an Empire Self-Contained. Whether that phase of the Paris Pact which
calls for development and mobilisation of natural resources sees the
light of reality or not, Britain is determined to take no chances for
her own. She is scouring and searching the world for new fields and new
supplies. She is planning to increase her tea and coffee growing in
Ceylon and make cotton plantations of huge tracts in India and Africa.
The control of the metal fields of Australia has reverted to her hands;
she will get tungsten and oil from Burma. It took the war to make her
realise that, with the exception of the United States, Cuba and Hawaii,
all the sugar-cane areas of the world are within the imperial confines.
They will now become part of the Empire of Self-Supply. Even a partial
carrying out of this far-flung plan is bound seriously to affect our
whole export business.

You have seen how this self-contained idea may work abroad. Go back to
England and you find it forecasting an agricultural revolution that may
be one of the after-war miracles.

For many years England has raised about twenty per cent of her wheat
supplies. One reason was her dependence on grass instead of arable land;
another was the inherent objection of the British farmer to adopt
scientific methods of soil cultivation or engage in co-operative
marketing. The old way was the best way; he wanted to go "on his own."

The war has opened his eyes, and likewise the eyes and purse of the
ultimate consumer. Denmark did some of this awakening. England depended
upon her for enormous supplies of bacon, cheese, butter and eggs. When
the war broke out and the ring of steel hemmed Germany in, the
speculative prices offered by the Fatherland were too much for the
little domain. Holland also "let down" her old customer, poured her food