The Wilmington morning star., 1940-08-21
Kites Pirates To Meet
Leland's Bears Tonight
WAR INTERPRETIVE
BY EDWARD E. BOMAR

Winston Churchill's announce
ment that Britain will maintain a
tight blockade Of Europe, coupled
with a German disclaimer of res
possibility to feed conquered peo-
pies, appears to foredoom at least
parts of the continent to one of the
grimmest winters in history.
1t will be recalled that J n
Cudahy, American ambassador to
Belgium, used the phrase ''howlng
help In talking about conditions
he felt were likely to prevail unless
food were permitted to reach the
continent.
BY the estimate of Herbert Hoov-
er, 10, 000, 900 persons in Belgium,
Holland, Norway and Poland alone
are going to die unless food is
gotten to them at once"
Conflicts
Hoover's estimate, particularly,
conflicts with other calculations by
American, British and Nazi au-
thorities, but most neutral experts
agree that prospects are not bright
for the least fortunate in the coun-
ries overrun by Adolf Hitler's con.
quering legions.
The prime minister's announce
ment was far from unexpected.
Few people had believed that Brit
ain would agree in effect to sur
render the blockade, virtually her
sole weapon aside from a e i a |
bombers, and thus contribute to
her own downfall.
Proposing that Hitler bear his
responsibilities to the full"
Churchill summed up the British
case in carefully chosen r d s.
Permitting imports Of food would
only "prolong the agony of al
Europe" Germany has food re.
serves and if captive peoples
starve it will be because the Nazis
will not share, he said, adding
that food, directly or indirectly,
might be used to manufac-
ture munitions to be employed
against Britain.
That is far from the whole case,
however. 1t would not be diplo'
matte for Churchill to voice them,
but from the military viewpoint
there are even more cogent argu'
ments for a tight blockade as q
war weapon.
Britain's Advantage
Stated badly, it is to Britain's
advantage to turn Europe into q
'howling hell" just as it would
be useful just now to convert the
Balkans into a war area and thus
hamper the Nazi attack on Eng
land and the empire.
Lack of proper nourishment o.
civilian workers would be reflected
in a diminished output of mum
tons and Of other goods which
would be turned to the advantage
Of the reich. As food supplies
dwindled in occupied areas, I'm.
rest might be expected to mount,
with the result that more a n d
more German troops would be re.
quired to garrison hungry towns.
Moreover, disease is one of the
four horsemen which rides close
ly on the heels of starvation, and
epidemics would weaken Germany
in a long war even though tn e
Reich were relatively well fed al
the expense of subject peoples.
Sufficient Food
In arguing that Germany h a s
sufficient food to share with her
vanquished, Hugh Dalton, British
minister of economic warfare, has
said the reich had abou" 1000, 600
tons of bread grains in Germany
itself and about 1000, 900 tons in
occupied territories.
The United States agriculture de-
partment has concluded there is
sufficient food to see Europe
through the winter without serious
suffering, but that it is not evenly
distributed. There seems little
doubt that Germany is making
very sure, indeed, that the reich
gets the conqueror's share of the
grain and other stores collected
and the cattle and poultry slaught-
cred in occupied lands.
In thus waging war, the Nazis
would undoubtedly contend, how
ever, that they were as logical as
the foes. Food is as much a
weapon as a gun.
In a war to the death, such as
this one, humanitarian sentiments
stand little chance when they con-
flict with what the strategists con-
slider to be a military necessity. 3
Dogs are able to ~differentiate
between a metronome beating 100