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Show Maldistribution Factor In Europe's Food Crisis Shattered Communication Lines Hamper Market Movements; Civil Strife Further Restricts Deliveries. By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Recently I saw a list of 12 European Euro-pean countries with an estimate ot the number of calories consumed in each now, as compared with their Inhabitants' prewar diet. It was Just at the time when the Greek revolt was well under way and only a tifiht lid was keeping the Belgian pot from boiling over. The calorie consumption in those two countries was the lowest on the list, 67 and 63 per cent, respectively, of their prewar diet. About that time Myron Taylor, the President's representative at the Vatican, was warning the Allies that tf communism came to Italy, it would come over empty stomachs. Adding up this data the natural assumption as-sumption is that hunger is the chief cause of unrest in Europe. But it Isn't as simple as that. I made some Investigations and came upon a number of interesting facts which prove the dangers of over-simplification. Number one is: Low calories may be a symptom and not a disease. In Dther words, disorganization and revolt re-volt affect the food supply as well as being affected by it. Number two: Destruction and disorganization dis-organization are the chief causes of amine and the type of destruction tvhich affects the food supply is not the destruction of food. It Is the smashing of railways and rolling 6tock and blowing up of bridges and doing other things that interrupt transportation. This has done more to create areas of starvation than any planned destruction of the crops themselves by the enemy. Number three: Conditions are frequently fre-quently worse after countries are liberated. One common misconception which needs to be corrected is the total amount and distribution of the food shortage. Since Europe's food problems prob-lems are of vital concern to America Amer-ica it might be well to clear up some of these erroneous ideas. Problem Varies in Different Countries In the first place, in the early years of the war the situation was painted too black. There were various va-rious reasons for this. Among them the fact that many countries exaggerated exag-gerated their plight, asking for more than they expected for fear of getting get-ting less than they really needed. Later the picture was painted far too rosily. Through all this time the experts were not fooled but the public pub-lic was. "It is wrong to say that Europe is starving. It is WTong to say that nobody is starving or will starve," I was informed by a person who is in a position to know if anyone is. The point is that the situation In various places varies greatly and here we come back to the question of transportation. We might use Greece as an example of a place where revolt has increased the seriousness se-riousness of the food situation. One of the chief concerns of persons who had no political interest whatever in whether Greece became a purple monarchy or a bright red spot of communism, but who were interested inter-ested in seeing that the Athenians didn't starve, was the fact that because be-cause of the fighting, shiploads of food lay untouched in the harbor of Piraeus. Athens, Rome, Marseille are all In spots far distant from areas where surplus food exists. Normandy, Norman-dy, for instance, could share some of her products with the south of France if there were any way to get the stuff across the country. The grain in the holds of ships in the harbor is no good to the people of Greece unless there is unrestricted passage to and from the docks and men who can unload and transport it to safety. This question of proximity to supply sup-ply explains why all over Europe the average consumption level of the farm population is 40 per cent higher high-er than that of the people in urban or manufacturing communities. One of the paradoxes of Europe's eating troubles is that in most countries coun-tries the situation often grows worse Instead of better after liberation takes place. Italy is an example of what mixed blessings liberation can bring. - r- -' --" t 1 h I i ' a Here we begin to see how the twin demons of destruction work out. As Indicated, the direct destruction destruc-tion of food supplies either by bombing, bomb-ing, or battle, or German sabotage so far has not been a major factor. Of course, the more rapidly the Allies Al-lies remove the Germans, the less chance they have to steal the food or the crops and transport them. They had considerable time in Italy. On the other hand, on their hurried trip from Normandy to the Rhine the Nazis were far too busy moving to beg, borrow, steal or destroy. Where they have had a chance to squat as in the Netherlands, Poland and Czechoslovakia, the situation is worse. But until they knew they were going to have to get out of a country they did not wish to destroy de-stroy productivity and the natives were fed. They had to keep the people peo-ple alive to support their own military mili-tary and economic activity and they expected they would have plenty of time to exploit later when they set up their own new order in Europe. The factors in food production which suffered most were those involved in-volved in food processing. It is easier eas-ier and quicker to wreck a flour mill or a milk plant than a farm. Some fertilizer factories suffered, and of course in Holland there was wholesale whole-sale obliteration of arable land when the dykes were blown. This is almost al-most permanent damage since the salt from the sea water will sour the soil for years to come. Complex Economies Cause Trouble But there were other forces which began to work earlier. Europe, before the war, produced most of what its own people ate. The things imported wer tea and coffee, spices, and fats and oils. They also had to import much of their cattle food and fertilizer. Germany, Ger-many, striving to be self-sufficient, built many plants for the production of seed oils and raised many oilseed oil-seed crops. This was true elsewhere in Europe and because more food value can be produced from the same resources directly than indirectly indi-rectly through raising food for livestock, live-stock, the livestock was reduced. Under these conditions, in order to get the greatest value out of food products, strictest regimentation was necessary. When the Germans left a country and controls vanished, conditions immediately ' became worse unless, under liberation, a stable sta-ble government could step in immediately im-mediately and reorganize. This reorganization was impeded by the destruction of transportation, the disrupted economy and, in the case of countries like Italy, by the effect of fascist rule which has made the people lethargic, dependent and impotent and, departing, left them leaderless. And so we see the vicious circle in operation disorganization hampering ham-pering the food supply, hunger and unrest preventing reorganization. For their own sake, the "haves" must feed the "have-nots." Time is of the essence, and casting bread upon these unhappy waters will be as profitable an investment as it is a gesture of mercy. When General MacArthur rides up the streets of Manila some day, we hope not far off, he may have a mounted cavalry escort, and if he does, three of the high-stepping members may be veterans of the battle of Bataan. The First cavalry fought for months overseas as foot soldiers. A part of their job happened to be the capture of the racetrack at Taclo-ban Taclo-ban on Leyte. Naturally every man cast envious eyes on some of the horses left there. Later the horses were rounded up, and lo and behold, among them were three which were identified as having belonged to the 26th cavalry which had fought at Bataan. They were repatriated with acclaim and formed the nucleus of a mounted unit which has been doing excellent reconnaissance on the island. So history repeats. In the Spanish-American war of 1898 dismounted U. S. cavalry were sent to the Philippines. Phil-ippines. Later a few horses were obtained and they proved so valuable valu-able that the whole regiment was mounted. |