Show hoover presents new plans to save hungry in europe i i asks british and germans to try soup kitchens in lae belgium 0 hini as military test chicago special new plans to J save the inhabitants of the occupied i democracies in europe from A tion were presented by former pres I 1 dent hoover at a mass meeting held beld in the opera house Audit auditorium orlu her here last sunday night in expressing his appreciation to the two thousand public bodies who have supported this movement to aid these fc unfortunates and the sixty thousand who have written letters of app approval roval 1 mr hoover explained the purpose ot of i the committee was to expose to the W world orld th the facts of the food situation a and nd to raise a vol voice ce in behalf of those 1 tens of millions of innocent men women and children now suffering from froin want of nourishment i speaking as honorary chairman of 0 the committee on food tor for the small democracies he made public the proposals submitted to the british and german governments a few weeks ago 0 to o establish soup kitchens in belgium as ail an initial experiment to test out whether these people can be saved without military advantage to either side bide there is nothing new in this war march of hunger mr hoover told his audience the consequences of 0 great wars are always famine and pestilence ti the world war of twenty five alve years ago brought hunger to three hundred million people in the present it Is coming faster and with more violence today nearly three hundred million people are on rations more drastic except in germany and great britain than at the end of the third year in the test last war in this creeping famine the most immediate danger and greatest suffering Is among the seventy million people in the democracies which have been overrun by the german armies two weeks ago the committees american experts in belgium reported that within a mouth month the city and town population consisting of ivr over r eight million people would be without food unless supplies were brought in somewhere somehow from holland norway central poland anil and tree free france indicate an extreme extreme food shortage and finland and spain present a icelious problem NEW PROPOSALS in presenting the new proposals mr hoover said you are aware that this committee has made proposals to the belligerent governments that completely organized food control should be stet set un UD for the peoples on the lines of the last war those proposals would have given time to organize tion they are the ultimate necessity but a distracted world is slow to believe and we were reluctantly compelled to conclude that it must be confronted with ghastly reality before action could be hoped tor for that ghastly reality has arrived in belgium furthermore while I 1 do not agree to the grounds tor for the rejection of our previous proposals yet it if these people are to be saved we must seek to meet those objections by proving our case in action therefore a few weeks ago we laid before the british and german governments the following suggestions first that we make an initial experiment peri ment in belgium to test out whether these people can be saved without military advantage to either elde bide second that this test comprise feeding only through soup kitchens where the people come to get their food and thus there can be no question of feeding germans third that at the beginning we provide tor for one million adults and two million children the adults to receive halt half a pound of bread and an allowance of soup the children to receive special food in addition including preserved milk this would require requa e about tons a month of which about one half bait would be breadstuffs bread stuffs and one half meats tats fats and food tor for children fourth Fou ith that the german governments agree there is to be no requisition of native food fifth both governments to give relief ships immunity from attack sixth the whole to be under the supervision and checks of some neutral body it Is my belief that the germans should cooperate to secure some bread stuffs from continental sources but for meats fats ats and food tor for children there are no sources of supply on the continent that must come from rora overseas and that requires cooperation from doai the british to pass the ili e blockade it we can make this experiment wok in belgium then such a plan can be extended to the other democracies it la Is primarily devoted to saving the unemployed destitute and the children these governments have this plan under consideration mr hoover was ol of the opinion that the relief ot of these countries would not prejudice the british and would be of no gain to the germans the countries benefited are not seeking charity and would defray alt all expenses the amount exported from america would simply use our surplus food to those who say it cannot be done said mr hoover the reply la is simple at least let us try it and if we fall ail that ends our effort to those who say the germans even 1 if thenia they made de such agreements would yat violate them there Is also a complete it such a thing should occur then wp we have failed ailed and we quit |