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GERMANY'S FOOD SUPPLIES
WAR BREAD COMPANY LIMITED.
THE "ALlTIiuNGER."
Mr Frederick ville who contributes
the column Germany Day by Day to
the London Daily Mair says under
date January 4 as follows -
Germany has at last been forced by the
iron logic of pitiless facts to acknowledge
that the grip of the British Fleet is
threatening to choke her The New
Years greeting of the Kaiser's Government
to their patriotic but deluded
people is an official announcement that
the country h bread supply is gravely
menaced
To mitigate conditions already serious
and even still worse to come it has
been decided to form a limited liability
corporation called The War Bread
Company, which is to exercise a practical
monopoly in breadstuffs of all kinds
for the duration of the war The communique
proclaiming the Governments
intention only thinly veils the urgency
which calls for this wholly unprecedented
action The war has hitherto produced
no indication of even approximate Hit,
nificance that Germany's inability to un
port unlimited supplies of foodstuffs
the blockade of her coasts by the British
Navy-is even at this comparatively
early state threatening her very his
This is the official prospectus of the
War Bl and Company Limited -
There call be no doubt that the grain
supply at the disposal of our people Um
year (1914) is considerably smaller than
in normal peace times Dir ling the years
between 1908 and 1913 nichiMVc the 10
were available annually in Germany for
human consumption fodder and indus
t ml purposes including imports 15,000
'114 tons of rye wheat and other cereals
Not imports amounted on the average To
1200 600 tons of about 8 percent 1
though it would be wrong to say that
imports had altogether ceased The t in
not be relied upon during the war
Owing to the long drought in the spring
of 1914 our harvest of the succeeding
Scammel was less than that of 1913 It
must also be remembered that in parts,
of last Prussia and Upper Alsace (l c
where the Russian and French invasions
have taken places the fields are devastated
and supplies destroyed and also that
Germany has exported grain to Switzerland
The figures of the grain statistics
are rather to be considered too high than
too low Thus the deficit in breadstuffs
already caused by the stoppage of imports
is considerably increased its
deficit may be reckoned at 15 perhaps
even at 20 per cent.
ALL RIGHT BUT
If however, our enemies relying on
those conditions count upon a food
famine in Germany they have thorough
lj miscalculated By provisions such us,
those forbidding the export of potatoes
limiting the use of potatoes for distilling
purposes to 60 per cent and providing"
for the conversion on a large scale of
potato peelings into bread flour the feeding
of the population has, been made
secure Then there are various other
substitute foodstuffs which have been
withdrawn from the breweries distil
letter and cattle feeders to say nothing
of a supply of meat such as has never
before been available in Germany We
can, therefore easily banish anxiety
about the food of the German nation
until the next harvest
But the condition for this reassuring
certainty and therefore also the absolutely
essential condition for our successful
holding out in this war which has
been forced upon us is that the entire
German nation should recognise the
necessity of living in the most careful
possible manner and limiting the consumption
of bread and other bakery
goods to sheer necessities. Inasmuch as
from the beginning of the war to this
hour the country has undoubtedly lived
too carelessly all men and women in
Germany are now warned to be sparing
with bread in order that by using to
themselves only that which is absolutely
necessary each and every one of us may
do our share in frustrating the knavish
calculations of our foes
THE CRITICAL MONTHS
Owing to the uncertainties of the
basis of the station excessive caution
and self denial in better than careless
indifference and nonchalant adherence to
old habits of indulgence Bj establish-
ing fixed maximum prices for grain the
Imperial Government has averted the
otherwise inevitable advance in price of
this most important foodstuff the Government
was fully aware that such a
rise in price would be the most effective
way of limiting consumption of bread
If out of motives for the general good the
Government has prevented the natural
rise in prices, and thereby removed the
automatic regulator of consumption it
has by doing so under lately and is
may be hoped not vainly reckoned with
the insight of our patriotic population
with whose aid the same object can be
attained in a manner which is, more in
keeping with the sentiments of the country
at large
It appears necessary notwithstanding
not to leave the grain market wholly to
itself but as far as possible to take precautions
for a proper division of supplies
and for guaranteeing the fulfilment of the
demand in the critical months before the
harvesting of the next to op Vu (Jus
purpose the Prussian Government will the
strong co-operation of German rule-,
of more than 100 000 population and of
a part of our great industrial undertakings
has founded a limited 1 ability company
with a very large capital This
company which will be clothed with the
right of requisition will be charged with
the duty of acquiring large supplies of
breadstuffs to store them and especially
to husband them with a view to
satisfying the demand during the last
months of the harvest year
CO-OPERATIVE SCHEME
The company is to be co-operative Its
dividends are to be limited to 5 per cent
of the paid in capital Profits in excess
of such dividend caring, are to be
turned over to the empire for purpose,
of the national good especially for the
benefit of war veterans invalids, and
their dependents or sun nors The board
of directors shall include in addition to
representatives of the Federal States and
cities delegates acting on behalf of the
great industries
The company will b high conscious
of its grave, responsibility It will recognise
the impossibility, owing to its
hurried organisation without model of
any kind and to the fact that it must
tread hitherto utterly unknown paths, of
avoiding mistakes Neither will it be
able to avoid interfering with private in
vessels where the wider interest of the
general public are at stake But it is to
be expected with entire certainty that it
will understand how to solve his problem
in such a way as will enable our gallant
army (o continue its great work
without anxiety in regard to the economic
security of the entire German nation
until a result favourable to Ger-
many has been achieved"
OUR DESPERATE ENEMIES"
In the same New Year's number, in
which it announces the formation of the
Government's and starvation 'War
Bread (Company Ltd," the semi-official
'Cologne Gazette" ends up as follows a
five-column review of the war between
the lines of which it is not difficult to
discern anxiety
"We have to defend ourselves against
a world in arms Hitherto we have done
so in a way that has almost caused our
enemies to lose their patience, and made
them begin to abuse one another because
the common foe is neither tired not
crumbling, and because the, three great
hopes-the English Fleet, the Russian
Army, and the ARU Hunger have thus
far been disappointments The end is
not yet in sight But we can await it
in a spirit of honest confidence such as
our enemies, despite their superiority
and their strenuous endeavours, can
hardly do.
"We know very well that hard cases
are still in store for us that we shall
still have to battle bitUtlv for the
laurels, that there will still be sacrifices
which will cause bitter pain But we
are confident and firmly determined that
we shall win-confidence and determination
which nothing can break Our
slogan is what it has been-hold fast'
We may he satisfied with what we have
achieved up to January 1 of the New
Year We may have continued confidence
in our Army and Navy, and in
our economic and moral strength resources
because we firmly hope that the
hour will come sooner or later when we
can breathe easily after grave times, and
say as Goethe said a hundred years ago,
after the liberation of the nations from
the yoke of Napoleon.
Now we are Germans again,
Now we are great again
Come what may, we firmly believe that
victory must eventually be ours "
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