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Signal Corps Photo
Lack of power machinery and gasoline fcrces German farmers
to utilize out-dated equipment in cultivating their land.
You can't build democracy on a starvation
diet. Neither can you mine coal, work in a
factory or unload a ship if, over a long of
time, the number of calories (or heat units)
your body takes in is less than the amount
expended. Without coal and without goods
for export, Germany would be in the
position of a permanent pauper, a perpetual
drain upon the occupying forces without
hope of repayment.
Starvation means disease. Epidemics of
disease imperil the health of the occupation
troops. Widespread hunger means that the
people who talk longingly of "the good old
days", when Hitler was in power and the
resources of a whole continent were available
for all good "Aryans", will be listened to
by more and more people.
UNITED STATES POLICY
The arguments in favor of preventing
starvation in the US Zone are many and
valid, even apart from humanitarian con-
siderations. The United States has of-
ficially adopted the policy that sufficient
imports of food, medical supplies and other
urgently needed items, will be brought into
the American area of occupation to prevent
disease and unrest.
Preventing starvation does not mean a
diet laden with luxuries. It does mean the
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