The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1952-11-21
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
THE GEOGRAPHY OF HUNGER i.

by Josue' deCastro. Little, Brown &
Co., $3.50.
Years ago an imaginative cigar &C
writer created the arresting slogan
that spit is horrid word" But
a word that has been really taboo
in the "better" circles is HUNGER
and with good reason. The brilliant
South American scientist, Josue' de-
Castro, proves effectively in this re-
vealing volume that the chronic, de-
thirds of mankind stems directly
ism of the mercantile stage of human
development from which we are just
beginning to emerge. And most dam
aging of all is the fact that hunger
on this earth is completely unneces-
sary.
From first-hand experience and
from years of study comes this analy-
sis of hunger as it manifests itself
in all parts of the world, and as it
runs the gamut from least prevalent
actual starvation to the widespread
hidden hungers that deform the bod
les and warp the minds Of humans
throughout the world. Even in these
United States, with the highest stand
ard of living yet known, food de-
ficiencies are manifest everywhere,
while in the deep south is hunger
area comparable to any in the world.
Nor is there room for complacency
in the picture of our island possession
Puerto Rico, the blacklist spot on the
map of human misery in the Carrib-
bean area.
1t can now be said with authority
that there are no melancholy races,
or hot-tempered, ugly peoples, or
lazy, shiftless groups-though these
concepts have evoked a
rich body of literature through the
year; there are only people deformed
and physically by miserable
diets thru many generations. Above
all, it can now be said from still an
other angle that there are no infer
lor or superior races as such, but
only those whose diet and mode Of
living have better adapted them to
overlordship or to man.
lal labor, as the case may be.
DeCastro turns tables on those
who cry that hunger is caused by
Though it has been
received with scepticism, he claims |
biological proof that undernourish- !
nent IS the cause of overpopulation
hat chronically underfed people are
highly fertile, as natures way of
,ompensating for lack of quality by !
quantity in order to in
sure perpetuation of the species. De- !
Castro cites clinical experiments with |
animals to prove that a diet rich |
N proteins results in increased ster-
lily, and gives statistical data to
show that countries with lowet birth
rates have the highest consumption
IF proteins and other necessary food
elements. Be that as it may, this
much is true: that when the stand
ard of living rises, when educational
evels are raised, when human beings
attain degree of dignity so that life
eems worthwhile, then the birthrate
irops and available food supply an /
population come into balance Wheth-
r the problem is sociological or bio
ogical, the fact is clear that a
ealthy, well-fed people are produc-
RS of economic plenty.
The Geography of Hunger" is no
nere chronicle of the ills of man
ind. 1t is a desperate plea to halt
be wasting away of humanity; it is
dire warning that unless we ex-
erminate hunger, we will extermin-
tie ourselves long before the natural
esources of the earth, left to them
elves, are exhausted. Self-preserva-
ion makes the problem of world
unger the problem of each of us.
avs deCastro, "There are people who |
onsider it more important to main
ain high standards of living for their