Evening star., 1946-04-20
Text of Hoover sReport on European Famine

/. ext ofHoovei
The report OF former President
Hoorer on European famine con-
| ditionS, broadcast from Cairo,
Egypt, last night, is giuen belo1r::
This is our report and our rec
concentrations upon the food crisis.
We have now surveyed the prob
lem in II nations to determine the
minimum amounts required to suS-
! tain life. We have indirectly eStab-
llshed the position of four others.
1t has been possible to arrive quickly
at sufficiently accurate conclusions
| through the advance work of my
colleagues, the officials of our Gov
ernment and the various nations
visited and those of the various re-
/ lief organizations Particularly DO
I mention the most able service Of
! DR.. Fitzgerald of our own Depart
ment of Agriculture We have al
ready reported upon many nations.
The dimensions of the European
part of the world food crisis as a
whole can be quickly summed up
There are about 300 100000 people
on the continent of Europe from
! the Russian frontier to the English
Channel. A few small countries on
the continent, comprising about 40
100000 people, have enough food to
last until the next harvest. Of the
other nations about one-thlrd OF the
remainder are farmers who are able
! largely to feed themselves. Thus
there are over 170000,000 people
! largely in towns and cities of whom
perhaps less than 10 per cent can
support themselves from black mar
kets and country relatives. The re-
mainaer of l50,000000, mostly the
I lower Income groups. must have
overseas supplies during the next
four months if widespread famine is
! 10 be prevented.
Bread. Fats. Galleries.
! Hunger has placed three words
every hour Of the day on the tongues
. of these 15O000,000 of people The
first is bread" Bread has a reality
as the symbol of life as never be-
fore in history. To reduce the bread
ration is a symbol of calamity. 1t
is now the symbol of the life of
nations. The second word is fats
/ for which there is an Unsuitable
craving and physical need. The
! third word is "calorieS.' That Is
! the common denominator. Galleries
are only a partial yardstick of food,
/ but that word has become every
where the grim measure of the
steps along the road from plenty to
| hunger and to starvation. Europe
has become a vast involuntary eX-
perimental laboratory as to differ
ent levels of calorieS which the
populat ton are to have in their ra-
/ tionS.
/ Do not forget that the caloric
level of America is an average OF
about 5000 per person per day.
Britain has about 1900 Experts say
an average level of 2,200 calories is
the minimum AT which public health
and progress can be maintained il
nation. There are l3 coun-
tries where the city populations
have an average intake of less than
900 calories. Of these, six coun-
J tries are at, or below, the 1900
caloric level. There are millions of
people below 1000 calories Some
where down these various levels
starvation begins. And its immedi-
ate expression is the disease rate in
children and in death rates of the
infants and the old people.
! In making our estimates of food
which must be imported to the con-
tinental countries from overseas, we
have used the grim and dangerous
base of about 1900 calorleS, with
less for children and more for heavy
workers. In this figure of 1,500 cal
orieS we have included the domestic
as well as the imported supplies and
the unrationed food. At this level
we believe most of the adults could
come through the short period of
four months until the next harvest
They will no doubt be weakened
morally and physically and very
susceptible to disease. 1t is sad
job to make such base, for under
it many of the children and the
aged will fall by the wayside.
Must Reconstruct Children.
To provide this minimum TO the
next harvest, there must be loaded
on ships for the continent during
each of the four months from the
first of April to the end of July 9
total of at least 100000 tons OF
cereals, 100000 tons of fats and ar
additional 100000 tons of specia
food is urgently needed to restore
= subnormal children.
A few days ago I stated a rough
estimate that there are 10000 00(
subnormal or diseased children or
the continent. My able and expert
enced colleague, Maurice Pate, who
; has gone to the bottom of this sole
problem throughout Europe insists
that my estimate was too low. He
points out that there are probably
II 100000 of orphans and half-or-
phans alone. He also points out
that the mortality among children
under two is already over Is pei
cent per annum in many cities. The
! reconstruction of the children is
more precious than factories OF
bridges. They will determine the
coed or evil future of Europe il
they survive
The food supplied by UNRRA tc
! the nations they serve has been an
untold blessing. For various rea
sons they do not cover much over
IS per cent of the total food prob
lens of the continent. They have
recently received wholly inadequate
supplies.
] But Ellrnne Is not the only claim