Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-24
EUROPE NOW is STRIVING
TO MAKE WAR LESS LIKELY
Hoover Proposal to Remove Embargo
OIL Food Ships Arouses Inter
national Comment.

ton, thus recognizing the legal rlgnL OF
t.hle League blockade, which would be
Again and again, too, the British press
ana public opinion have sought to get
from us some such Interpretation OF
the principle of the freedom Of the seas.
Say U. S. CO*ld Make Fortune.
There is still third consideration
which enters into the case. European
observers have NOT been slow to point
out that If food supplies were put be-
yond the reach of attack then, without
the smallest chance of being drawn into
war, the United States could become
again, as in 1914-1916. the purveyor OF
food. Our wheat and our beef could BIS
sent to both belligerents. our profits
would be enormous and the risk would
be nil.
No one will accuse Mr.. Hoover Of
making his sensational proposal with
any thought of the material advantages
that would accrue to his own country in
case 1t were accepted. But the fact is
still unmistakable that all American
material interests would be served by
such. acceptance. The blow we should
deal to British naval power would be
far more staggering than that incident
TO our assertion of the doctrine Of
parity, the disaster to League pro-
81 uAIo W pu1IAoII dB6ISbSIOIl WOULD DC
equally heavy, and at the end the profit
to ourselves would be patiently in
calculable.
Britain Likely TO Favor Plan.
1t is true that considerable section
of the British public is coming round
to the view that the developments of
modern war have made Britain
peculiarly vulnerable and that so far
from resting upon the right to enforce
the old-fashioned blockade, British Sc
curity In war must henceforth depend
upon the elimination of the right to
| interrupt food supplies. This, for many
BritonS, is the lesson of the terrible
months Of 1917. But such champions
Of the Hoover idea remain In small
minority as yet.
France, too, would doubtless reject
| any such policy, for France is both
unaffected by blockades, in so far as her
food supplies are concerned, since she
raises enough to feed herself and so
placed that her submarines and aircraft
could not imposSibly succeed where
Germany failed, and actually starve
Britain into surrender. Nor is she less
well placed to attack Italy from Toulon,
Corsica and Bizerta.
Moreover, in the case of Germany or
Italy, France is bound to consider the
fact that both are terribly vulne>able
to starvation, whereas both, with firger
populations than France, can barely be
conquered by Trench military force.
True, Germany Is today diSarmed, but
no sensible European believes this con-
| dition of weakness will last indefinitely.
In the last war all combatant nations
were obliged to keep a considerable
| part OF their manpower at work in the
fields. The numbers of the combatantS
were thus reduced. Under Mr.. Hoover's
plan, as long as any country could find
the money or obtain the credit for fer
! eign food purchases. it could concen-
trate its manpower at the front.
Hunger Used al war WINNER.
All in all do not think the Presi-
dents proposal has much chance of
obtaining even serious hearing at the
present time, and suspect his opinion
is the same. Europe is engaged at the
moment, through the League ma
chtnery, in trying to make war less
likely, not less terrible. Mr.. Hoove-'s
proposal deals deadly blow to the
only method the League has yet hit
upon Of exercising severe coercion with
out engaging in tremendous military
campaigns. Moreover, the nations
which were victorious in the last war
remain convinced that their victory was
due mainly to the hunger blockade, and
in any future war the same factor
would be equally advantageous for
them.
Germany, in her present disarmed
state and in view of the exposed char
acter of all her lines Of communication
with the outside world, would probably
accept the Hoover idea. Italy might
With certain limitations. Probably Rus.
STA would also agree. But Britain on
her own, and the League powers gen.
orally. would be bound to reject 1t. They
would, in fact, counter by inviting the
United States to respect blockades in-
posed by the League and in particular
those which sought to starve into sur
render nations guilty Of aggression.
Copyright. 1921