The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-27

London, August 9-"Wear your old clothes and invest your money in war loan," is the text of one of the appeals for war economy with which the blank walls in England have been placarded. It is doubtful if these appeals are much needed by the people, but if the war lasts much longer they will have to wear their old clothes for the simple reason that there will be no new clothes for them to wear
 The soldier is a great consumer. If every man in peace time used up as much material of every kind as he uses while he is in the army, the volume of a na- tion's trade would be simply staggering There would be no trouble about sup plying the demand for every man then would be producer as we'll as con sumer but the soldier is consumer only, and there are now five millions of him in the British army. The result is shortage of nearly all materials and as the soldier must be supplied first the government are taking all the necessary precautions to see that he does not run short.
 ALL WOOL COMMANDEERED
 In the matter of clothes, for instance, the government has communicated all the wool clip. This does not mean that there will be no wool except for the sol diers, but it means that no one is allowed to buy or sell any wool without a permit from the government specifying just how much he may buy or sell and the price at which the transaction is to be carried out as well. No farmer in the United Kingdom may sell his wool clip this year except to an army buyer or to a person holding an authorization from the army council. The prices have been fixed at fn nfc md fAr c1, 1 wool, according to quality and no per- mits will be issued to private manufa ct- urers until all the requirements of the British army and it's allies are satisfied.
 The same applies to boots. The army has made practical corner of all the leather in the country and there is going to be very little left for the civilian. The orders for boots for Brit aims armies and those of her allies which have been placed in this coun- try are something colossal. For in- stance between the middle of July and the end of September orders in hand in England for military boots for England, Russia and Italy will consume 23,7O0,0 900 feet of upper leath- CT, while between September 30 and November 15, 16,000,000 feet of upper leather will be needed for English and Russian orders. In addition to that the Russian government is pre- pared to take 40000000 feet of upper leather between now and the middle of November if it can get it, and then there is the corresponding quantity of sole leather to be provided. The boot trade journals are now warning the manufacturers that they need expect to get very little leather for civilian consumption. "There Is too little leath- CT for the needs of the armies at pres ent in the country" says one journal and the government are going through the market with a fine tooth comb and taking all they can get, whether it is suitable or unsuitable"
 There is also a prospect of a serious shortage of coal, or at any rate of very high prices during the winter. The miners have enlisted freely and the production has fallen off The transport difficulty is also to be reck- oned with and while the government has taken power to control the price of coal it has already this summer, when prices ought to be at their low est been compelled to grant permis- sion for an advance of 60 cents a ton