The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1947-11-20
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When Drew Pearson wrote his
little paragraph about the possibi-
lity Of sending a friendship train
across the country, to be loaded
with food for Europe, he authored
one Of the best clicks in recent
times.
The train is on its way. 1t start
ed from the west coast with dozen
freight cars loaded and it is pick
ing up cars all along the way. 1t
wouldn't be at all surprising if the
train should have in it more than
the originally estimated hundred
cars.
And one hundred freight cars
loaded with food is a lot Of cars
and whale of a lot Of food, al
though, of course, just little part
of what is needed.
This train is a grand idea for
more reasons than one. First, it
makes the nation know that food is
being given direct, from person to
person. Second, it makes the nation
know that the cry from Europe for
food is real and that our own food
saving program makes sense.
Too many persons have been
sharp-shooting at that program.
Sure, you can ask a lot of ques-
tions about it, such as, "why not
go without meat on whatever day
pleases the individual or family ?"
That's a cute little way of getting
around any meatless day at all.
Most of the questions are like that.
Always there are the sharp-shoot-
ers. During rationing we had them,
too; and mostly they were running
to black markets, if they had the
price.
Of course, there is truth in the
statement that our government
hasn't told us the reasons plainly
enough, or often enough. But if we
read at all we should know that
the hunger is real, that it is on
tremendous scale and that it has
political as well as humanitarian
angles.
Food is a part of the United
States foreign policy right now
and it will be so for a long time to
come. So, the family dinner table
actually is in the diplomatic serv-
ice. That's something new in dip
lomacy.
Let's look for a minute at reasons
why hunger is everywhere in Eu-
rope.
Once Europe was one Europe;
now it is two Europes. One Europe
is in the 16 Marshall plan nations.
The other is under the wing of
soviet Russia. The great bread
basket of Europe is in the part
controlled by Russia, including the
Ukraine.
In the other part of Europe, the
hungry part, there was deep
freeze in spring followed by terrific
drouth. Such crops as might have
been are failures. Also, great areas
are useless, as the result of war
destruction.
Wheat is not crossing the line
from soviet. satellites. That wheat
stays behind the iron curtain. -
Soviet Russia uses food strictly
as a weapon for conquering. 4
Western Europe is land with
out harvest; it is land of hunger.
1t turns to the United States
because there is no other. place to
turn. s..
And the United States turns to it
because, first this nation always
goes to the aid of the stricken and
second, because, we, too, must use
food to meet the soviet aim at it's
own game u" 4
We could let Europe go hangs
The trouble with that is that we |
cannot stand by and allow people to |
starve while we are able to help. |
The further trouble is that if Eu-
rope does go hang, then we shall
have brought danger that much
nearer our own shore.
Here's a good guage to whether
our policy is right: What are Com
in the United States say
ing about food?
Well, they are strangely silent
about helping. If they are doing
it is to sabotage our food
plans. And the Communists in
Russia are savagely hostile.
Which just about proves that the
policy is right.
Let's all get aboard that Friend
ship Train idea and let's keep it
rolling and rolling and rolling
train after train, with food saving
al along the line.
We shall see, in the end, that
and helpfulness brings
back its own great reward. A
healthy Europe is likely to re-
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