The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-24
Special Correspondence 10 THs scS.

SpeCTdf correspondence 10 1Ht ooS.
LONDON. March 1.-THE food supply
OF the German people has been discussed
at length In articles recently printed In
THE SrN. There articles included ex-
tracts from German newspapers. In
which actual conditions were revealed
obviously In a more authoritative man
ner than n written by more
or less biassed individuals. However. a.
the facts contained In these accounts
were gathered and prepared for publica.
ton by a neutral. II IL Of interest to
hear what the German scientists have
to say on the subject. and much atten.
ton il being paid to a pamphlet just
published In Berlin by two noted scien-
lists. Prot. Kuczynski and Prof. Zuntz.
The pamphlet contains a graphic and
detailed history OF the food supply Of
the German people with respect to the
war. A translation has been prepared
by the Lancet.
Germany. II would appear. was far
from slow to recognize the Importance
of the o o problem. both as regards ma
and beast, but nevertheless delayed taxi
ing active measures until the danger
point had actually been reached.
In December. 1914. and January.
1915. there was. as usual. a decline In
the number OF pigs" say the German
writers. "and this was greater than the
average owing to increased slaughterinR
and the less prolific breeding caused BY
the agricultural crisis. Meanwhile the
Government had determined that more
pigs must he slaughtered. and on Janu-
AIRY rs recommended all m Of
more than 5000 inhabitants ( buy up q
great number Of pigs. The price Of pigs.
however. rose to double that OF peace
time. and the recommendation Of the
Government WAS only half hesrtedly car
ried out.
. April Is a new census Of pigs
was taken. showing a drop since Dscem.
Der ! OF IS per cent. and II seemed TO
the Government tina, the reduction had
proceeded far enough. In the latter
half OF April and during May. however.
'he numbers began to rise again and
by the end OF May were probably a.
high as they had been In the middle Of
March. II the reduced number Of pigs
OF the middle OF April had been attained
s!X months earlier and had remained
fixed 1t would have made a vast differ
ence IN supplying the needs both Of the
population and OF the indispensable cat
tie.
As u was, great quantities OF grain
II potatoes were given TO pigs and no
very considerable gain in meat attained.
while the other cattle suffered and par.
tlcularly the horses. which already in
February were on reduced rations 81
oats. though the harvest OF 1914 would
have been sufficient for their needs In
spite of the unusually great demands OF
the war horses; and through this reck-
less usage the store of oats had by De-
cembcr ] been reduced by cne-hai'. d
III was not until January Is. 1918.
mat The Government; took the supplies
or wheat and rye into rs own hands
AMI decfeed tina, those engaged in ayr
culture s';ould have an allowance OF -
Ng. Ut h!Snr "pSt- month per head and
1 tRs rest OF the population 2:5 :
J daily per head. Even these re,rcncl,-
menis were insuffictsn; In February
only one-th!rd of the grain store re.
manned and the allowance OF a2i
Sramnes was reduced to 200. IN time
Of peace h average consumption per
head Is $40 srsmmes. SO that TIE peo-
pie had now 10 DENY themselves ~ per
cent. Of their accustomed nourishment,
and for the poor. with whom bread ia
a more important item, IL was % per
cent. or even hlehsr)
The great errO then in the man
asement os the cereal supply was tina
the r.sh. solution had been found TOO