The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-12-12

and SuppOrJeQ Jkle DIAIlSAA OtOOAoN4S' Instead, the statement suggested that food be sent to the rsuffering peoples of China and &n other countries struggling to remain free" and not put in jeopardy "the com mon cause of civilization for which the Allies are fighting and dying.
 Signers
 The statement was signed by Rev. Alexander Alison, Bridgeport: Rev. Russell J. Clinchy, Hartford; Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman, Hartford; Rev E. Dent Lackey, Thompsonville; Rev David McKeith, Jr., Hartford; Rev. A. J. w. Myers, Hartford Seminary Foundation.
 President Charles Seymour, Yale University; William Lyon Phelps, Yale professor emeritus and noted book reviewer; Odell Shepard, Con- necticut Lieutenant Governor-elect and Trinity College Pulitzer Prize winner; Professor H. M. Dadourain, Trinity College; and Horace D. Taft founder of the Taft school.
 George B. Armstead, retired man. aging editor, the Hartford Courant; George E. Clapp, managing editor, the New London Day, Ward E. Duff fy, managing editor, the Hartford Times; Thomas Ferguson, publisher; the Manchester Evening Herald; Richard s. Jackson, assistant to the publisher of the New Haven Register; William J. Pape, publisher the Waterbury Republican-Amer- ican.
 Herman P. Kopplemann, first dis trict congressman-elect; Frederick s. Chase, of the Chase Brass and Copper Company in Waterbury; Clarence P. Cook, Scovill Manufact- uring Company in Waterbury; and Peter M. Fraser, ,vice-preSident Of the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company.
 The statement follows:
 Shall our country yield to the increasing pressure for the supply ing of food to Nazi-occupied Europe or should we not use all our supplies to feed the millions of destitute peo- pie in those countries now struggling for freedom?
 Generosity, sympathy and the commercial desire of certain groups to increase our export trade incline some toward an affirmative re- Sponse. But the issue is not so easily resolved. Civilization, as free men know it, is fighting for its life. It must be defended by free men everywhere, and in such crisis all people of good will must recognize that the greatest gift which could be given to these conquered people is freedom. It is tragic that freedom and food cannot be given at the same time, but in such case free dom is paramount.
 Blockade
 'The only decisive triumph SO far registered against the forces of ag- gression, rapine, and depotism is the maintenance of the Allied blockade. The apparently Humanitarian move to send food to Europe would weak en if not destroy this advantage. It would solve one of Hilter's most per- picking problems. It would enlist the United States on the side of the three million soldiers who constitute his army of occupation in the sub- jugated nations of Europe. The ob- ligation of the master to care for the slaves would be shifted from Germany's shoulders to ours. The cause of slaves at any time has not been solved by giving them food which their masters deny them. It would be 8 false humanitarianism that would feed the living and en- slave the generations yet unborn.
 "The totalitarian states have abol- ished the distinction between soldier and civilian. They glory in their total" war. No solemn promise Is kept, no moral obligation Is recog- nized and no material resource is safe from seizure in such a war. Ii is a fact that Germany has strip ped the conquered countries of theil food. To supply food to replace tha' stolen by Germany would be to al ly ourselves with such continuing action.
 Own DefenSeS
 "Let us rather use the strategica position of the United States te strengthen our own defenses ane not to weaken those of the nation! who are holding our common ene' mics at bay.
 "There is one way in which ou! humanitarian instincts and olll great resources may safely be ap. piled to the situation. Let us offel to provide food for suffering people! in China and all other countrie! struggling to remain free, ane wherever, in the opinion of Grea Britain, her Dominions and her al lies, Greece and China, such assist ance will not put in jeopardy thu common cause of civilization fo | AN