Evening star., 1947-08-28
Black Markets Make
European Food Study
Difficult, U. 5. Says
BY the Assoeiaied Press

pf ms AstOCtCIeo Ffess
Black market operations make
1t difficult, if not impossible"
for European nations to survey
their food resources accurately,
an Agriculture Department re-
port contends.
The document bearing a conf
dental" label, was prepared for a
congressional investigating commit
tee which sailed for Europe yester-
day to make a frst-hand study of
foreign needs.
A copy of the 97-page report was
made available to a reporter.
1t provides a country-by country
summary of food and agriculture
conditions throughout Western
Europe based on the latest infor-
nation available"
Report Confidential.
The foreword, however, says the
report has been classed as conf
dental because "the production
figures for some countries
will not agree with the official esti-
mates supplied by the Minister of
Agriculture
No countries in this category were
listed by name. But The report it
self says that throughout Europe
government intervention is general,
in the production, collection and dis
tribution of most agricultural prod
ucts.
This intervention has been linked
with system of compulsory farm
collections and fixed prices to farm
erS.
Because of the shortages of food,
this system of distribution has made
1t profitable for farmers in most
countries to market any surplus
products through black markets.
Production Understated.
ut has encouraged farmers to
understate their production in order
to reduce the quantities which they
must deliver to the government and
ACdfC
which they can dispose of more
proftably.
This bias in production estimates
makes it difficult, if not impossible,
for governments to estimate accu-
rately their domestic food output" !"
Even the figures submitted to the
International Emergency Food
Tn1Ironi1 hoI ta ir,
some cases, the report declares.
This is true because, since the
IEFC apportions food supplies on a
basis of need rather than ability to
pay-"it is in the interest of coun-
tries to report their production as
low as possible
The report was prepared by the
Agriculture Departments Office of
Foreign Agricultural Relations at
the specific request of Representa-
tive Andersen, Republican of Min
nesota. MIR. Andersen is chairman
of subcommittee of the 19-mem-
per special House Committee on For
eign Aid headed by Representative
Herter, Republican, of Massachu-
sets.
Only 200 Copies Printed.
Only 200 copies of the report were
printed, and each was numbered in
an effort to preserve the secrecy.
While contending that equipment
shortages are holding back the re-
covery of Europes agriculture, the
document says an even more serious
problem is the shortage of con
sumption goods for which a farmer
can spend his money, plus lack of
confidence in other nations cur
rencieS.
The study did not cover countries
in the so-called Russian sphere of
influence and the report itself
makes few references to political
conditions.
In the case of Austria, however,
the report says that nation is ham
pered by political and economic
difficulties common in many
European countries"
These troubles are intensified, 1t
adds, because the country is divided
into small occupation zones. And
Austrias unif1cation remains the
metical, for the Austrian govern
ment's power to act-even when
agreed to by the Allied Control
Councils nominally in the Soviet
zone"
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