The fourth step was to secure a large increase in the production of food and raw materials at home. There is now good reason to expect that in 1918 the tillage area in the United Kingdom will exceed that of 1916 by over 3,000,000 acres. These satisfactory results have only been possible through the public-spirited activity of large numbers of people throughout the country, including farmers, workers, and organizers, to whom the nation has good reason to be grateful.

Control of Food Consumption

The fifth step in meeting the shipping shortage was to expand Government control over the distribution of all the chief national supplies, partly in order to secure that the best use was made of what was available and partly in order to prevent waste. The most important measure in this sphere was the creation of the Ministry of Food. Its first step was to insure an adequate supply of breadstuffs. This was accomplished by raising the percentage of milling of wheat, by requiring the dilution of wheat with other cereals and by an increased program of imports. At the same time a scale of voluntary rations was announced and an active campaign was started in order to secure observance of them. The use of wheat, oats, barley, and maize for animal food was also restricted or prohibited. As a result, at the beginning of the Winter of 1917 the national reserve of breadstuffs was in a more satisfactory position than any time since the outbreak of war, the wheat stocks alone being 3,000,000 quarters in excess of the stocks in the corresponding period of 1916. A serious shortage, however, in the French and Italian harvests and the needs of our other allies placed a heavy demand upon our supplies of wheat, and toward the end of the year considerable quantities were diverted to their use. During the year the control of the Ministry was extended to cover all imported foodstuffs, practically all of which are now purchased on the national account, and an increasing measure of control has been established over home-grown cereals, meat, and dairy produce. In order to prevent the artificial raising of prices through competition, these purchases are now carried out in concert with our allies through inter-ally committees. As the year progressed the need for greater economy in consumption than was apparently attainable by voluntary means and the difficulties in distributing equitably the restricted supplies compelled the introduction of a system of rationing. The system began with sugar, and at the end of the year was gradually being extended to cover other staple foodstuffs.

Beer and Other Articles

Another large economy was effected early in the year by a reduction of the manufacture of beer from the 1914 total of about 36,000,000 barrels and the 1916 total of 26,000,000 barrels to a total of some 14,000,000 standard barrels. The manufacture of spirits for human consumption has been stopped. Strong measures have also been taken to restrict the consumption of coal, oils, timber, cotton, and other articles. At the beginning of the year the coal mines and iron mines were taken over for the period of the war, and Government control over the available supplies was established. A system of distribution of coal was then brought into operation, which has not only insured all necessary supplies, but has effected economy in railway transportation. It is estimated that this reform will result in an economy of no less than 700,000,000 railway ton miles in the carriage of coal. A Timber Controller was appointed to ration the greatly restricted supplies of wood. The consumption of petrol for private use was gradually curtailed until it was finally forbidden. Much has also been done to economize labor and material through the more active control in the national interest both of railway and canal transportation.

Naval and Military Results

The result of these drastic measures has been that, despite all the enemy efforts to win a victory by the destruction of the merchant shipping of the world, the British people have been able to prosecute the war with the utmost vigor during the whole year. The navy has continued to hold its predominant position at sea, has denied the oceans to the enemy for the purpose of transporting troops or supplies and has exercised an ever-growing pressure upon him through the blockade. At the same time, though the submarine menace has not yet been mastered, the supply both of the military expeditions in all parts of the world and of the civilian population at home has been maintained. It may, indeed, be said with confidence that as the result of the work of the navy, of the merchant marine, and of many civilian sections of the community the German attempt to win the war by the destruction of the merchant shipping of the world has been definitely baffled.

In the military sphere, though no decision has been reached, great results have also been achieved. At the outset of the year the military prospects before the Allies were good. Their plans, however, for a converging attack on the Central Empires on all fronts were upset by the disorganization of the Russian armies which followed the revolution—a disorganization which ended in such complete dissolution that the Germans were enabled to transfer a large part of their eastern forces to the western front by the end of the year. None the less, during the whole of 1917 the German forces have been steadily pressed back from one highly fortified position to another in face of the systematic assaults of the allied armies. The enemy, indeed, has consistently borne tribute to the terrible power of the British attacks and to the heavy losses, both on land and in the air, which they have inflicted upon him. The chief successes have been gained at Arras, Messines, and in Flanders.

Non-European Theatres

On the other hand, there has been a complete transformation of the scene in the non-European theatres of the war. After a long period of comparative stagnation and failure, British arms have once more advanced to victory. The last of the German colonies—German East Africa—has been cleared of the enemy; Mesopotamia, with its capital, Bagdad, has been rescued from the devastating rule of the Turk, and Southern Palestine, including Jerusalem, after many centuries of effort, has been liberated by Christian hands. British prestige, indeed, in the East, which had fallen to a low ebb, has been completely restored; Germanic hopes of southeastern conquest have been rudely shattered through the withdrawal of over 100,000 square miles of territory from German control, and the capacity of Turkey to continue the war has been gravely impaired. The military results of the year are thus very considerable. British armies have fought not in France alone, but in Italy, Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and East Africa, and from being a combination of peaceful communities the empire stands forth as the most powerful of all the Commonwealths which are withstanding Prussian aggression. The extent of this effort, the unfailing courage and morale of the British armies, and the clear determination of all the British peoples to accept no peace which does not restore national liberty and public right afford ground for confidence that the Allies will eventually secure the purpose for which they entered the war.