CAN BRITAIN BE STARVED?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1717, 26 May 1917, Page 1

CAN BRITAIN BE STARVED?

SOCIALIST PAPER’S WARNING. Herr Reisser, president of tho Hansa League, in a speech at a recent meeting, said that the aim of' the German submarine campaign was not to force Great Britain to her knees, hut to produce in England the desire for an understanding. The Socialist organ, Vorwaerts. considered that Count Keventlow’s aims could be attained only by a tremendous prolongation of the war. This statement was again denied by Count Reventlow, who demanded proof's from Vorwaerts in support of its theory. This has led to the publication of a long explanation in Vorwaerts, which says 1 . Assuming that Great Britain’s supplies will last only four months, she cannot, in theory, be forced to her knees in less than four months if no foodstuffs are imported. But if instead of holding out for four months, she can hold out for five or six months, she can live on her corning harvest for at least three months more.” Commenting then on the official figures published in England of the incoming and outgoing vessels, Vorwaerts points out that of 1,250 vessels which main- % tamed communication between the United Kingdom and other countries during tho first 18 days of February, only 200 were sunk, and England cannot be suddenly starved out so Jong as even live or six grain vessels manage to reach England. Vorwaerts also reminds Count Reventlow that the organisation of supplies and the introduction of rationing in Great Britain will delay the realisation of Count Reventlow’s dream by further weeks and months. The paper concludes: —“If we threaten Great Britain with destruction we naturally incite her people to greater thrift. Xo man, not oven Count Reventlow, can say when the day will come that Great Britain has no longer anything left to eat, and even when it does come, that day will itself lie separated by a great gulf from the day when the British nation will be inclined to come to a just understanding.”