The Winslow mail., 1923-12-14
GE ERMAN RELIEF
NOW IS OPPOSED
PROPOSED APPROPRIATION OF
$25,oOo,ooo is DECLARED TO
BE UNNECESSARY.
FOOD PLENTIFUL OVER THERE
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK

here will be strong opposition In con-
.ress if an attempt is made to au-
:hor1ze an appropriation of $25,OOO,-
700 to feed the hungry in Germany.
The opposition will spring not from
desire to see anybody go hungry, but
rom a seeming belief in many quar-
| .ers that Germany is able to feed Its
>wn hungry and that the proposal to
appropriate the millions was prompt
ed not only by American politics. but
Oy the desire of the German govern
nent to help its plea that Germany
cannot meet the reparationS demands.
When the proposal to ask congress
to appropriate $25,0O0,00O for relief in
Germany first was made there was
little opposition to it because II
| seemed on the face of it to be such
purely benefcent and proper measure.
| Now letters have come from Germany
written by men who are in no sense
inti-German, which state that the
,ranaries of the land are bursting
hat there is plenty of food for every
body, and that all that is necessary to
iced all the hungry is to provide for
/ proper distribution of the food sup
plies.
! Plenty of Food in the Country.
The hungry in Germany, as near as
Washington can learn through official
md semi-official channels, are all city
lwellers. The country folk seem to
nave all the food that they want and
20 spare. Naturally enough the latter
10 not want to part with their food
'or German marks which are virtually
worthless. The money of a foreign
country, it is said, instantly would
move the German farmers to part
with their surplus products and so the
hungry in the cities could be fed as
| the result of an American appropria-
ton of millions for the purpose.
Recently there has been an intima-
| ton that President Coolidge intends to
recommend the passage of an appro-
priatiOn bill in behalf of the hungry
4 in Germany. Now it is said the Presi-
dent possibly may have another
thought in the matter. For weeks
|
! ington innumerable tales of food
troubles in the cities of Germany.
Everybody took it for granted that the
plea for help was straightforward and
that the people over there were un-
able to help their own. Within week
or two direct counter reports have
come and now opposition to the pro-
posed appropriation by the American
congress rapidly is developing.
1t is held here by those who stand
IN opposition to the appropriation that
the desire to help the hungry of Ger
many, if they need help, would be
stronger than that to help the hungry
of some other lands, for the sole rea-
son that it is the American way to for
get that people have been enemies and
to be the more willing to help them
because of the sentiment and the heart
feeling which prompts men to do for
those who in the past have been ac-
counted enemies.
Politics in the PIan7
This plea for an appropriation in be-
half of Germany perhaps curiousIy
enough has aided the cause of the ex-
service men who are seeking the
passage of a bonus law. Many letters
nave been written for publication, the
text Of which has been pleas that if
this country can care for the foreigner
it can care for its own, and especially
f il can care for the foreigner who is
able to care for himself.
The charge has been made that there
is politics in this plea to congress for
an appropriation to feed the hungry
In the German cities. Nobody knows
whether this is true or not, but of
course, the basis of the charge is easy
| enough to understand. There are con-
stituencies in which the vote of per-
sons interested in the success of the
proposed appropriation would count
| good deal in the election next fall.
Apparently nobody in Washington
desires to withhold the appropriation
If it is necessary. Those who oppose
1t say directly, however, that there are
few German industrialists who have
millions upon millions of dollars to
their credit in foreign countries and
who, if they chose, could feed their
own hungry people. This, coupled with
the information which has come from
Americans in Germany who are in no
sense anti-German in their feeling.
that there is plenty of food in the
country which, if properly distributed.
:Ould feed all the people, seemingly
has moved men hitherto unwilling.
into the field of willingness to oppose
the American appropriation.
Bonus Bill Seems Certainty.
Recently some doubt was expressed
n letters from Washington as to the
success of the bonus bill in congress
Next year is a campaign year Things
nave come along rapidly, some things
lot reckOned of in advance, and con-
fessedly it now seems likely that the
bonus bill, or as it is called the adjust
ed compensation bill, will become the
0f fhn 1an6 hoforo ha