GERMAN METHODS OF RATIONING.
WE are glad to see that the Times has been employing its former correspondent in Berlin to warn our own Government against a repetition of the numerous blunders that the Germans have made in rationing the food of the people. This is a point to which attention has frequently been called in the Spectator ; but it is extremely doubtful English people find it hard to believe that the German Govern- ment, instead of looking ahead at the food problem as a whole, have proceeded blunderingly from step to step just as a mere commonplace Englishman might have done. They began in November, 1914, by fixing maximum prices, for corn. Four months later they proceeded to requisition the corn supplies of the country and to establish a ticket system of bread rationing. Then they suddenly woke up to th fact that there was a shortage of potatoes, andalso of cattle fodder. A public clamour arose, and the German Govern- ment, in obedience to this clamour, proceeded to issue an order for the slaughter of pigs and the reduction of live-stock generally. They quite forgot to notice that wealthy ladies were still feeding their lap-dogs on cream. When the harvest of 1915 arrived the German Government became alive to the fact that there was a shortage of meat, owing largely to their own foolish policy in ordering the slaughter of live-stock in the spring. Step by step further kinds of food were brought under the rationing scheme, till now it is applied to the following among many other articles - bread, potatoes, sugar, meat, butter or fat, cheese, coffee, tea, cocoa, rice, and macaroni. It is significant, as the Times correspondent adds, that in almost every case rationing was only applied after the Government had gone through the process of fixing maximum prices in the apparent belief that they could thus settle the problem. In almost every case this process, so beloved of our own politicians, only served to diminish the supply of the commodities of which there was already a shortage. Needless to say, these successive fidgety movements have irritated everybody concerned. The agrarians have been furious from the outset because, so far as the Government have commandeered foodstuffs, instead of allowing them to bo bought at market price,;, farmers and landowners have lost the huge profits they hoped to realize. In addition, the constant bureaucratic interference with the work on the land has undoubtedly led to a great deal of sheer waste. Numerous cases have been reported in the German Press where foodstuffs have bee:; allowed to perish, either because of Government bungling or in order to avoid commandeering. At the same time, the urban population has been persistently discontented with the supplies of food allowed to the towns by the Govern- ment. The German Socialist papers are constantly publishing fierce articles attacking the bureaucracy for its incompetence and the agrarians for their "profiteering."
The most recent information taken from the German Press shows that many of the most urgent problems of rationing have not even yet been solved in Germany. One of the difficulties which constantly crop up is the unequal distribution between town and town. Leipzig complains that it is unfairly treated in the matter of potatoes and fat. Hamburg is equally aggrieved at its sufferings in consequence of the mismanage- ment of the Imperial potato office in Berlin. It appears that while Berlin is receiving three pounds of potatoes per head, Hamburg is receiving only one and three-quarter pounds. Again, Berlin is allowed the luxury of tinned vegetables, but Hamburg has not even heard of such a thing so far. More general than this complaint as between town and town is the complaint of the towns against the country. The rural population of Germany is a relatively more important factor than the rural population of England, or even of Scotland. Also the proportion of small farms is greater in Germany than in England. It is therefore less easy to coerce the rural population for the benefit of urban workers, and the latter constantly complain through their newspapers that food is being held back by the farmers and used to feed stock instead of being sent to the towns. Periodically the German Food Controllers, influenced by these complaints, take some drastic step which only makes matters worse. The extreme shortage of potatoes in Germany has recently led the Government to issue an order to farmers to give up all their potatoes with the exception of a certain proportion per acre. The result of this order will be that considerable quantities of seed potatoes will be sent into the towns to be eaten, With the necessary consequence that this year's crop of potatoes will suffer. Protests against this particular folly have been made by the farming interest, but momentarily the Food Controller seems more afraid of the urban workers than of the agrarians.
Another of the main difficulties which the German Government have not in the least got over is the, question o allocating food according to the class of work upon which. the personsconcerned are engaged. An official distinction is made between heavy workers and light workers, and a more liberal ration is allotted to the former class. But the benefit of this system appears to be confined to the heavy workers in the. towns. The agricultural workers complain that work on the land is just as heavy as work in a munition factory, and that they have an equal claim to a raore liberal food allowance. Even as regards the details of organization the German Government seem to be displaying remarkable incapacity. It appears that the agents of different towns are allowed to overrun the country with their different orders, with the result that towns are not supplied from the districts most favourably situated for them, and the railways are needlessly overladen with long-distance traffic when short-distance traffic could have been secured. It is interesting to add that, like our own Government, the German Government have distinguished themselves by first proclaiming meatless days, and then dis- covering that economy in meat means extravagance in bread, and that therefore the meatless days are a national mistake.
As a contrast with the persistent blundering of the German bureaucrat, whose every blunder has been so far imitated by our own bureaucrats, it is interesting to turn to an important docu- ment drawn up by the Mining Union and addressed to Herr von Batocki. This appeal from German mineowners for common- sense in handling the food problem points out very clearly the danger of low prices when food is scarce :- " It would have been a more pleasing and more natural part for us to champion low prices rather than high. But our chief responsi- bility during the war is to maintain our industry, which involves especially a sufficient supply of food for our workmen. The diffi- culties caused by the blockade must not be increased by faults in our organization, and it is our duty to fight these defects, even at the risk of unpopularity. The German consumer from experience of the potato supply recognizes that the chief question is not cheap- ness, but how shall we provide food for our workers."
The authors of this meniorial go on to show that high prices mean more food. They quote instances of waste distinctly attributable to the attempt to keep prices artificially low, and they urge that at any rate the potato industry should be freed from Government interference. Speaking solely on behalf of the consumer, whose vital interest it is to obtain food, they ask the Government to ignore the public clamour for low prices.
A similar appeal has more than once been addressed by the Spectator to our own Government. But apparently in no country have politicians the courage to oppose a popular clamour even when they know that the thing asked for will bring misery to those who ask for it. The primary duty of every Government in time of war is to maintain supplies, and the fixing of maximum prices inevitably tends to diminish supplies. A writer in our columns last week pointed out that his firm was engaged in importing American bacon and hams, but in consequence of the fixing of maximum prices the business had become unprofitable and he had been obliged to stop it. Another correspondent described how he had made arrangements for importing potatoes from New Zealand, but had been compelled to cancel the order because the price fixed by the Food Controller would have meant a heavy loss to him. Cases of this character arc probably occurring by the hundred every week, if not every day. The shortage of shipping, the activity of ' U ' boats, and the failure of the harvests in different parts of the world have made it difficult for us to obtain an adequate supply of food, and just for that very reason we ought to offer high prices in order to stimulate the whole world to send us food. It is of course true that high prices hit the poor with especial severity. It is also true that they mean inflated profits to successful specu- lators. But the second evil can be amply met by the operation of the Excess Profits Tax, and out of the revenue so obtained there will be the means to make gratuitous allowances to the really necessitous poor. The German Government, vainly hunting for popularity, have preferred rationing to high prices. Instead of winning popularity, they have stirred the German people to a passion of indignation against their own Govern- ment.
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