Page:The New Europe, volume 1.pdf/134

 whole press has been full of elaborate discussions of economic problems in their bearing upon the war and future reconstruction. Author:Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. 



The Duma is to meet on November 14, and the first question that will occupy its attention is the food crisis. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the situation is a serious one, and that. unless a solution can be found before the winter, the food difficulties may interfere with the military efficiency of our Allies. Numerous attempts have been made during the last eighteen months to solve the question by bureaucratic methods. When M. Maklakov was Minister of the Interior last year he handed over the question to the Minister of Agriculture, but when M. N. Hvostov became Minister of the Interior the chief item on his" practical" programme was the campaign against high prices. His solution was to make the local governors virtual food dictators. This led to all kinds of arbitrary action on the part of officials. which were. at the time. exposed in the Duma. The system was again changed by M. A. Hvostov during his brief administration at the Home Office, and the special powers were taken away from the local governors.

M. Protopopov. the newly-appointed Minister of the Interior, has now been called upon to find a solution. On his return from headquarters he made a statement to Moscow journalists which contains the following reference to the food question: "The question of supplying Moscow with food is very close to the heart of the Emperor, because Moscow has always been the patriotic heart of the country. The Emperor knows all the difficult circumstances through which Moscow is now passing, and he firmly believes that the patriotic attitude of the population will not give way at the present moment. I have received from the Emperor the order to seek, in the most energetic manner, a way out of the present position, and to see that the population should not suffer more than is inevitable during the war."

This statement may be supplemented by a quotation from a speech made by M. Miljukov in the Budget committee of the Duma: "I have just returned from Moscow, and I must admit that I hardly recognised the ancient capital. To such a degree has the temper of the population changed. It is evident that Protopopov also noticed new currents, because, in his conversation with Moscow journalists, he considered it necessary to emphasize the fact that the food intemts of the Empire were near to the heart of the Emperor."

All classes are united in the conviction that an immediate solution must be found. The army leaders are following the situation closely, and are ready to work hand in hand with those great public organizations, the Unions of the Towns and Zemstva. M. Protopopov's intention is to form a special food department under the Minister of the Interior. This will hardly fall in with the wishes of the Duma, but, whatever solution may be found, the one thing upon which public