NATIONAL COMMITTEE
ON
FOOD FOR THE FIVE SMALL DEMOCRACIES

420 LEXINGTON AVENUE
NEW YORK, N. Y.

TELEPHONE MURRAY HILL 3-3700

January 31, 1941

ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE

HENRY P. FLETCHER
PERRIN C. GALPIN
M. PRESTON GOODFELLOW
HERBERT HOOVER
RICHARD W. LAWRENCE
CHAUNCEY MCCORMICK
LEWIS L. STRAUSS
W. HALLAM TUCK
ALLEN WARDWELL

HERBERT HOOVER
HONORARY CHAIRMAN

W. HALLAM TUCK
VICE-CHAIRMAN

RAYMOND S. RICHMOND
SECRETARY

Mrs. Charles Lindbergh,
Lloyds Neck,
Huntington, L. Is.,
New York.

My dear Mrs. Lindbergh:

May I tell you personally how delighted
we are that you have become a member of this Committee
and I wonder whether at this time I may make a request
in its behalf?

I enclose, herewith, a group statement which
I should like very much to have you sign as one of fifteen
distinguished women writers. That is, if you approve. Mr.
Hoover has okayed it.

For your information, this statement is to
be released to newspapers immediately following a
release, now in preparation, signed by leading medical
men as follow-up to this Committee's report from its
representatives in Europe, regarding imminent hunger in
Belgium. By February 15th Belgium's reserves will be
exhausted. The world will soon hear of the tragedy.

Apropos of the enclosed group statement, may
I say that it has already been signed by such writers as
Rose Wilder Lane, Faith Baldwin, Martha Ostenso, Margaret
Sangster, etc.

May I please hear from you at your convenience.

EG:mc

THE STATED PURPOSE of this Committee is to raise a voice on behalf of the peoples of Finland, Norway, Holland, Belgium and Central Poland so that agreements may be made by the German and British Governments with a neutral organization —

(a) by which their domestic food supplies can be protected from the occupying armies;

(b) by which supplemental supplies can be imported through the German and British blockades and protected;

(c) to secure the efficient operation of such a neutral organization;

To the end that the lives of millions of children, women and men can be saved from the inevitable famine and pestilence which confront them and that renewed hope may be given to them in the ideals of mankind.

154

We, who sign this, are a group of woman writers who approve
wholeheartedly Herbert Hoover's effort to feed specifically mentioned
democracies of Europe. We believe it to be to this nation's and Great
Britain's interest, as great Christian nations, as well as to the best
interests of civilization and the future of free people.

We wish to remind America that these thirty seven helpless
millions, who also fought gallantly for liberty, already know the terror
of war from the skies; of seeing their homes destroyed, their families
scattered, their personal world come to an end. We wish to ask America
whether she can accept with equanimity the fact that men, women and
children, who are kin to twelve million of our own citizens, of stock
that helped to make this country great, are to be transformed into a
derelict, famished and starving humanity.

We believe that the aftermath of this war may be more terrible
than war itself. We view with fear the spawning of a new generation of
children of starvation to people of a world in which our own children
must live. We ask American women whether it is not wisdom to attempt
to save other women's children.

As Christians, these innocent victims of a war they never
made, will challenge our conscience until they are fed. As women, we
cannot subscribe to the view that merciless starvation of the helpless
must constitute a line of national defense. As Americans who feel this
problem to be in urgent need of speedy constructive solution, we ask
that the world's greatest authority on relief, Herbert Hoover, be
publicly supported in attempting that solution. We ask everyone to
trust Mr. Hoover, for the sake of mercy, compassion, and the realities
of this crisis.