ESERVE

ly is forcing itself , and it is hardly ference to the rise of wheat, not in

or of this Review 'Corn Stores for s accorded to the ad the numerous chiefly to the imit appeared-led imine, and Our 1ore fully and in eview evoked. now ripe for redo not pose and s connected with hat I write with at purpose is to h this country is ility studied the I over again to nvinced that no especially of the ɔd supply. ently stated, in nent of a Royal hey formed only was an instance ood part of our

OUR URGENT NEED OF A RESERVE

OF WHEAT

'the present time the question of our food supply is forcing itself on the country in a way which compels attention, and it is hardly ssible to take up a paper without finding some reference to the rise the price of bread, and the very deficient stocks of wheat, not in s country only, but all over the world.

It is now more than two years' since the editor of this Review me the honour to publish an article entitled 'Corn Stores for r Time.' The very general attention which was accorded to the cle by the press of this and other countries, and the numerous ers I received about it-due, I am well aware, chiefly to the imtance of the subject and of the Review in which it appeared-led a year later to publish a work entitled War, Famine, and Our d Supply, in which the matter was dealt with more fully and in light of the criticism which the article in this Review evoked. It has been suggested to me that the time is now ripe for reing the subject, and, warning the reader that I do not pose and never pretended to pose as an expert in matters connected with food supply, I will only ask him to believe that I write with ute conviction and with but one purpose. That purpose is to avour to make others see the position in which this country is d as I see it. I have to the best of my ability studied the ion for some years, I have listened over and over again to nents pro and con, and I am more than ever convinced that no ion affecting the interests of our empire, and especially of the d Kingdom, is of such importance as this of food supply. r. Balfour on behalf of the Government recently stated, in that he could not recommend the appointment of a Royal ission to consider our food supplies, because they formed only art of our defence. Surely if ever there was an instance art being greater than the whole, it is this food part of our 1 Nineteenth Century for February, 1896.

defence; if that fails, it involves the whole defence with it-fleet, army, and our matchless resources of every kind. That is at the bottom of the anxiety which so many of us feel about this question. Of course, if it could be said with truth that it is impossible to make a reserve of food for a whole nation, or that such a reserve would be useless, we should have to be content to 'hope for the best.'

But the establishment of a reserve is not impossible; it is perfectly possible, not in my humble opinion only, but in the opinion of some of the leading and most experienced corn-trade experts in this country, as I shall presently show; and not only is it their opinion that it can be established, it is their strong opinion and advice that it should be established.

Nothing has so impressed me as this attitude of leaders of the great corn-trade industry of this country, and the corn-trade journals, on this question, which they must of necessity understand far better than anyone outside the corn trade. When I wrote in this Review in February 1896, to point out what I thought was the danger of our position, I did so because I was impelled to do it from personal conviction, the result of living for years among millions dependent on foreign food. And when the Editor of the Miller called upon me to thank me for directing attention to the matter, and said that for eight years past the Miller had been doing the same, and when Mr. George J. S. Broomhall, the Editor of the Corn Trade Year Book, the Corn Trade News, &c., wrote to me in the most flattering and encouraging manner about it, I felt more than justified in having written what in some quarters was called an alarmist,' 'panic-stricken,' and 'Protectionist' article.

The Standard, referring to my expression of opinion that 'what is wanted is that, instead of only a precarious week's supply, we should have stored up in this country enough corn to last for at least twelve months,' said, 'Mr. Marston labours under the astounding delusion that we have only a precarious week's supply of corn in this country.' I was writing of course about our supply in case of war.

If there was any astounding delusion, I am afraid it was not on my part. Only a day or two ago the Standard published a statement to the effect that our visible supply of wheat was only sufficient for a few weeks, and this when we are at peace with all the world.

If war was declared against us, or if we declared war, in defence of our interests, against a great naval Power, what, I ask, would become of that 'few weeks' supply? Is it not absolutely certain that the price would be prohibitive for the great mass of the people. And bread practically non-existent for the people could only, it seems to me, mean this: that, although fully equal to the demands that any war might make on us in all other respects, we should be compelled to make peace at any price, simply because famine had broken out in our midst.