Show stricken europe needs large imports of food never able to raise enough fare for its teeming masses old worlds demands aggravated by ravages of war by news analyst end and commentator service 1610 eye street NW washington D 0 ive just como come up from the barnyard of a maryland farm in tho the barn was a comfortable crop of hay and wheat outside a herd of fat of all ages from rom a two weeks old calf up most of tho the chickens were already cooling themselves in a locker there was only one thing for the farmer to complain about and the hogs got a break out of that the oats oata just too wet this year lie he said for fear it would set the barn afire it if he ha stored it in that condition the farmer explained that he had to dump it and a batch of shoots shoats were leaping around in tho the spoiled grain r aln like jack rabbits most of the farmers hereabouts losi lost their too all belc in washington 1 id ad been reading tall talking cing and thinking about farn products along with ou our other rother problems we in the united states are going to get et only about three quarters I 1 of w what hat wo we raise this year according to dunom cial estimates europe is going to need about 23 per cent more food and textiles than she sha normally needs I 1 hear he arthe the questions naked why should we bo expected to send all this food to europe why cant she produce her own are the people e too lazy or or what I 1 put those two questions to a member of the department of agriculture who ajust la just back froman from an inspection spec tion tour of europe europe has always imported food in peace and in war in fat years addlean and lean he ansbe answered od T to d tend send food to europe Is the natural I 1 thing not to send it would be lun unnatural food production to dip further in 1143 Eu ropes production was 10 per cent under her normal production duct fon next year production will bg b 15 per cent under unde 1 this year nans th a people vt f el TO aft need ap W per cent m arc I 1 re than th in in normal mal times it does not necessarily mean that the united states will furnish a total of 29 per cent more of everything for instance canada will furnish more wheat than before ad d we wont have to increase our quota but wo we shall probably bo be called calle dupon upon for more odthe of the protein foods especially the milk products before Defore answering ry my second question my friend explained the iho paradox that peace has cut down dow n eu propels ropes producing power while the european E european nations wore were overrun with a conquering army ho he elucidated while part of tho the fields a of the continent were being riddled with shills shells and later gutted with tanks prodoc fell off only some 10 per cent from normal tills this la is the reason tho the germans had to maintain a working economy in the nations they occupied and also they did riot not wish to destroy tho the resources of territory which they hoped to exploit when they knew they were beaten they stole what they could eat cat or carry and tried to destroy what they move much brooding breeding stock had already been of course wo must not be led astray by this figure of 10 per cent the ge decrease crease in iho ahe total production in europe in wartime there was a sharp cut in certain products and on an increase in others the entire pattern of the agriculture was altered for example the livestock raisers always imported feed when it was cut off there h had ad to be a shift from livestock to root crops potatoes and beets make for or a very monotonous alef but the they Y were filling while lethey they lasted the germans organized and regi reel farm labor in all count countries les kic including luding their own they maln main transportation fairly well until just before the invasion now transportation is utterly disrupted there are millions of displaced persons form farm machinery is broken down but this do eslit answer question number two iwo why cant europe feed herself in normal times are the people so much lazier or be hind the times that they tant cant make things grow as we do before answering that question rny friend reminded me that it was waa true that nobody always works nl at maximum efficiency that most people can do more when they aliey have to than when they dont especially when there Is some extraordinary urge such as aa war take our own case with thousands of farm boys in the munitions factories and with the armed forces what did america do american farm production in 1014 was increased despite its handicap 30 per cent beyond the 1035 to 1939 level britaina Brit Bri ains taints farm output high but what about england where the boys boya were in the army and the munitions factories tool too where farmers had to farm in n the blackout and around the shell craters in their fields the british increased their production 05 per cent they nearer to the front than we were they had a greater incentive for the same renson reason the tion was tar far better than in america regimentation was more gent the government in england bought nil all the food and distributed it itself it cracked down hard on tho the black markets in this country popular opinion prevented such ln in rence with private enterprise and so BO in america we permitted the processing and distribution industries dus tries to operate at a profit in britain it was it nonprofit non profit govern mont operation rationing was stricter too so much for britaina Brit ains wartime ef tort fort now what about tho the efficiency cm clency of her production in normal times my informant gave mo some impressive vo figures lie he pointed to americas two typical farm states sates which taken together are arc just about equal to britain in area iowa and indiana de believe aleve it or not in normal times britain produces more wheat barley and oats than those two states combined britain also produces more cattle than texas which is six times as move pota toc than thai all our r chief potato sant including ma macrio ju so and idaho more dairy products than wisconsin then why on earth I 1 interrupted I 1 r u pied cant they feed themselves over there back came the answer for tho samo reason that new york state with its skilled farmers its splendid soil its up to date methods cant feed itself any more than the district of columbia can in europe as in these moro more heavily populated areas in the united states there anro just t too oo 00 many people it if we want sheso europeans to live and prosper and earn the money to buy our automobiles and typewriters and other gadgets which keep our factories running well havo have to keep on sending food to E europe U ns as we always have 0 0 recently I 1 was asked to make a recording which was to bo be deposited in tho the archives of george washington university os as part of a series made for the use of the class of tho the year 2007 it la Is a somewhat fantastic idea to bo be sure but it is seriously undertaken and I 1 responded in as a 1 serious a vein as I 1 could muster I 1 cant repeat what I 1 sold said as that Is supposed to be held field as a big surprise for the class of 2007 howe however ver the whole idea intrigues mo me so much that I 1 have been thinking about it ever since the fact that this year begins what some peoples people call the atomic ago age makes tho the speculation nil all the more interesting in 1939 1039 when the first successful experiment in split ting the atom and releasing tho the vast power which literally holds th the world together was reported chiefly in scientific public publications allons as of great academic importance ono one writer said the experiment might hareno have ho results of interests beyond the laboratory six years later continua tion of those experiments end ended ed the japanese war the forces released however were largely uncontrolled and purely destructive will the class ot of 2007 have to look up the word coal because it hns been forgotten will all our modern means ot of generating power be displaced by the atoms forces carefully controlled and directed to tho the uses of pence peace and progress |