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PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. population that the best fighting material is drawn and the urban population recruited. Mr. C. Booth tell us that in three generations a family in London becomes extinct.

3. The danger to which our food supply would be exposed in case of war has produced a considerable agitation for the establishment of national granaries. The enormous cost involved, the fact that the State would beome [sic] a buyer and seller on a large scale, and would be prevented by public opinion from selling at a profit, and often compelled to sell at a loss, are fatal objections to the proposal. Our food supplies on the high seas can, and must be, protected by a powerful Navy. But is it not certain that Russia would, in the event of war with us, knowing how vital her corn is to our existence, lay an embargo on the export of corn? A Government like that of Russia would disregard the suffering entailed on the unfortunate grower. Similar action might be taken by the Government of the United States, though war with the United States is a contingency no Englishman cares to contemplate. We would certainly face war with greater equanimity if a larger proportion of our food supply were produced under the British Flag.

4. The steady increase in our imports, which represent the earnings of British ships and the interest on British investments abroad, the large annual savings of capital show that every year a larger proportion of our people are living on accumulated wealth, a fact which surely must tend to a decline in the strength of the race.

5. The decline or absence of growth in our export trade is no doubt due partly to the inefficiency of 128