Barton County democrat., 1914-09-18

II
but if the war becomes the pro-
lOnged catastrophe predicted by
experts, Canada's commerce will
be forced through neutral Amer
ican ports, from north to south,
from her trunk lines to American
trunk lines; and Canadian Subsi-
died lines on both Pacific and At
antic will be requiSitioned as aux
iliarieS to the British Navy.
Under stress of prolonged war
ropes deficit of wheat with ease.
In 1913 fifty million acres were
planted to wheat. Under encou-
ragement of high prices so million
acres could easily be given over
to wheat according to experts;
and that area at the lowest aver
,,age of fifteen bushels an acre
would feed Europe. But where
are the ships to carry the wheat
through those sea lanes?
England requires almost a bill
lion pounds of beef from transat-
lantic countries every year. Three
quarters of this she draws from
Argentina. If this supply were
suddenly cut off, every inhabitant
in the British Isles would be short
OF meat twenty-five pounds a year.
One sees in these figures why
Germany strikes without warn
ing and trusts more to blockading
the sea lanes and starving her
enemy than to fighting her. Ger
many'S merchant marine in 1900
totaled only 2,495,OO0 tons. Today
it is 5,O5O,OOO tons. In 1904 Eng
land had no warShipS in the North
Sea. On all the seas of the world
England'S merchant ships total al
most 20 million tons. The lanes
OF the sea are her paths round the
world; and on her, more than on
any other nation on earth, devolv-
eS the duty of keeping the sea
open and safe for commerce.
There is probably not a nation in
the world that would have done
what England did the first four
days of the war. Her Liverpool
buyers had contracted for 70 mil
lion bushels of Argentine and Ca
madam and American grain. Un-
derwriterS dared not take the war
risk. The British government
guaranteed the insurance on this
grain. 1t is on England that the
United States is depending today
to keep the sea open for American
commerce; and if English cargo
carriers ply the ocean highways
OF the world conveyed by British
men-of-war protecting American
commerce, it will draw the two
branches of the Anglo-Saxon race
more closely together than they
have ever been before.
New Laws Needed at Once.
But wheat and meat are only a
small part of the supplies Europe
must draw from America. For
ten years Europe has depended
almost entirely on the United
States and Argentine for corn. OF
the 13O million acres planted to
corn in the New World, 1O5 mil
lions are in the United States, 1S
millions in Mexico, 10 millions in
Argentina. Though, owing to
drought, only As million bushels
were exported from the United
States in the year 1912-1913, the
deficiency was made up by Argen-
tina, which sent 100 million hu.
shells to Europe. Of the European
countries only Hungary, Italy and
Roumania rank commercially as
corn producers; and two of these
countries are eliminated by the
war. Belgium requires 20 million
bushels of corn a year; Denmark.
~ million bushels; France IA mil
lion bushels; Germany so million
bushels, which is used in manu-
tactured corn products; Holland,
70 million bushels; England, 100
million bushels.
Oats, barley and flour from
America make up an enormous
proportion of food for the coun-
tries of Europe. Shortage of
these means shortage of cereal
foods, malt and bread. England
alone has to have 60 million bu-
shells OF oats per year from abroad
and so million bushels of barley.
Germany imports so million bush
els of oats and 100 millions of bar
ley. France again largely supplies
| her own needs seldom huv;no