FOOD PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 7

FOOD PROBLEM

» | . GERMANY AND AUSTRIA SHORTAGE OP SUPPLIES In all the belligerent countries tho cost of living has increased sineo tho outbreak of the war, owing chiefly to tho withdrawal of many millions of men from their peaceful occupations; but tho rises in prices have been greatest in Germany and Austria-Hungary. According to a roport of the War Committee for Consumers' Interests, which has been, formed in Austria, the increases in the prices of tlio principal articles of food in belligerent countries havo been as follow-:—ltaly, 14.1 per cent.; England, 34 por cent.; Germany, 64.4 per cent.; 1 and Austria,' 121.3 per cent. Tho conditions in Austria and Hungary arc worso than in any of tho other countries, and the problem of how tho poor are to subsist is finding expression in food riots iu tho large centres of population. 11l Budapest best quality 'beef costs ss. per lb.; second quality, 4s. 2d.; veal, 4s. 2d.; pork, ss. 4d'.; mutton, 2s. 7d.; bacon, 7b. ; lard, 6s. 10s.; cheese, 55.; and eggs, Is. Bd. pei dozen./ Condition of. the Poor. In Germany the condition of the poor owing to tho high price of food is be. coming desperate. The Press censorship pr«vent« open discussion of the subject, but it has been found impossible Ijo keep out of the newspapers all tho ovldejice that the food problem is bosoming acute, and that the poor are already unv dergoing considerable privations. The "Magdeburgisohe" Zeitung,-' a paper of considerable standing, states:' "On Svhatover side one listens, one hears rumours of grave discontent, rumours of indigna/feion and anger, although ono liardly ever finds any reference thereto in the papers. The Press is muzzled, and is not allowed to represent the real feelings of the people of Germany. But the discontent t'hat is browing is all the more alarming.for that. Something is preparing, the gravity of which cannot ho minimised. The root of it all is that the working classes can no longer secure the food they need at a price they can aifordi'to pay," Herr August Win-, njg, the general secretary of the German Socialist Party, states in an artii cle, the publication of which was prohibited in Germany : ''The food situation is so gravo that it is 110 less.a humane than a national duty to speak about it, whatever impression it may create in enemy countries. If nothing be done immediately it will be impossible to pre; vent a catastrophe." Madame Roland Hoist, a Dutch' Socialist, in addressing a Socialist meeting at Amsterdam, declared that the 'extent of the need of the lower classes in Germany is terrible,. and that food riots are of almost daily occurrence. 1 There have been food riots in JSeriin, especially in those suburbs where women are compelled to wait foi hours, and sofotimejs all night, in front of shops where fat is sold,: in the hope of being, able to purchase some fat before the shops are sold out. Thousands, after waiting for hours, have to go home empty. Shortage of Fat Foods. An Amoriann citizen who lives ill Ger- • many states: "The most serious shortago is in fat foods, of which, apart- from butter, there is an absolute < dearth, wliile' butter; which now costs 2s. 7d. a pound, is most difficult to got. Lard, before it disappeared from the market, was actually sold' at froni 2-Jd. to 4d. more than tho present price of butter. "The fixing of this abnormal price for ,butter-was tho last straw in Berlin, where)' ill the northern 1 -part of tlio city and in Moabit scenes of -a_ revolutionary character have taken place. Sovcral streets were stormed, and the shops were emptied of all their edible contents. . Hundreds -of.; women were arrested. Similar scenes are reported from Chemnitz, where a whole quarter was destroyed, and military proclamations are posted up all over-the city. "The system similar to that of tho issuing of bread tickets has been extended to milk, cream; potatoes, bacon, and petrol. The milk supply is reserved solely for babies and those who Jiava been certified as sick, which means that the greater part of the population cannot get any more -milk. Furthermore, tho milk is bad in quality, owing to the poor feeding of the cows, and also to tho fact that tho best milk is used for butter-making. "Under the meat arrangements it is ordered that on two days weekly the population must go without meat; on which days no beef, lamb, pork,'bacon, veal, or chicken must be sold or shown in the shops or markets. l The exceptions to-this arrangement are game, ducks, and geese, which have risen 100 per cent, in price.. "On two other week days meat in tho cooking of which fat is used must not be served. On still another daj' bacon and pork are prohibited. Of the two days left, one is Sunday, when meat is difficult to purchase owing to the closing of the shops. . The worst feature of the situation is that the most generally used groceries are unobtainable, the supply having been exhausted. Oatmoal has complete.

ly disappeared, after having readied tlio prico of Is. Rice, which a- fortnightago cost Is. *ld., has disappeared from the shops and wJiolesalo markets."Food Regulations. But oven if it were possible for the Gorman censorship to keep out of tlio German, Press all comments on ' tlio shortage of food, tlio Government regulations with respect to the control of food supplies, which are officially<viaiii lioimced in tlio advertising columns of tho newspapers, show emphatically that tho position is serious. In the "Frankfurter Zeitung" of October 30 nearly a whole page is occupied _ with Government regulations regarding food supplies. Thoro .aro regulations for the "llestriction of Meat and Fat Consumption," "Regulations for Fish and Game Prices," and an amending sot of regulations regarding tho sale of potatoes. Under tho "No Meat" law, which is described as tlio most stringent food regulation enforced in the history of Germany, no moat can bo sold by tho butchers or sorved iri the restaurants on two days a week. On two other days of tho week no meats cooked ill fats may bo offered in public eatinghouses. Oil a fifth day tho sale oi pork is forbidden. The penalties fox breaking tlio "No Meat law are 3 £75 lino, throe months' imprisonment, and closure of tho offender's premises. Tlio German Socialist Press declares that food supplies are held back by speculators who aro waiting for higher prices, and are growing rich on tlid miseries of the poor. Herr Maxmilian Harden, the' editor and pro-' prietor of "Dio Zukunft," the publican tioii of which has been suspended several times because of its outspoken articles, has joined in with the Socialist Press on this point, and declares, "We . need a now crusado, a crusade against tho usurers wlto exploit the present distressful conditions and grind out inordinate profits from indispensable articles of everyday consumption. We must' make it universally understood that to-day food usury becomes a mortal sin. He who to-day coins interest ■money..out of meat, corn, vegetables, and potatoes is -a- godless scamp. Ho who hoards butter so that its price may rise still higher is cheating tho gallows of its rightful property; the workman who fasts so that ho may send his boy in the trenches soniething tasty should bo deputed to-hang : him." Other papers declare that there is an ample supply of food in Germany, but that the high prices are caused by the local authorities in various- communes and' districts purchasing reserve stocks of food for the people of their own locality, and forcing up prices by competing with one another. It is contended that the solution of the food problem lies in equal distribution, and that this matter must be taken in hand by the State. It is true that the shortage of - food is far less pronounced in some parts of Grermany than in others, and that prices vary considerably, but no action by tho Government jiv taking oyer the distribution of tho supplies can alter tijo fact that the German people are in a much worse plight to-day with respect to food than they were twelve months ago, when the distribution of 1 broad throughout the Empire was first 1 regulated by the introduction ■_ of tho ' bread card system. And/ during tho winter, which is now at hand, tho food 1 problem in Germany must become more serious. It is a problem for which there is no complete solution,, as long as tho British fleet prevents, imports reaching Germany from overseas. The 1 German people wore able to face the 1 first winter of the war with a reserve of food supplies received from abroad 1 before the war broke out. 'This whit-or there is no such reserve to call upon, and'even the reserves from tile _ last harvest are lower than in ordinary 1 times, because the crops were damaged ' by two months of drought in mid-sum- ; rner. -' -