March 12.
The question of the feeding of the occupied countries of Europe and also unoccupied France has again been brought to the fore by the refusal of the British Government! to permit the United States vessel Exmouth, carrying 300 tons of oatmeal to France, to pass through the blockade, The matter Gisposed of once and for all by a declaration by Mr, Winston Churchill last year that any relaxation of the blockade in favour of the countries overrun by Germany, or France "would directly or indirectly assist the enemy's war effort." It was argued at! the time that as supplies were sent to the! unhappy countries of Europe the Germans would requisition further supplies from them, and though M. Pierre Laval's journal, the "Moniteur" declares that "the British blockade has no pity for French children and invalids," there is apparently no attempt to make it equally clear that the Germans have no pity for precisely the same people. It greater proof were wanted of the utterly callous disregard by the enemy for the suf-"forings of the people brought into temporary subjection under them the announcement by Vichy that the free zone of France has been called upon to deliver 600 tons of poultry to the occupied zone and German officials surely supplies it, If further evidence were required, of the same fact, the wanton destruc~ tion, for purposes of revenge, of the Lofoten fishing industry as a reprisal for the success~ ful British raid there, would undoubtedly provide it. Two million fish per diem have been denied the people of Norway and Germany to whom. a portion of the daily catch was exported. Chickens, admirable food for children and invalids, are being re~ quisitioned for the sustenance of Germans in the occupied zone and severe poultry restrictions in the unoccupied French zone are the result.
The story of what has happened in the occupied countries during the past months plain for all men to see. Denmark's rich dairy industry has been ruined by the roads of the Germans either by confiscation, or the fraudulent purchase of the good with useless. Reichsmarks. Holland and Belgium have been similarly treated.—Occupied France has been denuded of its crops and much of its cattle. Unoccupied France is being forced to pay tribute not only in money but in kind, and the result is that Europe under the German heel is being completely starved despite the German boasts of a few months ago that there were ample stocks in Europe to feed the whole of its population until the next harvest. Tt is while Germany is robbing these unfortunate countries of their foodstuffs, that well intentioned men UWke-Mr. Hoover and others are secking to obtain permission to send food to Europe which would merely serve to replace that of which the Germans are robbing it. Tt is apparent that if Britain were to consent to any such arrangement the exactions which the German armies of occupation would make would undoubtedly increase, and the general effect of any weakening of the present stand would be that in the long run the philan~ thrapists of the United States would in fact be feeding the people of the totalitarian Powers.
What guarantee is there that, if the Ex-mouth were allowed to land her 300 tons of oatmeal, Germany would not demand an equal amount of other foodstuffs? Hitler's word? That is not worth the breath in which it might be uttered. The man knows nothing of pity, and would willingly allow other: people to die of starvation just so Tong as his own people were fed, and so. prevented from revolt. There is absolutely no. form guarantee by which it could be assured that"Germany would not immediately benefit from any foodstuffs which might be allowed to enter unoccupied France, not even if Mr. Hoover himself sought to provide one. It he did he would have no means of enforcing it, The fact is that much as everyone must regret the unenviable Tot of those European countries being milked dry by the Germans, assistance to them such as Mr. Hoover plans would merely enable the enemy to proceed further with the milking process. It is in-@ecd a tragic state of affairs, but responsibility for it does not rest with Great Britain,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.