The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-04-21

Miss Lillian Johnson has the diStinc-
ton of being the only woman machin-
list in the state of Maine and the only
woman who wears uvcrallS at her
work She hopes 10 join an aviation
corps for service in the war.
! naval force without, would have made
/ her safe. Last years crops throughout
/ Europe were almost universally bad.
| Nature was in part responsible, but it
| is now realized better than il was q
| few months ago that the conditions of
| life during war are utterly disastrous
| To the interests of peace. The other
! day Dutch farm hand who had been
working in Germany most of the time
since the war began returned to his
! home in Holland. He painted q pic
| ture of conditions in rural Germany.
! He had been the one able bodied man
on a farm of more than 200 acres. II
| had been his work to get Il maximum
Of production out of the land I'm the
face Of the fact that he was the only
really competent unit OF man power
there.
In former times several men would
have worked on that farm, amply sup
| piled with live stock for power, for
meat and milk supplies, for the pro-
ductiOn of fertilizers. But the last of
the men was taken away to the army,
some of the women to munitiOn works
The horses had been taken away to
the fighting forces and n long step had
been taken toward destruction of the
other live stock to provide meat.
Fertilizers were almost utterly lack
ing. In anticipation of the crop sea-
son of 1917 he found that the stock of
seed had been drawn upon to n ruin
| Gus extent because Germany like the
rest of Europe, is living so largely up
on its capital.
Working long hours under the most
arduOus conditions this man had for
months been underfed although well
paid. He simply could not stand the
strain and left his place. This is pic
| ture of what may be seen and is daily
being reported all over Europe. Swift
zerland, Holland, Greece, tell of null
! titudes in dire need of food. The Scan
dinavlan countries suffer less for food
but more for some other necessaries.
Neutrals Also Suffer.
Yet ii is not safe to presume that In
the outside world the wheat fields and
the stock resources of Canada and In
dia and Egypt, the Argentine and Aus
tralia, can be looked upon this year
to make up EurOpe's deficiencies. Neu-
trails are suffering through the same
causes, even If not so acutely, that are
diminishing the productive power of
| Europe. Labor Is scarce, machinery
and credit are almost impossible to Sc
cure. Manufactured articles which rep
resent the least of EurOpe's troubles
thus far are not to be had by reason
of both the industrial and financial
F. breakdown.
| The outside world cannot produce
food for blOckaded Germany and Aus
tria. The naval power of the allies
will not permit Ii TO feed them. Wheth-
|
the entente nations must depend on the
capacity of an overwOrked and under
tOnned merchant marine. There is
more acute need for shipping than ever
! before in modern times. while the sup
/ ply Of ii is being diminished day by
day. The world is no longer on q nor
NAL basis. Credit and money, even
gold money, mean little. The tonnage
unit of shipping capacity is the stand
ard by which the capacities of nations
to live and support themselves must
be gagged.
/ By all accounts there is no real hun
ger In England rs yet. but Mr.. Lloyd
| George has Informed the nation that
its food supplies are lower than ever
before; he has required a drastic limi-
tation of imports other than sheer ne
cesSities of life so that there may be
cirS" space To bring these neceSSaries.
England has not only to supply its own
requirements from abroad but largely
TO provide the shipping that shall bring
food to France and TO Italy. 1t must
find means Ia carry troops and SID
| plies 10 the near East and necessoripS
of war 10 Russia.
| Wastage Also a Factor
This rough outline explains how the
war is coming To be looked upon as one
/ more likely To be determined by eco
nomic than military attrition. Economic
waStage, breaking down the physical