The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-08
RESPONSIBILITIES OF
UNITED STATES.

Ito meet the tremendous demA404 u
that are being and will be made up0Ase
America will call for the strongee4s}
united efforts on the part OF labor, 49,
dustry, agriculture, capital ana Tow
eminent according to Thomas e. VIZ
son, president of Wilson ana COMA
pany, who has spent the last fW91
months making a personal fnvee&teAaA
ton of the food situation In E2uroposs
He states that 1t will be louKg tnnTs
before any of the countries anecfe0s
! by the war are again on nor1nAka
basis, and that the conditions, VIII
regard to food production are Qecu-
| liarly acute.) assm ~
| The problems of the Americas
/ people In this grave situation aros
many and the responsibilities 4r0
| trem endous- l believe the eolutt0u
rests largely with lis, No country IN
the world today is so well equippeA
! to meet the situation The AmertcAH
farmer must undertake for humaufty'A
sake the production of grain ana
meat animals to the minimum. In do
| ing so he is serving civilization and
| himself The markets of the world
are his IL TIE situation otherwise g
| intelligently handled. Some bans oE
| credit must be worked out different
I from anything now existing. MANN
, of the foreign countries cannot mains
| tain a gold basis and we must shar0
in solving this problem. Above Alt
! America must approach this task with
a solid front--the farmer. the laborefT
capital and government as wen AZ ms
dustry generally must honestfys
earnestly and seriously co-oper1tasl
otherwise failure Is certain Il
We must not lose sight OF the fnc&}
that industry of America has a worthy
competitor In Great Britain. aha
NATURALLY. and might say Justly
watches our every move with q .jeal-l
Gus eye and is ready to take any fair
advantage to herself or her colonies
Too much ammunition has alfAAdN
been furnished her. unfortunately. NJ
some of our government agencies
which, owing to the terperament -
the British people, are accepted AZ
their face value and are used to our
disadvantage in the English nrArkAts-
In this respect / think President
Wilson's message, which I read a. III
was leaving Europe, most approprfAtA.
particularly commendable ara hia
words; Government should make hi
easy for American merchants 10 60
where they will be welcomed AS
friends, rather than "a dreaded ANITA
gonists? -s 1900
There Is no doubt IN my mind theAl
there Is famine in fats and meats in
Germany, Austria and tho Balkan
states, and there Is a. very great
: shortage Of such foods in the allied
countries. This conclusions Is reached
by personal observation ana by dis.
eussions with officials and others. III
= position to be thoroughly familiar
with the facts ssLf.~.sg "a
The situation that the powers were
confronted with made it necessary
for them to slaughter substantially Al
OF their live stock in order to MAIN
ltain their armies in fighting condition
and that their civil population might
survive. The seriousuess of the sftu-
alton Is clearly shown by the results
OF superficial survey OF an area ol
l.50o miles in occupied German ter
ritory. regarded as part OF the best
agricultural section of the country IN
that section there are LOO horses,
400 cattle and 1900 hoes--leSs that
one horse. Ia cattle and ono hot
per square mile III
The cows are worked IN the fields Or
on the roads. as we'll as milked, and
they cannot be spared for meat There
Is great shortage of milk. this. n
an indication of the condition which
exists largely through the scsn4r al
powers. They have not live stuck
enough to breed so that they Mays
vi
no cattle were used for immediAfos
food emergencies
. This same condition exists. of course
) to lesser degree. in the allied and
neutral countries, where because or
the very high prices realized 4 FOR
fats and meats and the lack OF CATTLE
! feeds their herds have been reduced
to a minimum. 1t will be a long
time before they can fully supply
their own requirements SO their 6uf-
fering neighbors will get little helpl
: from them
Our army of occupation IL In npfen-3
! did spirits, Is being well fed and, many
American soldiers are sharing their
food with the children and women
) Great work has been done by the
: American organizations over thar i,
and much credit is due then--1uFyec-H
tally to Mr. Hoover for his unttrinE =.
forts to relieve the distress. with
out this relief I am satisfied the con-
ditions when known would have
shocked the civilized world.
y Unfortunately no dedinita plans
: have been perfected for the con<fnuar.
ton of this wonderful work, and Sea1h-4
out il or adequate plans to assist these
people until they can begin to Aelps
themselves the results will he mora
appalling than the war itself.