Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-07-13
Was 1lsZ:}l:{iy DIGEST
Spe(ter Of Starvation
Stalks Liberated Europe
Hunger Already Rampant in Many Nations;
Relief Dependent on Sacrifices of
United States and Canada.
BY BAUKHAGE
Ne,Us ANALYST and Commentator.

blown. Trucks are so scarce that
they are number one priority in
the relief schedules of UNRRA and
OF the countries which pay for their
own imports.
An UNRRA worker in Yugoslavia
reported that he saw girls IL and is
years old carrying hundred pound
sacks Of grain on their backs for
five kilometres. In Greece, women
and children hitched themselves
to carts of supplies and hauled them
over mountain roads that were so
| full of bomb craters that trucks
could not travel them.
100 Million People
Hungry on Continent
In the face of this situation, it is
evident that, as Colonel Llewellin
told the British House of Commons
on June ID, There are a hundred
million hungry people in Europe
today" Hope for relieving hunger is
in imports this summer and next
winter. Will the imports be forth
coming from the world outside?
The best answer that can be
given at present seems to be mot
in the volume desired" To provide
enough food to bring the populations
OF liberated Europe and the Far
East up to the prewar level - or
even to rather low minimum level
for full health and strength - would
bring the civilian food supplies in
ably from their present level. The
British ration has already been re-
duced in a number of items - and
it was tight ration before the re-
duction. Australia has cut down but
ter and meat rations still fur
Their within the last 60 days.
A good part of the answer to the
plea of hungry Europe and the Far
East depends on how much sac
rifice the civilians in the United
States and Canada are willing
to undergo. President Truman, in
issuing the report of Judge Samuel
Rosenman on relief needs in west
ern Europe, pointed out that the
American people need to under
stand the dire plight of the people
in these Allied countries in or
der to be prepared to accept con-
tinued control on our CONSUMPTION
here. The coming months will give
the answer to the extent and seyeri.
ty OF controls that are imposed.
Food-Not Money
Remains Scarce
Relief for liberated countries is
not matter of financing The coun.
tries of western Europe have their
own financial resources and are
seeking in vain to buy - particu.
larly such items as canned meats.
dairy products, fats and oils and SUI.
gar. The liberated countries of east
ern Europe which do not have the
foreign exchange resources to nav
cash for their supplies are receiy-
ing them from the uninvaded United
Nations through UNRRA. UNRRA
has financial resources contributed
by the uninvaded nations. The
trouble is that supplies are not
forthcoming in the scarce food lines
at desirable rate.
Incidentally, the director general
of UNRRA, in a somewhat justified
dIdactic vein, has lately pounded
home in his public utterances the
fact that if UNRRA fails to provide
supplies, it is not because of
UNRRA's shortcomings, but be-
cause the member nations do not
come through with the supplies.
"UNRRA," Director General Leh.
man says, "is not a superstate with
resources and powers of it's own.
Far from it. 1t is the servant of the
governments which created it."
There is one bright spot amid the
encircling gloom of the food stu
alton. This is the fact that the world
has plentiful supplies of wheat. This
member of the bread grains has
been produced in bumper quantities
for several years in succession by
the farmers in the U. S. and Cana
da. The crops have been average in
other exporting countries. The re-
suit is that wheat is not even under
ALLEGATION and the full amount
needed for normal diet can be
supplied to the people of liberated
Europe. But man doesn't live bv
bread alone. For health and vigor.
you and I and everyone need some
fats and proteins in our diets. win
we be willing to cut down on orr
by the standards of Europe-rather
lavish consumption of these things
so that our liberated Allies can come
through the next winter with a mini.
mum loss of health and strength