The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-04-13

The English Review Of Reviews is run
ming a serial story that keeps abreast Of
the latest news and discusses the problems
OF the day, and is, ito be continued
month by month without end" In the
March number an account is given Of
Lord Gordon's Dream he being one Of
the characters. concerning the war be-
tween England and the United States over
the Alaska frontier question. The dream
affords vehicle for presenting England's
food supply problem: -.
Somehow or other, he did not remen,-
Der, how, he realized that England was at
war. The joint commission On the Alas
kan frontier had not been able to at1ee.
The three British commissioners reported
in, favor Of the Canadian contention, the
three Americans reported against it. AS
no provision had been made for the ap-
pointment Of an umpire, the net result
of the commission was to leave things as
they were, plus a much more Initiated
state of public opinion in both countries
than had existed before the commission
was appointed. While this feeling Of ir
ritation was at it's height; the American
miners in the Klondize, who had been
chatting under the mining laws of the do
nlinion, suddenly burst out into insurrec-
ton, hauled down the union jack, hoisted
the stars and stripes and APPEALED to the
American people for their support. The
government at Washington refused to
countenance the rising, but when the Ca
madam government began to send troops
to suppress the insurrection, popular pas
sion insthe United States rose to fever;
pitch. constant stream Of volunteers.
from the western states and the Pacific
slope set In towards Dawson City, deter
mined that the stars and stripes, once
hoisted, should never be hauled down.
The administration at Washington was
powerless to stem the tide of popular sem
timent. The Monroe Doctrine was in
voked. Manitoba and the northwest were
declared to be the natural hinterland Of
the United States. Collisions were contin-
ually occurring between the Canadians
and the citizens Of the United States.
Temper on both sides dethroned reason
and when, one fine day British cruiser
captured a ship full Of American rvolun-
teers bound for the Klondike with cargo.
Of munitions Of war, a great explosion Of
popular passion placed the empire and the
republic at war. 1f&1,uE : .
'1n his dream 1.ord; Gordon saw the
whole dread drama steadily and rapidly
march to the terrible catastrophe. lie was
poWerless to interfere. For the prosecu-
ton OF active war 1t was difficult to say
whether the Empire or the Republic was
worse prepared. But Of actual fighting he.
Sd " llOINlIlS L llc AfIlSTlCdHS ulO not even
invade Canada: The hundreds of thou :.
sands Of American settlers who are taking
up the rich cortland of the northwest:
threw off thei rellegiance to the Dominion
and hoisted the stars and stripes at Win
nipeg. 1t was winter time, and the mouth
of the St. Lawrence was blocked with ice.
Neither power showed any disposition
to bring things to a direct issue either on
land or sea. Great Britain indeed concen-
frAted great fleets Ha1ifaY md . nc
quimault, but the American navy forsook
the high seas and coltented itself, with
the aid of submarines, with protecting
New York, Boston and San Francisco.
The swift ocean greyhounds Of the Nor
gan trust were hastily transformed into
cruisers, the mere menace of whose pres
ence scared half the merchantmen of
Britain from the seas. They were hunted
down one by one by the overwhelming
numbers Of British cruisers, but the pro-
cess was long and wearisorne, and months
elapsed before they were all run down and
captured, burnt Or sunk.
AT first the strange immoblity of the
American. government puzzled Lord Cor
don.e Suddenly it flashed upon him that
this was a. deliberate plan of campaign
a campaign of mastery inactivity. 1t was
a campaign in which all the cards were
in the hands Of the United States. In
Great Britain the outbreak of war had
DSell lHlI1eQldtely IOllOWeQ Dy q rise. III the
price of food, the like of which had never
been seen before. Bread was at famine
rates. There was barely three months
supply Of corn in the country. The Ameri
can and Canadian supply was totally shut
off. AS with bread and meat, so it. was
with the raw materials which our manu-
facturers draw from the United States.
The mills of Lancashire were closed.
simultaneously with the sudden doubling
| and trebling of the price of food; millions
were thrown out Of work. Bread riots be-
gan within a fortnight Of the outbreak
of war. The government, in self defense,
seized all the food Supplies in the country,
and issued daily rations for the whole
population. But even then it was evident
that the whole world, minus the North
American continent, could not feed the
forty millions within these isles.
THE winter was one Of exceptional
severity. Rations Of coal had to be served
out as well as rations Of food. Great
| Britain, with it's forty millions Of hungry
mouths, was in the position Of a huge
beleaguered fortress Impoverished for "a
siege. Desperate efforts were made: to
| import food from the rest of the world.
| But the rest of the world could not i'm :"
provise supplies of food adequate to re-
place the enormous gap created by the
disappearance of the products of the
| United States. What surplus there was
available COulQ not pc Drought across the
sea for lack Of shipping. Slow ships were
picked up by the American Alabamas.
| OF swift ships there was no store. The
neutral flag was not protection. The
Americans proclaimed food to be con-
| traband, and buffed all weaker powers
| by threats of dire reprisals If they sup
piled the stores necessary, for Britains
| existence. Starvation at no distant date
stared the British nation in the face, and
the pinch of privation was bitterly felt
in millions Of homes from the first out
! break of war;
when Lord Gordon turned his gaze to-
the United States he was startled by the
contrast. There was, of course a. great
! financial crisis, but for the asss!of the
American people the cost Of living was
reduced to minimum. Never had the
necessaries of life been so cheap. For the
surplus product of the American farm
with which the United States had sup
piled the daily bread Of one-half the pop
ulation of Great Britain was now thrown
upon the home market. The secretary
for the treasury issued treasury notes.
guaranteeing the manufacturing and trad