We believe it to be beyond question that the German
working man works longer hours for smaller wages than his British fellow-labourer, and, further, that the purchasing. power of the money he receives is considerably less than it would be if he lived in England. Germans of all classes, however, eat black bread or rye bread because they prefer it. The taste for rye bread is like the taste for oatmeal porridge, and it is as foolish to harp upon the German's fondness for rye bread as a sign of his poverty as it would be to harp upon the Scotsman's fondness for oatmeal as a sign of his low con- dition. But beyond being foolish, it is most offensive that the second Minister in a British Cabinet should in his place in the House of Commons talk of the food of the German people as the Chancellor of the Exchequer did on Thursday night. It may be foolish, but it is undoubtedly a fact that there is nothing which poor men in all countries resent more deeply than to have their food made a subject of ridicule.
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