Hermanner Volksblatt. [volume] (Hermann, Mo.) 1875-1928, 1918-12-13
To FEED GERMANY
BY RAISING SOME
ECONOMIC BARS
PROBLEM is ONE OF LIFTING
BLOCKADE, NOT GOING TO
RELIEF OF HUNS.
WE MUST PREVENT ANARCHY
Greatest Task Is to Provide Food for
Liberated Peoples of Europe,
Hoover Says. -

viii the people Of this country be
called upon to make sacrifices to deny
themselves food, that Germany may
be fed? This question has been asked
frequently of the Missouri Division OF
the Food Administration.
Just before he sailed for Europe
Mr.. Hoover said that, according to the
plans already made, Germany will be
fed by economic measures which only
contemplate the raising of a few en-
barge and shipping barriers. Our
great task is to feed the liberated peo-
pies Of Europe, he said.
There is a great problem in the
situation of the enemy people, about
twenty Million" he said, This prob
lem is not one Of going to their re.
lief. 1t is a problem of relaxing the
water-tight blockade, which continues
through the armistice, sufficiently so
that they may secure for themselves
the bare necessities that will give
stable government. Unless anarchy
can be put down and stability Of gov.
tIIlIleul Cdl Ue oDldlItu III lIitEC Ch
envy states, there will be nobody to
make peace with and nobody to pay
the bill to France and Belgium for thu
fearful destruction that has been done.
Il would certainly approach this
problem with mixed feelings, having
been long a witness to the robbery o.
food from women and children, and
the destruction CT millions Of tons o.
food at sea and to the misery under
which millions amongst the big and
little Allies have suffered under the
German yoke.
Il am going to Europe TO discuss
the further food measures that must
be organized as a result Of the cessa-
ton Of hostilities. Tie food problem
in Europe today is one of extreme
compleXity. OF their 420 million, prac.
tically only three a~reas-South Russia,
hungary and Denmark-comprising
about forty million, have sufficient
food supplies to last until mex harI
vest without imports. Some must
have immediate relief.
with transportation and financial
decentralization, the tendency is for
peasants to cease marketing even
their surplus and thus instant diff.
culties are projected into the cities
even when resources are available in
the country. The peasant and villager
Of Europe always provides for himself
for the whole year in any event.
Arrangements have long since been
completed by which the big Allies,
France, England and Italy, will be
provisioned. This covers 1875 million
people.
"Our first and deepest concern now
must be for the little Allies who were
under the German yoke. the Belgians.
the Serbians, Roumanians, Greeks.
Czechs, Jugo-Slavs and others. There
are some s~eventy-fve million people
in these groups, and they must be sys-
tematically helped and at once. We
have already doubled the stream of
food flowing toward Belgium.
Our next concern must be to re.a-:
blockade measures as far as possible
in order that the neutral states in
Europe, which are now all On short ra-
%titions, should be able to take care OF
their people and prevent the growth
OF anarchy. This is another group OF
about forty million,
Another problem lies in the fifty
million people in North Russia, a large
part of whom are inaccessible owing
to the breakdown of transportation
and through sheer anarchy. Millions
of these are beyond help this winter.
These groups are the ones that must
enlist the sympathy of the American
people and for whom we are prepared
to make necessary sacrifice"