The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-07-15

m Serbia typh0s has broken out
again and there are but two hundred
physicians to minister to the needs Of
that entire country.
In Montenegro, where food is run
ming short, there are but five physi-
clans for a population Of 100000.
Returning to the United States a
few weeks ago with all these horrors
ringing in my ears, I found myself
once more in a land whose granaries
were overlooking, where wealth and
plenty abounded, and where life and
activity and eager enterprise were in
the full food. A.. @,
I asked myself, "What If this plague
territory between the Atlantic sea-
board and the Mississippi valley,
which roughly parallels the extent of
these ravaged countries, and that 65,-
100000 Of u OWE people condemned
to idleness by lack Of raw material
and whose fields had been devastated
by invasion and rapine, were racked
by starvation and pestilence, and if
we had lifted up u voices and in
voked the attention of u brothers in
happier Europe to our own deep
miseries and our cries had fallen on
deaf ears, would we not in our
despair exclaim against their heart.
lessness! !"
Only Three Ways to Help Europe.
There are only three ways by
which these stricken lands can secure
supplies from the outside world. One
is by payment, one by credit, and the
third is by exchange of commodities.
If these peoples tried to buy ma.
terials and supplies in America at the
present market value Of their curren-
cies Austria would have to pay forty
times the original cost, Germany thir-
teen times, Greece just double,
Czecho-Slovakia fourteen times, and
Poland fifty times. These figures are
official and are a true index of the
1t is clear, therefore, that they can
not give us gold for the things they
must have, nor have they either prod,
ucts or securities to offer in return
for credit. If only they could obtain
raw material which these idle millions
Of theirs could convert into manufac-
tured products they would have oo1eo-
thing to tender the world IN return
for it's raw material. food and medi-
cine. But If they have neither money
nor credit how are they to take this
first great step towards redemption =:
One half the world may not eat
while the other half starves. How
long do you believe the plague of
typhus that is taking a hideous death
toll in Esthonia and Poland and the
Ukraine and eating along the fringes
Of Germany and Czecho-Slovakia will
confine itself to these remote lands2
Only last Saturday our health COM
missioner of New York, DR.. Copeland,
sailed for the other side just to meas
ure the danger and take precaution
against such an invasion.
This Is one at our thresh-
old. The other, more threatening,
more terrible, is the menace Of the
worlds i'll will. We can afford to die,
but to be despised forever as a greedy
and pharisaical nation is a fate that
we mus not incur.
The French government has many
serious problems to solve, but the
French p%eaSantry is working and the
French artisan, while still sadly in
need of raw materials, has not lost
his habit of industry and thrift. The
most encouraging fact about France
today is that her people are alive to
the seriousness of Frances problem
and they are going forward bravely to
solve that problem.
Italy, despite her great shortage Of
raw material, Is looking forward and
not backward. Italy can be relied
upon to do her part!
England is meeting the problems of
reconstruction just as those who knew
her past should have expected her to
meet them.
Plan. to Aid Central Europe.
1t Is not for me perhaps to give in
detail a formula for solution Of the
worlds ills, but as 1 have been asked
many times, "What would you do?" I
am glad to give my own answer.
Accordingly, I would ask: =.
THAT congress Immediately pass
a bill appropriating a sum MOI to ex-
coed 100000 600 for the use Of cen
trail and eastern Europe.
2.-That congress call upon the
president to appoint a n%on-political
commission Of three Americans, dis
tinguished for their character and
executive ability and commanding the
respect of the American people. Such
a commission should include men Of
the type Of General Pershing, Mr..
Hoover or ex-Secretary Lame. 1
would invest that commission with
complete power. 49, p
81 would have the commission
instructed to proceed at once, accom-
panied by proper personnel, to survey
conditions in central and oastegu
Europe, and then to act for tho
restoration of those countries, under
such conditions and upon such terms
as the commission itself may decide
to be practicable and effective. Among
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