The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-10-17
Should Americans
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plies are getting scarcer. Families are
torn apart. What will happen to these
countless millions now being ground
into dust by the pitiless hammerings
of the war machines?
Their fate is no idle question, least
Of all for labor that sees its fellow
workers abroad succumbing to the
joint onslaught of war, starvation and
pestilence. That these men and wo-
men, moved by heroic spirit, bravely
stand up to their miseries is not an
answer. Their survival is assuredly a
matter of vital concern to American
labor.
The American people have under
stood the humanitarian issue. They try
appeals of the Red Cross and of the
dozens of other relief agencies have
been answered whole-heartedly. Mil
lions of dollars have been and are
being spent to furnish some measure
Of help to the suffering civilians. But
this kind of help is at best only drop
in the bucket. The surface has not
| even been scratched.
There is grim reality behind the
famine reports from overseas. The
stark fact remains that European
crops of 1910 have fallen far below
expectations. Whatever remains free
from the devouring grasp of warfare,
suffers from serious traffic disloca-
tions. Finally, vital food imports
from overseas are cut off.
What are the American people 60
ing to do about it? There is the desire
to help as generously as only Ameri-
cans can. But there is also widespread
apprehension as to the best and most
effective manner of helping these vic
inns. Fear that American help will
serve to strengthen the power of evil
md defeat the last bastion of democ-
racy keeps many in uncomfortable and
soul-searing silence.
| Will the feeding and care of these
peoples by Americans not play into
he hands of the Nazis and weaken
British resistance? Can we afford,
many Americans ask, to extend large
scale help with so much trouble in our
own midst? And finally, with America
loaded down with debts and billions of
additional expenditures, who is going
to pay for relief?
These questions are justified. They
need concise and unequivocal answer
before one pound Of foodstuffs is ship
bed to Europe. The answer has been
given in the food relief plan based
lpon American relief experience and
action in the last war and now formal
" endorsed by the relief bodies OF
Belgium, Poland, Norway and Holland
The main outlines Of the plan are
Germany must agree to take none OF
he domestic crops of the four con-
luered nations; to replace any fooc
already taken; to facilitate imports
from Russia and South Eastern
europe; to safeguard free passage OF
food transports; and to grant alb
solute control and distribution of these
foodstuffs by the American relie1
agencies. Great Britain, on the othel
hand, must agree to pass all such foot
.argoes through the blockade. Any VIC
alton of these guarantees by the Ger
mans leaves the British free to stoI
further transports.
The plan also answers the question
IF payment. Financing is to be done
~ the exile governments of Poland
Belgium, Norway and Holland which
possess considerable resources in thu
United States. The cost is estimated
at between 20 and 40 million dollars
month.
Whether the warning powers viii
accept the proposal remains to b'
seen. But one thing is obvious. The
olan places definite obligations upol
Germany and forces Hitler to take ;
stand under the watchful eyes of thu
American public. Details need to b'
worked out carefully so as to make i
impossible for the Nazis to lay thel
hands on these vital goods. An inter
governmental agency must be estab
ished that will attend to all matters
If shipping, purchasing, control an'
distribution. If the tremendous foot
surplus of South America is used fo1
the reyictualling of Europe, source
Of embarrassment and economic irri
tation might also be removed from
this hemisphere.
Whatever the final formula, some
thing must be done and pretty quick
American organized labor can not at
ford to remain totally Indifferent whel
mass murder and starvation stare in
to the faces of uncounted millions o1