The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-10-02
Starvation Stalking Unemployed,
ThrO,Un Out of Work by Great War
Which DemOraHzed FOREIGN Trade

~
must recall tnat coal Is, after all
one OF the chief itpma ina british
forcign trade. Tho exports of coal
Eu long way TO pay the food bin
But the trcay OF Versailles and the
rcparations settlements which hayo
followed have compelled the Ger
man 10 surrender the Ssrro Mines
TO France ana to deliver upwards of
20,OOO,O0O OF tons of coal To- Franco
annually as well as large amounts
TO Belgium and to Italy As these
three countries were the chief Gus.
toners for British Goals. thcro has
been an almost complete paralysis
OF British exports. Finally the
United States, pruiitiuE bv the great
Increase In the cost of British as
contrasted with American coal Pro-
duCtion has become q competitor in
the European market.
For time the British cudcavorod
by various devices 10 regulate the
cost of German coal to tho nations
receiving IL on the rcparauons uc-
count But I'm the end they failed
AT this and for them the British and
lolgiau market seems lost indefi-
nitoly. Moreover given the Ger
man situation. given the compare
tive costs OF raising American and
British coal. 1t Is plain to see that
only by such a reduction British
wages az Is out of all calculation.
can Britain again compete with the
Same success. on the contrary phc
is threatened with n steady decline
In her sulos OF coal abroad
\ Great Empire Desperate.
II one conceive that the present
economic disorder In Europe Ia Ia
continue over number of years. II
one conceive that Russia is lost 10
world trade for decade at the
least, then Il is plain that the Brit
/ ish situation has In II something of
/ the desperate. If one believes that
within a few months u now dis
| turbancc may break I'm Europe. q
French occupation OF the Ruhr, u
Gcrman-pullsh conflict or. looking
[ eastward, a struggle between Japan
| and tho United states. with the con.
sequence, pargly lysis Of the trade and
/ commerce OF the Far East, again
/ the meaning TO Britain Is manifest
The thing that Is pu22lng the
/ economists and the statesmen Of
the world, I'm the case OF Bri-
tain, i'm the case OF Germany. IN
that of Japan, allowing for diff
fcrences In degrees, is whether
tho situation which existed at the
moment the world war broke can
] be restored. To put the thing
quite hrutally, viii II he possible
for Britain to maintain her pres
ont population at homo or will
the economic pressure In the end
! compel an enormous tide OF mi
| grafton and leave England with
half OF its present population?
/ Even at the present moment the
most optimistic Englishmen agree
that there must be reduction, not
expansion of the British popula-
ton. In word that the limit
has been reached and passed, and
there is small promise in the fu-
turc that new developments can
make possible the maintenance Of
more people than now live in the
British Islands. Thus the ma
tural increase at the least must be
balanced by emigration.
Up to the outbreak OF the worlj
war British trade had managed &
keep pace with the extraordinar
expansion Of population. In Eng
land alone, the population in 1870
was just under 100000. At tn
latest census 1t had, as we hav
seen, almost touched 3S,O0O.0OO AM
this, for an area almost exactly tina
Of New York state. In "A degrc
England had become almost a singl
city, doing business for very larg
portion OF the world. dcpendcn
upon that business to exist. Bu
the war wiped out certain portio
OF the business. it transformed th
conditions In still further fields. ]
was followed by Il situation In whiCI
millions Of men and women Twin
In England were without work
Since there Is no market for thei
production there is no funds TO bu
food on which they must live.
In rho Shadow of Starvation.
! am dwelling upon those condi
tlons In this article because J al
anxious to make clear to my reader
the basis of British policy in IN
world ] have written frcquentl
and at length upon the French pol
Icy, which Is based upon tho nee
for security against Germany.
have pointed out that the Britis
sought trade and that they wer
prepared to subordinate even Fronc
safety, If need be- to the rcstora
ton of German economic healt
and, as a consequence the restora
tlon of Central Europe "a somsthln
approaching normal. But at bot
tom it is essential to perceive tina
the British policy. not less than IN
French, is dictated by imporious ne
Cessity II 1t Is q matter OF III
and death for France that she b
guaranteed arniust a new Gorma
attack Il is not less a matter q
lie aud death Tor Britain that sh
escape from the shadow Of starva
ton, which overhangs, literally
The question Of whether Britai