A working man was discussing rations with his minister in the street. “It is very hard,” he said, “to keep to your rations when you have five strapping lads, but we are going to try it.” Then a drunken man lurched past. The workman pulled himself together, and said, in great passion: “I tell you what it is, sir, I am not going to let my boys starve as long as there is food to make beer for men like that.” THE PRICE WE PAY FOR IT Immense quantities of food are used for beer and spirits. All this grain is lost for food purposes. _If this grain were available for food, the prices of bread and meat would be lowered._ _War Savings Committee._ THE POOR WHO SUFFER FOR IT “Rationing bread could not be undertaken without grave risk to the health of the poor.” _Capt. Bathurst, M. P._ By what right does the Government use our mine-sweepers to bring in food for brewers to destroy? allow brewers to increase the cost of living for every household? and allow the willful destruction of food supplies to imperil the health of the poor? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Way for the Government We do not want to be amused by fiddlers while our heroes fight and die. What are the things we see? We see the Government silent in the presence of what the greatest paper in our greatest overseas Dominion calls “the blackest tragedy of the war.” We see a trade which the King declared to be prolonging the war in the crisis of 1915, prolonging it still in the crisis of 1917. We see our Prime Minister, who has declared this trade to be worse than Germany, allowing it to have its way. We see our Prime Minister, who has said we cannot settle with Germany until we have settled with drink, fearing to settle with drink. Then are we not to settle with Germany, and are we to surrender to the greatest enemy of the three? There is one clear way before the Government; it is the only way of straightness and patriotism and honour. It is to wind up this enemy trade and move from our path the greatest hindrance to the winning of the war. It is to take our side honourably with our great Allies, to bring to an end the shameful isolation of Great Britain in the drink map of the great free countries that appears on the back of this book. It is the sign of weakness everywhere that it seeks a scapegoat for its sins, and we hear the everlasting talk of Labour. But it will not do. It is time these slanders on our workmen ceased.