It can only be with the utmost pain that the dire forebodings as to what will probably happen in Belgium in the course of the next few weeks can be read. Mr. John Cudahy, U. S. Ambassador to Belgium suggests that the present supply of foodstuffs, which are already severely rationed, might last from eight to ten weeks after which, he implied, the situation would be desperate unless supplies were imported, But Mr. Cudahy is wrong in saying that it was only an "academic" question for Britain to consent to the shipment of rations to Belgium. It is very much more than that. The fact is that even if Hitler gave his word, that no such supplies sent into occupied countries would be seized by the Germans, no one would be so foolish as to accept it. Nor is it to be believed that he would give any such assurance out of any sense of mercy, for he has shown himself completely incapable of holding such a sentiment, and he would only consent to relief activities in the occupied countries if he felt that it would ease the enormous burden he has placed upon the shoulders of his country, and at the same time permit him when convenient to himself break his word and seize whatever the charitably-minded of the world might send to relieve the awful suffering which is anticipated. It may be possible to devise some scheme whereby the starving might be assisted, but the guarantees that the food so sent in would not be used for the sustenance of Germans and their troops are something which simply cannot be relied upon, There can be little doubt but that Europe faces the most terrible winter in its history. That to a very great extent is the price it is paying for German successes. Assistance can only be possible if there is the completest certainty that no supplies will reach the Germans, and thus militate against the success of the British blockade, and there does not appear to be any means whereby such a possibility can be circumvented. It is not to be believed for one moment that Germans, hungry because of the blockade, would be content to remain so, while the peoples of occupied countries were given the wherewithal to live.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.