provisions to famine prices in this
country by financial operations only.
Similarly it is plainly useless to have
The strongest possible army-a uni
Yersa1 service army-to guard US from
invasion in the not impossible event
If a naval disaster, if it is in the power
IF our. enemies to starve us into
submission in about six months or SO
without landing single man.
"The state would have to feed z,
100000 of the popultion in the event of
var with France and Russia and /
100000 in the event Of war with
france, Russia and Germany But
We are at present completely depend
Mt upon Russia and the United States
I or food, and there are only four an6
half or five months food supplies in
he country at any time. We ought |
Iowever, to be able to make our food
upply last for two years. This could |
,nly be done by arranging in oul
cheme of imperial defense to guaran
ee the navy in the event of disaster |
o as to enable it to utilize to the full |
st extent our unrivalled resources
or naval reinforcement, and thus
ventually to raise the siege of the |
British isles and regain command OF
he sea-"
Captain Murray dealt in detail with
he remedies proposed before Mr.
Zerburghs committee, declaring that
was earnestly to be hoped that the
Royal Commission, when it assembled /
would be able to devise means OF
Increasing our food supply and pre-.
serving our blood supply. Meanwhile,
however, the danger was at our doors, |
and it only remained to devise a
scheme whereby, with minimum ex-
penditure in peace time, we should be |
able to make the most Of our existing |
resources in war time. Captain Muir |
ray proceeded to describe rough out |
line of a food supply department and |
its OrganlZaClOu 1OT p0dC0 anu wal, |
giving tables also of Siege rations."
He arrived at the conclusion from !
these data that any government had |
the power, if it chose to take the
trouble, to guarantee us against star
walton; and to do this, as far as our
food supply was concerned, at the in
finitely small cost during peace of
about G15,O00 year. It was only
necessary for them to make a few
simple preparations during peace.-The
Broad Arrow. London.