“The full seriousness of the case now stares English statesmen in the face.  Up to now they have believed it possible to exorcise the danger by voluntary economies.  Now they find themselves compelled to have recourse to compulsory measures.  I believe it is too late.”

The Secretary of State then gives a detailed account of the measures taken up to date in England for dealing with the food question, and thereafter continues: 

“On March 22 again the English food dictator, Lord Devonport, stated in the House of Lords that a great reduction in the consumption of bread would be necessary, but that it would be a national disaster if England should have to resort to compulsion.

“His representative, Bathurst, stated at the same time:  ’We do not wish to introduce so un-English a system.  In the first place, because we believe that the patriotism of the people can be trusted to assist us in our endeavours towards economy, and, further, because, as we can see from the example of Germany, the compulsory system promises no success; finally, because such a system would necessitate a too complicated administrative machinery and too numerous staffs of men and women whose services could be better employed elsewhere.’

“Meantime the English Government has, on receipt of the latest reports, decided to adopt this un-English system which has proved a failure in Germany, declaring now that the entire organisation for the purpose is in readiness.

“I have still something further to say about the vigorous steps now being taken in England to further the progress of agriculture in the country itself.  I refrain from going into this, however, as the measures in question cannot come to anything by next harvest time, nor can they affect that harvest at all.  The winter deficiency can hardly be balanced, even with the greatest exertions, by the spring.  Not until the 1918 crop, if then, can any success be attained.  And between then and now lies a long road, a road of suffering for England, and for all countries dependent upon imports for their food supply.

“Everything points to the likelihood that the universal failure of the harvest in 1916 will be followed by a like universal failure in 1917.  In the United States the official reports of acreage under crops are worse than ever, showing 63.4, against 78.3 the previous year.  The winter wheat is estimated at only 430 million bushels, as against 492 million bushels for the previous year and 650 million bushels for 1915.

“The prospects, then, for the next year’s harvest are poor indeed, and offer no hope of salvation to our enemies.

“As to our own outlook, this is well known to those present:  short, but safe—­for we can manage by ourselves.  And to-day we can say that the war of starvation, that crime against humanity, has turned against those who commenced it.  We hold the enemy in an iron grip.  No one can save them from their fate.  Not even the apostles of humanity across the great ocean, who are now commencing to protect the smaller nations by a blockade of our neutral neighbours through prohibition of exports, and seeking thus to drive them, under the lash of starvation, into entering into the war against us.