Evening star., 1941-03-22

ais are somewhat like Teddy Roose-
velts famous attempt to organize
and lead an American division in
France in the last World War-an
attempt to capitalize on the national
policy for the benefit of a political
leader who had lost his grip. Wood
row Wilson quite wisely declined to
let 7. R. turn the Western Front
into a political picnic for a new set
OF Rough Riders, and the Roosevelt
administration has no intention Of
letting H. H. supply the victuals for
any part of Hitlers industrial war
machine.
Food shipments - their nature,
their distribution and their effect on
American and European politics.
Will be controlled by Franklin D.
roosevelt In concert with Winston
Churchill. Here the purpose is to
use humanity to win the war for the
democracies. and not to help the
axis set up a new Europe of despotic
desperation or to relieve the Ger
mans OF the effects of the blockade.
Foou ds weapon.
So the symbol of American inter
vention is likely to be not so much
the bomber droning over Berlin and
Milan as 1t is to be pie-in-the-skv
Tor the hungry Europeans The
American eagle will become the fab
ulous beefsteak bird with 1apiack
wings who nests in spaghetti and
lays dumpllngs and gravy. enticing
the defeated and the dispossessed
away from the heartless austerities
OF the Nazi master race and into the
axis OF human freedom with food
instead of Goebbels).
When the Americas start to saw II
with food they have a weapon which
IS worth a hundred divisions. Take
wheat. Argentina has 5000 0O0
oushelS in storage, Canada has a
surplus of 672,0O0,00O bushels, and
the Commodity Credit Corp. in the
United States owns or holds under
loans 283000,000 bushels This is
enough wheat to bake a loaf of
bread which would bridge the At
lantlc and 1t probably will. Argen-
tina and the United States between
them have 1,160,000,00O bushels of
corn-enough to supply all the hogs
OF Europe with the possible excep-
ton of the Nazis. We also have a
surplus In pork and lard. nearly
0O,OOO,000 pounds of tobacco and
about II 100000 bales of surplus cot
ton-not to mention such items as
fresh fruits, milk products, eggs
and meats.
While much of these surpluses
can and should be used to create
better diet for the underprivileeed
peoples OF the Western Hemisphere,
there is enough left over to make
the beefsteak bird flap his wings
over every country in the Old World
and to let the Europeans hear his ia
nous mating-call: Come and
get it"
Weapon for Hitler.
On this Issue it is simply impos-
s1ble to argue with the doctrinaires
who believe that because Franco is
still dirty so-and-so in their eyes,
the Spanish people should be
starved into Hitler's new Europe.
Neither is it possible to follow the
argument that because Petain is a
mystical old anti-democrat who
signed the armistice with Hitler
we should follow a course which
would convert the French NAVY
into an instrument of Hitler's will.
The Hoover setup is politically
inexpedient and emotionally imma-
ture. 1t amounts to a plan to use
our food as weapon, but as a
weapon for Hitler, and to dissipate
our economic power in Europe in
the holy name of charity. Mr..
Hoover has still to demonstrate his
willingness to feed Americans or
his ability to keep current food
shipments from supplying fuel to
the Nazi war machine. But the
new course on which the American
and British governments are now
embarked is designed to use food
to turn the Hitler hunger against
the Third Reich just as Roosevelt
used relief food to turn the Hoover
hunger against the G. o. P. Food
offers America the chance of
bloodless victory, by showing that
those peoples not under the axis
will enjoy the primary condition of
the -Four Freedoms: ITO eat regu-
lar"