The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-21
URGENT NEED FOR !. FEEDING GERMANY
 OFFICERS REPORT
British Investigators Say Famine or BOlshevism Certain Unless Help
 Forthcoming
By Associated Press

Paris February @.-The need for re-
 victualling Germany is really urgent, according to a report just made by group of IA British officers, who visited
 various parts of Germany recently for the purpose of conducting a special in- yestigation of the situation. The officers capital as regards food supplies and that
 either famine or bolshevism-probably
 both-will ensue before the next har- vest, if outside help is not forthcom-
 ing. The need for fats is especially ur- gent
 Tt is impossible to gauge the period within which Germany's military power
 could revive, although there is no inn
 mediate danger on this score" says the
 report. The social and political condi-
 tion of Germany is sufficiently stable
 to guarantee the orderly distribution of
 food, but so long as Germany is still
 an enemy country which has not signed peace, it would be inadvisable to remove the menace of starvation by too sudden abundant supply of food"
 The officers believe that the allotment
 of foodstuffs could be carefully controlled
 but add that, provided they are delivered
 to authorized representatives of the cen
 tral government at a port of entry, or 2 frontier station, there would seem to
 be no reason for anxiety as to their
 ultimate equable distribution.
 UNREST DIMINISHING
 The chief places visited by these offi- cers were Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Han over, Leipsic, Dresden, Magdeburg and Cassel. Unrest and disturbances are said to be diminishing, owing to the more stable political conditions and the firm
 line adopted by Gustav Noske, minister
 of defense, whose position has been greatly strengthened against the Sparta can movement by the large combined so- cial democratic majority in the new as- sembly.
 At the same time, unemployment and the cost of living are on the increase. The number of unemployed in Berlin is reported to be more than 100000, and is increasing by 5000 day. In Hamburg the number of unemployed is 72,0O0; Mu- nich, S2,OOO; Leipsic, 22.0O0.
 The great and constant increase in un- employment is due to the rapid demobil- izaton of the army and war industries, coupled with the inability of peace indus tries to get started owing to dearth of
  will on the part of the workers is also a factor.
 "The increase in unemployment" says the report, forms the most dangerous element in the present situation. Unem- pioyment and hunger are the chief pre- dispcsing causes of bolshevism gaining foothold in Germany"
 All over Germany, except in the coal field areas, industry is stagnant, owing to lack of coal. Railway transport is crippled throughout the country. owing to the enormous quantity of rolling stock lost since last November, partly under the armistice and partly through aban- donment on the front.
 The shortage of staple articles of food throughout the country, the re- port continues, is such that the mass of the population is living upon rations which, while maintaining life, are in sufficient to nourish the body ade- quately. Mothers and young children are particularly affected. Malnutrition has increased the mortality, diminished births and given rise to new diseases. Ut is difficult" the report says 'tc confirm the accuracy of official state ments as to the dates when present food stocks will be exhausted, but in general the following terminal dates given by the central food office in Der lin are probably correct: Breadstuffs, the beginning of April; potatoes, the end of May; fats, the end of March. The meat ration can be continued i'm definitely at the cost of slaughtering all milch cows and breed stock. Tn Saxony the official date for the cessation of potato stocks is the middle of February; in Bavaria. the end of February, and in Hamburg, the end of March,"
 The British officers believe that the estimate of the continuance of the mea- ration is optimistic, as in Hamburg and Hanover, cows in calf, milch cows and draft oxen have already been slaugh : tered, as well as eight-day calves. Given normal weather conditions in the present year, the coming harvest is expected to yield only half the crop prior to the war.