Rodingen ....... 7 } Differdingen ... 10 } Esch ........... 16−17 } kilometres from Longwy. Oettingen ...... 21 } Rümelingen ..... 21 } Düdelingen ..... 25 } By this destruction alone it may be estimated that 20 per cent. of the German output of pig-iron and steel would be lost. But a glance at the map shows us further that, _e.g._, Jarny (the "Phoenix" minette pits) lies at a distance of 13 to 15 kilometres from Verdun, and that the western mining concessions near Landres and Conflans are not more than 26 kilometres at most from Verdun. To-day we are bombarding Dunkirk from a distance of 38 kilometres. Does anyone believe that the French, in the next war, would neglect to place long-range guns in Longwy and Verdun, and allow us to continue the extraction of ore and the production of pig-iron? Incidentally it may be remarked that the extensive production of steel from minette offers at the same time the one and only possibility of providing German agriculture with the necessary phosphoric acid for the manufacture of the now excluded phosphates. _Hence the security of the German Empire in a future war imperatively demands the possession of the whole minette-bearing district of Luxemburg and Lorraine, together with the fortifications of Longwy and Verdun, without which this district cannot be held_. The possession of larger supplies of coal—and, in particular, of coal rich in bitumen, which is found in great quantities in the basin of Northern France—is at least as decisive for the result of this war as the possession of iron-ore. Belgium and North France together produce over forty million tons. Even to-day, as the British prohibition of coal exports (enacted on the 15th of May) shows us, coal is one of the decisive means of political influence. The neutral manufacturing States must do the bidding of that belligerent who can guarantee a supply of coal. We cannot do this at present in a sufficient degree, and are to-day already compelled to fall back upon the Belgian coal supply, in order not to let our neutral neighbours become entirely dependent upon England. It is quite probable that the systematic increase of the Belgian coal output, even during the present war, will prove a weighty factor in determining various neighbour States to remain neutral. That coal, which produces coke and gas, at the same time supplies the bases of our most important explosives, is presumably well known, as also is the importance of coal in the production of ammonia. In benzol, moreover, it offers the only substitute for petrol, of which we are short; and, finally, it supplies coal-tar, which yields (_a_) the oil fuel so indispensable for the Navy, (_b_) anthracite oil, the most serviceable substitute as yet obtainable at home for lubricating oil, and (_c_) naphthaline, the probable base of synthetic petroleum.