The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-10-17
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That Affect the Dinner
Pals, Dividend Checks and Tax
Bills of Every Individual. National
and international Problems Insep-
arabic from Local Welfare.

and international Problems Insep
arabic from Local Welfare.
1t was inevitable that the recent
meeting between Hitler and Mussolin
at Brenner Pass should have been i'm,
mediately followed by reports that the
Axis has completed plans for invading
England this fall or winter, bad
weather Notwithstanding. To some
neutral military experts, this is al
most incredible-it would involve the
gravest and most far-reaching risks
that Hitler has as yet taken. Despite
that, however, there is at least one
sound reason for believing that the
reports may prove true. That reason
is two-fold: famine and disease, two
of the most deadly Of the Four Horse
men of the Apocalypse.
No one knows exactly how serious
the food situation is in Hitler-occu-
pied Europe. But it is known that
the conquered countries have been
Systematically gutted Of their food re-
serves, in order that the German Army
and the German people can be fed. The
fine dairy herds Of Denmark, products
of centuries of development, have been
slaughtered for beef. Already the peo-
lple of Holland, Belgium, France and
elsewhere have felt the pinch, as basic
foods, notably fats, become more
scarce. Germany, because of her
seizures, is better off than most, but
even there the people exist on bare
subsistence basis.
Great wars have always brought
the threat of famine, and sometimes
the actuality. But it is reasonable sup
position that this war, different as it
lis from it's predecessors in so many
ways, may be precursor of greater
hunger than the modern world has
known. In the past, nations, when
embarking on the great adventure that
lis war, have usually been fat, pros
porous, well-fed. But the Germans,
long before war began last September,
were living on short rations. And the
wars of the past were usually fought
by professional armies, at least at the
beginning, and military life was but
one phase of the life of the nation. In
the present case, Germany, and to a
lesser extent Italy, have been follow
ing war economy for many years
Everything, men and material alike,
has been dedicated to preparing for
conflict. Production of food has neces-
sarily been held to the lowest possible
substitutes of little nutri-
tional value have long been employed.
1t is not unnatural that serious di-
seases have been growing in both num-
ber and intensss>Sfsr many moons in
Germany and Italy.
Disease, of course, is the ever-pres-
ent ally of famine-and disease, once
lit gets the upper hand, becomes
plague. Plague, according to the in
Iternational grapevine that mysterious
ly brings news past and the iron-clad
European censorship, has already come
to Poland. And plague respects no
boundaries. The lack of soap in
Europe is a factor here-dirt provides
the finest possible breeding place for
Iany kind of disease.
Europe has never been completely
Iself-contained-it must import. Today
there is almost no commerce between
the old world and the new, save for
that which is controlled by Britain
The British fleet is carrying on the
blockade effectively, and is prepared
to extend it-as, for example, to Spain
If necessary. If Britain were to fall,
the great Axis merchant marine could
again go to the four corners of the
world, to come home laden with all
that the people of Europe now lack.
SO long as Britain survives, the Axis
will be able to obtain almost nothing
outside the Quilted land it dominates.
If Hitler does attempt an "all-out"
blow against England soon, this will
be one of the principal reasons for it.
There are some who believe that
the possibility Of famine points to the
way that the dictators' grip on Europe
may finally be loosened. A hungry
people, they reason, will revolt against
their masters-there is little choice
between suicide and starvation. But
there is another side to this. AS Alan
Gregg writes in the Yale Review,
"There are varieties of starvation. Re-
duce abruptly all forms of food after
an adequate diet, and you will still
be strong enough to riot for food;
gradually reduce to zero some essen
tial of your diet, and you will finally
be too weakened to protest with en-
ergy.' So famine in captured nations
might actually play into Hitler's hands
by lessening the ability Of the conquer
ed peoples to effectively protest.
1t is not expected that there will
be widespread famine this winter 1t
is considered almost a certainty that
it will come in grave form next win
ter, however, if the war is still going
on then, and Britannia still rules the
waves. Few experts dare anticipate
what Europe will be like if the war
lasts four or five years, as some mill
tary authorities think it may. The peo-
piles would be literally decimated-
victims of war who never saw bat