Probably the most interesting economic problem in the world at this
moment is whether England can succeed in starving out Germany. While the
world at large is chiefly interested in the vast political issues
involved, the question interests the Germans not only from that
standpoint, but also--and how keenly!--from the mere bread-and-butter
standpoint. For if Germany cannot feed its own population during the
long war that its foes are predicting with so much assurance, her defeat
is only a question of time.

That the German Government is keenly aware of the dangers of the
situation is evident from the rigorous measures that it has taken to
conserve and economize the food supply. After having fixed maximum
prices for cereals soon after the war began, the Government last week
decided to requisition and monopolize all the wheat and rye in the
country, and allow the bakers to sell only a limited quantity of bread
(2.2 pounds per capita a week) to each family. It had previously taken
measures to restrict the consumption of cereals for other purposes than
breadmaking; the feeding of rye was prohibited and its use in producing
alcohol was restricted by 40 per cent.; a percentage of potato flour was
ordered added to rye flour, and of the latter to wheat flour in making
bread. These are but a few of the economic measures adopted by the
Government since the outbreak of the war.

The general opinion of the people in Germany is that the country cannot
be starved out, and this opinion is asserted with a great deal of
patriotic fervor, particularly by newspaper editors. The leading
scientists of the country, moreover, have taken up the question in a
thoroughgoing way and investigated it in all its bearings. A little book
("Die Deutsche Volksernährung und der Englische Aushungerungsplan") has