settlement of the Mexican situation, warships will
be for sale at fifty cents on the dollar. Germany will have no navy of
consequence, and England will reduce her present navy by at least one
half, since her expansion of late years has been forced entirely by
Germany.

CHAPTER XIII

GERMAN RESOURCES

The Food-Supply--War Expenses--The Copper Supply--The Call for Gold--No
Outside Resources--The Human Sacrifice.

Counting Montenegro and Servia as two nations, there are now seven
countries at war against Germany, Austria, and Turkey, and two more,
possibly three, may join in within a few weeks. If Greece enters the
battle-line, it will be ten nations against three. When Roumania and
Italy join the Allies, as is now being diplomatically arranged, Germany
will be completely surrounded, with Switzerland, Holland, and Denmark
in a measure locked in and powerless to give aid or assistance to the
Germans. Indeed, these three smaller countries and Scandinavia are
practically locked in now, with the North Sea placed in the war zone,
and Italy as well as Denmark and Holland shutting out all contraband
goods for reexport to Germany and Austria.

Thus we have the spectacle of two nations of more than 115,000,000
people actually surrounded and besieged. Jointly these two nations in
occupation of their entire territory could feed themselves from their
own soil. They cannot be starved out, as in a besieged city, for lack
of bread, meat, or drink. But the siege at the present time is not
against the people of Germany and Austria: it is against the
war-machine of Germany. This war-machine can be starved out when cut
off from gold, copper, rubber, and oils. If these cannot be cut off,
then her men must be cut down.

Germany has raised by war-loan $1,100,000,000. She has spent this and
$500,000,000 more besides. The financial strain is shown in her paper
and exchanges at discounts outside her own border. Within her own
realm she is piling up a gold reserve in her great bank, to sustain her
expanded paper issues and her strained credit; but how is she securing
the gold?

Calling a mark a shilling, or 25 cents, let us speak for a moment of
Germany's finances in marks. After the war of 1870 she planted
125,000,000 marks in gold from the French indemnity in her war-tower at
Spandau. In June, 1913, the Reichstag voted to double this to
250,000,000 marks in gold, the addition to be known also as the Spandau
tower