freight market ... is now active and prosperous ... Prices of food have risen very little, and the difficulty at present is to get sufficient labour, skilled and unskilled. We have not only maintained our own trades, but have been busy capturing our enemies'. However, the textile industry was immediately impacted by 30– to 40-percent increases in freight and insurance costs. Coal mining was also affected, since the German and Baltic markets disappeared during the war; the German market had consisted of 2.9 million tons. Enlistment resulted in a decline of efficiency, since the remaining miners were less skilled, older or in poor physical condition. The fishing industry was affected because the main importers of herring were Germany and Russia, and the war resulted in the enlistment of a large number of fishermen in the Royal Naval Reserve. Industries benefiting from the war were shipbuilding and munitions. Although they had a positive effect on employment, their production had a limited future; when the war ended in 1918, so did the orders which had kept the Clyde shipyards busy. The war scarred the Scottish economy for years to come. World War I had exacted an enormous sacrifice from the Scots; the National War Memorial White Paper estimated a loss of about 100,000 men. At five percent of the male population, this was nearly double the British average. Capital from the expanded munitions industry moved south with the control of much Scottish business. English banks took over Scottish banks, and the remaining Scottish banks switched much of their investment to government stocks or English businesses. According to the Glasgow Herald (usually no friend of nationalism), "Ere long the commercial community will be sighing for a banking William Wallace to free them from southern oppression". The war brought a new desolation to the Scottish Highlands. Forests were cut, and death and migration ended traditional industries. Schemes were made to restore the area: reforestation, railway construction and industrialisation of the islands along a Scandinavian pattern emphasising deep-sea fishing. However, implementing the plans depended on continuing British economic prosperity. A reorganisation of the railways was critically important. The newly created Ministry of Transport suggested nationalising the railways with a separate, autonomous Scottish region. The scheme would greatly strain the Scottish railways, as had been seen under wartime national control (leading to upgraded maintenance and wages and a rise in expenses). A Scottish company would be