Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 86, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1903 — WHY ENGLAND IS PEACEABLE. [ARTICLE]

WHY ENGLAND IS PEACEABLE.

Food Supply of the Nation a Safccuard Against War. The huge problem still remains—not, Is It the right thing to do to give our cavalry swords or rifles? not. Shall we pay onr private soldiers 1 shilling or 3 shillings a day ? not, Shall we require this or that qualification from division officers? but. Can we make war? Can we engage in war with a power or with powers as we were able to engage in war In the early years of the last century and even so late as fifty years ago? asks the London Spectator. The question, we acknowledge, looks at first sight absurd. “Of course!” would be the answer of the music halls, and in certain respects the answer of the music halls is a valuable answer. We have to remember that the economic conditions and questions affecting the nation have altered during the last fifty years. A country which goes to war has to consider ~not only the provisioning of the army engaged in fighting its battles but also the provisioning of the population which it maintains at home. At the time of the Crimean War we had a population of something under 30,000,000 and we had about nine'months’ supply of corn —to be bought at a price; but at one time the price of corn during the Crimean war rose to 52 shillings a quarter. To-day we have a population of over 40,000,000, we grow less corn than we did fifty years ago and If we had at any moment to depend for our food upon the supply of corn within our shores we should have only three months’ supply upon which to draw, unless, of Course, we could get more from outside. The question then boldly stated—there being a great difference between 30,000,000 to feed and nine months’ supply of corn and 40,000,000 to feed and only three months’ corn—ls whether we can still contemplate the possibility of war with a great naval power In the same spirit as that in which we have contemplated it in the past?