The Pulaskian., 1919-03-28
HOOVER FACES TASK OF FEEDING
 STARVING NATIONS OF EUROPE
Backed by slooo0oOOO Voted by Congress He Is Directing Anericas Part in the Work-Trused Aids Make Personal Inspections of Food Situation in Poland, Serbia
 and Austria-Dffcult Problems to Solve.

ties of all kinds, especially textiles, have been dangerously depleted and on account of the short production of coal the railways of the Austro Hun 1 garian states are badly crippled. Hav- ing efficient railway transportation is an important factor in moving foods where they are most urgently needed. ] Anything for the Czechs must pass through what is left of Austria proper.
 Austria-Hungary has been divided into five separate political areas. Fay Tor believes that this action has for the time being greatly reduced the re- sources of all this territory. Each state sets up barriers against the oth- CTS. He found the food distribution and supply which formerly was q mat ter of exchange among the separate states almost at a standstill. One sec l tion will have coal, another some SUI gar, another some grain, but each un- able to carry on" because of lack of what the others have. In such sit nation. one state, inefficient, and with it's financial system paralyzed, will have plenty of coal, but no food, while another having some food cannot dis tribute it because its railways have no coal
 All of which causes such general nn- l employment as to approach the dan- ger point
 In the essentially Austrian lands, there is a condition of apathy. No one seems to have hope. The people wait and in Vienna make an attempt at gaiety Of industry there Is none. In i Jugo-Slavia and in Czecho-Slovakia there is an entirely different psychol- ogy. These liberated people have faith in the future and are reaching out and struggling to build up prosperous nations, while the German-Austrian peoples drift along in an apathetic l state, and the Hungarians live in a l daze of proud resignation. Galicia and eastern Hungary, that have been taken over by Roumania. have become voiceless.
 Doctor Taylor found the food short age most serious in German Austria, where the people are on a very low 1 daily ration with extremely short sup plies in stock, or in sight.
 1 In Czecho-Slovakia there was suffi- eient food to carry the nation through 1 the worst of the winter. but short age before the new harvest was inevi- table.
 a-Hungary-with fatalistic at titude-seemed unable to start recon struction; not knowing and scarcely caring what became of them. Polit- ical bitterness and financial paralysis completed the picture.
 Out of this chaos, as director gener- al of the supreme council of supply and relief, Hoover must find some method for distributing American food stuffs.
 Feed Him Before He Paints.
 For the new nations, the Czecho- Slovaks and the Poles and Jugo-Slavs, that have no money, the scheme for selling American foods on credit is simpler.
 Should any emergency arise in these 1 countries demanding the prompt dis tribution of food, it will be distributed on the principle of feed him before lie faints.''
 The communities or nations must pay. Where they have no money-and the new democracies have little or no money worth anything outside their own borders-the food commission will take over some commodity produced in the nation.
 Some time must elapse before the Americans can trade with Austria even on the basis of getting money or it's equivalent for every pound of Ameri- can-bought food that is distributed, be- cause Austria was one of the nations against which America declared war. Until the blockade is lifted American interests cannot trade with the Aus trians-unless perchance the situation develops to a point where red tape must be cut to save the lives that Oth- erwise would be lost on account of the | inroads of famine.
 While the peace conference was building up q machine to settle prob Iems arising from q war-torn Europe, B@g TT e- TNFN E-Y -Tbsr- N0Ns<N