The latest figures show that Germany imported agricultural products and foodstuffs in 1913 to the value of £351,836,900. These figures show but a slight deviation from those of 1912 and 1911, a deviation which changes in the population easily explain. Even when we make every allowance for wines and various luxuries which are classified under this heading, we shall be on the safe side in saying that Germany must import necessary foodstuffs every year to the value of not less than £180,000,000. This is a huge total, and it is accounted for by the fact, which has caused some concern already to German statesmen, that from an almost purely agricultural country Germany has, since the Franco-German War, developed at a remarkable rate into an industrial country. The producer has left the farm for the factory, and though one result has been a vast increase in the wealth of the German Empire, another has been to leave the Empire more and more dependent upon foreign countries for its supplies of the necessaries of life. Germany obtains a great deal of her meat, wheat, eggs, barley, coffee, maize, butter, etc., from beyond her borders. In 1913, for example, Russia sent her grain and cereals to the extent of 3,600,000 tons, valued approximately at £30,000,000. In 1912 Argentina exported to her grain and livestock products worth nearly £11,000,000. From Hungary she received last year cereals valued at £4,000,000; and even little Roumania contributed £1,000,000 worth of wheat to the total. * * * * * The following short table, giving the import figures for 1911 and 1913, will show to what extent Germany is indebted to foreign countries for some common grain and cereal products: ---------------+-------------+------------- | 1911. | 1913. ---------------+-------------+------------- | |(£ sterling.)|(£ sterling.) Wheat | 19,943,750| 21,472,850 Barley | 23,105,250| 20,347,750 Maize | 4,336,000| 5,309,600 Rye | 3,800,600| 4,100,200 Oats | 3,742,800| 3,946,300 Rice | 4,408,200| 3,926,000 Cocoa | 2,775,300| 2,796,000 Coffee | 12,578,450| 12,450,500 Eggs | 8,567,900| 4,504,800 ---------------+-------------+------------- With her coast blockaded by the British Fleet; France, Belgium, and Russia hostile; and squadrons of the Navy alert for prizes in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it is not likely that Germany can rely upon any imports of food until the war is over. Austria-Hungary, at grips with Servia, will require for her own use all the food she can get, even if the Straits of Otranto were open. The hostility of Servia prevents any possibility of food being imported via Greece.