DAILY NEBRASKA
Thursday, MarcK 13, 1941
QommsmL
SuUsdm,
Belgian relief would aid nazis
Dear Editor:
From either intent or ignorance you have published an extremely
misinformed editorial upon the Hoover relief proposals. Reports from
both American relief workers and the French government do not re
veal that Germany is doing everything she can. As a matter of fact
she has increased the problem recently by pouring thousands of un
desired mouths out of Germany into unoccupied France. I state this
not on the ex parte statements of Herbert Hoover, but from those of
the Vichy government and of the Relief Committee of the Friends now
in southern France.
And this is apart from the millions of tons of foodstuffs taken
from occupied lands. If transportation facilities were good enough
after the collapse of France to move these into Germany why do you
think they can't be moved back? Your statement about "bona fide
governments of vanquished countries" is also incorrect. The Vichy
government is the sole one you can cite. Why not say so? Your
statement of the "pleadings of the small democracies" theoretically
should exclude France since it is neither small nor today a democ
racy. What semblage of an official statement from a small democ
racy can you quote? ,
"England is being asked for nothing" is patently absurd. Eng
land is being asked to give advantages to the occupied lands that her
own people do not possess. England is being asked to allow that Ger
many have the use of the manpower of the occupied countries while
American charity supports their families. England is being asked to
repeat her experiences' of the last war, when the tin cans that car
ried American food to Belgium were used to make German hand
grenades, when German generals after having eaten relief supplies had
the effrontry to congratulate American officials upon its quality.
Malnutrition and starvation are horrible. Your committee is seek
ing to aid in perpetuating the organization that has caused them
Your committee i3 seeking to aid the victory of the power that has
officially disclaimed, in this specific case, any responsibility for the
results of its own acts. The unfairness of your editorial approaches
closely to maliciousness, when you state that the suffering is caused
by the British blockade and omit to mention both the looting by Ger
many of the provisions stored up for emergencies and official state
ments such as those by the Dutch government
G. W. Gray.
We may be wrong, but . .
The information which the DAILY now has available makes
acceptance of Dr. Gray's view by us impossible. The editorial on war
relief referred to above was not written through ignorance, nor was
it an intentional misrepresentation of the facts as Dr. Gray suggests,
but was based upon information released by Herbert Hoover, Marshal
Petain, and the American Committee for Food for the Small Democ
racies. It is probably true that the responsibility of England in prolong
ing the suffering of the conquered peoples of the continent, and the
assistance shown by Germany in alleviating that suffering was over
emphasized in the disputed editorial. Our stand was stated forcefully
because the "right or wrong, England is right" attitude has become
o dominant, that it takes a small sized explosion to open the eyes
of many that England Is not 101 percent pure, and does show un
necessary inhumaneness from time to time.
Whatever the manner of presentation, however, the indisputable
facts remain that the peoples of the small democracies are suffering
from lack of food, that the British blockade is keeping essential food
supplies from reaching them, and that, if the program of Herbert
Hoover means anything, if Marshal Petain's statements have an lota
of meaning and if Quakers working in these countries are not deliber
ate liars, Germany is giving assistance.
Marshal Petain declares that "the Germans are more generous
than the English," and that they have released 2,000,000 quintals of
wheat out of 2,700,000 requistioned for the German army for feed
ing the people of occupied France.
The essential part of the Hoover plan is that Germany give her
assistance through returning part of the goods carted out of the
vanquished countries, and give the relief workers a free hand in their
work. Should Germany confiscate any goods, small as the quantity
may be, the Hoover program comes to an end.
A review of Polish war relief published In the Christian Science
Monitor of November 23, 1940, points out that the German Red Cross
Is co-operating with the Polish relief commfssion in alleviating hard
ships there.
And finally, the Quakers now working in Belgium, Holland and
other small democracies report that Germany has given them a free
hand.
Regarding the efforts of "bona fide governments of vanquished
Behind
the
News
Seven billions asked
Twenty-four hours after he had
signed the lease-lend bill President
Roosevelt asked congress for an
appropriation of 17,000,000,000.
In his letter transmitting the
request the president declared, "It
nations abroad" seeking relief for their nationals, we can again quote
Herbert Hoover that he was contacted by the leaders of the five de
mocracies to secure his assistance in organizing the kitchens. We
have further, the Queen Wilhelmina relief commission, and the con
tributions of the Polish government to the Commission of Polish Re
lief as evidences of the intentions of these governments.
And though it might have been possible that certain leakages did
occur in the last war, they were not of sufficient size to cause con
cern to the Allies. When Belgian relief was to be terminated in May
of 1918, Prime Ministers Lloyd George and Clemenceau cabled a pro
test to President Wilson stating that the military conclusions were all
wrong, and insisted that the relief work should be continued in the
occupied countries. .
Ex-Prime Minister Asquith stated at the same time that he was
convinced that relief food reached the Belgians and the French, and
them alone. More than 10,000,000 people were supplied then by the 13 inte "xea P?110 OI f 13 Bvern
, .. , , . , . ment to make for democracies
same man who wants to run the soup kitchens now. The conclusions -every guTlf piane munition of
should be the same, and the danger to the British blockade should be war that we possibly can."
negligible. ? The appropriation estimate of
Budget Director, Harold u. smith,
which accompanied the president's
letter, broke the $7,000,000,000
down into several categories, the
largest of which was $2,054,000,
000 for planes and aviation equip
ment, including engines, spare
parts and accessories.
Other categories included $1,
343,000,000 for ordnance and ord
nance supplies; $1,350,000,000 for
agricultural and industrial com
modities; $362,000,000 for tanks
and armored cars; $629,000,000
for ships and naval supplies;
$260,000,000 for miscellaneous
military equipment; $725,000,000
for building sites, tools and other
facilities for manufacturing de
fense articles, and $200,000,000
for testing, repairing and other
wise keeping the defense articles
in order.
In the long run it makes no difference whether the responsibility
lies at the door of England or Germany. The people do need food.
That food is available, and is ready for shipment. If it can be dis
tributed without aiding Germany in her war, humanitarianism de
mands that the blockade be relaxed; that relief ships for the van
quished, and for the vanquished alone, may get through.
The
Daily Nebraskan
Bulletin
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