The midland journal., 1945-04-06

N>S~N
| to carry war supplies.
Until January such supplies as
UNRRA could send had to be sand
wiched in in "broken lots" between
guns and shells and what have you.
In January two full shipments went
over. And they got hurry call to
distribute food to some Of the cleft
behind" areas which the army had
been taking care of.
These are the things which swelled
the flood Of demands on Marvin
Jones' boys. These and many 9TH
ers like them.
Europe's Distribution
System Collasses
There are two potential factors
which will bring even heavier de-
mands from the hungry world. One
Is the gradual restoration of trans
portation media within the devas-
tated areas and the other Is the
eventual release Of more shipping.
The latter cannot be expected soon
for even when the organized re-
sistance in Europe ends-as 1t might
before these lines reach you-many
ships must be diverted for use in
transporting men and supplies from
Europe to the Pacific. OF course
such empty bottoms as move from
America to Europe can carry food
but many will be in service between
Europe and Asiatfc waters.
At present the transportation sys-
tenn in France and the occupied
areas Of France is one Of the
greatest deterrents to shipping food
to Europe which exist. There is no
use of having food pile up in ports
waiting to be transshipped to the
interior.
One American who flew from Lon
don to Paris said that he did not
see one single bridge ON the way.
Of course there are some left or the
army could not be supplied, but
thanks to one side or the other no
bridges remain in the pathway Of
retiring army If it can be helped.
We have seen what happened at
Remagen when the Germans failed
to smash the Ludendorf span before
the Yanks could grab it and use it.
A vivid example Of how this de-
struction of transportation has af-
fected France is revealed in the sto-
ry Of the potato lamps. Normandy
Is a rich farming country and there
Is enough grain and potatoes to help
! feed the impoverished French cities
Of the interior If they could get 1t.
But there is no fuel or light In Nor
mandy. The Norman peasants can
afford to hollow out potatoes, fill
them with melted butter and attach
wick to them. That is their only
means of light. Yet If the transpor-
tation lines were going they could
get some oil from other places and
they could ship their butter and po-
tatoes to people who sorely need
them.
At present food demands are
heavy and until now the ALLEGATION
Of supplies has not been coordinat-
ed. Government agencies which
didn't have to produce the food, or
dered it. And their orders frequent
ly overlapped. Now all demands
will be screened through Crowley's
committee and the food administra-
ton will not be asked the impossible.
Purposely the same man is never
given the job Of making up quotas
Of desired war supplies and also Of
actually producing them. It has been
found this is dangerous. There would
be too much temptation to cut the
quota to fit the available supplies.
Now certain amount Of rivalry ex-
lists which forces each party to try
to get a little more than he thinks
he can. But there has to be some
one to act as final arbiter to bring
reach and grasp together with as
little spillage as possible.
The number Of civilians employed
in the United States declined to 50,.
100000 in January, or to the lowest
figure since the record high peak Of
54, ,750, 900 was reached In July, 1913,
according to the Alexander Hamil-
ton institute. Nevertheless, practical
ly the largest possible percentage of
the total labor force was employed in
January.
The decline in employment was
thus not due to a lack of jobs but to
q reduction In the available supply
Of labor. The reduction In the la
Dor supply was caused partly by
persons withdrawing themselves
from the labor force and partly by
persons entering the armed forces.
No alleviation Of the labor shortage