Intricacies of a Perplexing and Critical Situation Which Taxed the Ingenuity of Statesmen of All the Belligerents Europe was financially plunged into anarchy in August, 1914. All the exchanges were demoralized, checks were not cashed, the five-pound note became a worthless scrap of paper. The only thing that counted was gold and goods. Prices advanced to prohibited levels. England, in danger of a food famine, set up a Food Control Committee. Then the discovery was made that the country was short of sugar. This shortage was due to the fact that the war broke out when supplies from Cuba and elsewhere were stopping and when the German imports had not begun. Sugar was bought to the value of $86,000,000 from every country which had it to sell. When the sugar merchants began to put the price up, purchasing was stopped for the time. Later the Government managed to secure the quantity required, because it became the only sugar importer. It also supplied the French Government with sugar at cost price. Any further difficulties with the sugar supply were due to freight shortage. By this system sugar was cheaper in England than in any other belligerent country and the Exchequer took in $34,000,000 in the way of taxes, after raising the rate from 45¢ per hundred weight to $3.36 per hundred weight. In its control of the meat situation, the Government put itself in a dominating position by seizing all steamers that had refrigerating space. Enormous quantities of canned meats were imported from the United States from the American packing firms, but the Government practically created a state monopoly in frozen meat. This product was distributed by it to all the other belligerents, except Russia. The purchase of wheat was entrusted to a large importing house, which acted as an agent of the Government. For supplying the fish market, a service of fishing boats was maintained and a deal with Norway was made by which the whole Norwegian fish supply was secured: "The British Government went into the beef business in order to supply the troops at home and overseas with chilled meat. It did so at an average cost of 12 cents per pound. It also supplied all meat of this kind required by the French Army, the Italian Army, the Belgians, and the Serbians. The amount of meat required for the British and French armies was over 50,000 tons per month; for the Italian Army about 10,000 tons per month. These quantities increased proportionately with the additions to the forces. Having created a state monopoly in the importation and control of chilled meat, the Government had to make provisions for domestic supplies outside the Army. The Board of Trade arranged to sell to British firms the surplus meat at market prices. They obtained a small commission, lower than it hitherto received from traders. Sales to speculators were prohibited.