The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-06-20
The Food Problem

Now that the war In Europe Is
over, there can no longer be any
excuse for the lack OF accurate and
absolute statistics on the nations
food supply. Such information can
not be OF value to the japanese;
1t will not prolong the war by a
single minute. Nor should the
military authorities be the sole
Judge as to what is national Sc
curity. That may have been their
province during the war with Ger
many; today the welfare OF the
American people at home is ma
tional security-permanen nation.
al security based upon the restnr.
alton OF normal economic pro-
cesses.
The statistics needed ought TO
cover these questions:
/. What is the percentage de-
crease OF meats OF all kinds avall.
able for consumption between Sep
TENDER i, 1889 and today; between
December I, 1912 and today? What
Is the cause OF the decrease in the
herd?
2. How many pounds OF meats
OF all kinds were consumed by our
armed forces at home and abroad?
How much Is now held in storage
by the military?
3. How many pounds of meats
Of all kinds have been sent to the
military OF our Allies and how
much OF our meat do they now
have in storage?
4. How many pounds OF meats
OF all kinds have we contributed
TO the nations Of the world under
lend-lease?
5. What are our irrevocable
comments to our Allies and to 9TH
er countries for current and future
shipments aboard for military use.
lend-lease or relieff
We talk too much about food
from the standpoint OF our person
al experiences rather than the facts
for the entire country. The OBJ
vious reason is that we know what
our experiences are; adequate ma
tional facts are unavailable. More
assertions are not facts: figures
that can be checked and re-checked
lead TO facts and to sound conclu.
sions.
For instance, from where SIT,
the OPA has done as poor a Job as
can be imagined. Yet. receive let
ters from competent witnesses
from other places to the effect that
their personal experience with OPA
would indicate 1t is not so bad. !
receive letters from readers saying
that ! exaggerate the lack Of meat;
yet, | can attest TO the fact that an
investigation OF larg, shops IN sew
eral cities, including Chicago,
showed an inadequate supply OF
meat even II the figure 112 lbs. a
year per person Is taken as accept
able, which is little more than
three-tenths of pound per day per
person. But II you eat butter. too.
no one can have sufficient red
points to eat that mich meat at
home.
In New York, where the popula-
ton is 100000, this ought to mean
that the city receives about 1885,
100000 pounds IN two months. Ac-
tually for the month of April ana
May. this city received 10000, 900
pounds but that included Army
emergency purchases as we'll as
supplies TO the War Shipping Ad.
ministration. How much was left
for civilian use?
Again. / do not say that this
situation Is right or wrong. /
simply insist that the facts to form
a conclusion. even to support the
OPA and the WA are unavailable,
and | do not believe that the Am
erican people ought to be asked to
take anything on faith.
have been trying to get some
figures to show how much meat,
for civilian use, has been avail
able in the City OF New York. l
know that most stores have very
little. but cannot know, by sight,
what all the stores have. So I
seek figures. The best | can get
are the figures indicated above
which include the armed forces and
shipping and l do not know what
else. But that tells me nothing
about conditions here and the
breakdown, which the government