Evening star. [volume], August 17, 1947, Image 38

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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- f Editorials—Features—Music _ . Books—Theaters—Radio £
. EIGHT PAGES . WASHINGTON, D. C„ APGUST 17, 1917 ! ' '
India’s Rule
Facing Test
New Governments
Inherit Numerous
Problems
' By Phillips Talbot
KARACHI.—The India that the
world has known for generations
has passed into history.
A patchwork quilt even under,
British suzerainty of constitutional
provinces and princely states, the
teeming subcontinent now becomes
an even more complicated political
design.
First, the bulk of the country—
where the government of India
rather than the maharajas exer
cised direct authority—has been
ripped apart to from two separate
nations.
«
Each of these will have its own
government, its own currency, its
awn foreign representatives, and its
owm trade policy. Instead of one am
bassador, the United States will send
two envoys to this land.
The smaller'of the new countries,
Pakistan, comes to life as a mainly
Moslem nation. Awkardlv, it will be
cut into two pieces separated by
1.000 miles of non-Pakistan terri
tory. This is because Moslems are
»most numerous only in the north
western and far eastern parts of
India.
w:n
But Pakistan will be the largest
Islamic country in the world.
The other newborn self-governing
nation, three times as populous as
Pakistan and correspondingly richer,
will continue to call itself India.
Its territory is the heartland of
the country. Its borders will stretch
from Bombay to Calcutta and from
above Hew Delhi to the southern
tip of the peninsula at Cape Com
orin. .
Although truncated and residual,
the new India is claimed by its
leaders, including M. K. Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vallabh
bhai Patel, to be the true heir and
successor to the India of the past.
“Our motherland is torn apart,
but sh£ will be reunited,” they say.
Both of these new countries will,
for at least a while, remain within
the British commonwealth of na
tions as dominions, like Australia
or Canada. *
At first they will need to retain
the British link, because their own
constitutions are not yet ready.
Later they may, or may not, decide
it is to their advantage to sta# in
the Brirtish commonwealth.
The Princely States
Both Indians and British agreed.!
however, that from August 15 In
dians and Pakistanis were free to
govern themselves "and do what
they wish without any control from
London.
The second political complication
added in the new order is the posi
tion of the 500-odd autocratic
princedoms that are splattered
across the map of the whole sub
continent. Some are large and
rich, others small and weak. But a
common feature is that Maharajas
and Nawabs who reigned in those
territories during the British period
W'ere semi-autonomous rulers in the
midst of the larger nation.
Only a handful of. these royal
domains lie within or alongside
Pakistan. Kashmir thp famprl
Himalayan resort country is the
largest. Gov. Gen. M. A. Jinnah
has said that Pakistan would make
individual arrangements for future
relations with these states.
The vast number of principalities,
however, are situated within and
around the borders of the truncated
Indian dominion. Where do they
fit into the new pattern?
A great many Indians think that
the princely states are outmoded
relics, of India's medieval age, and
must disappear so that their people
can join the rest of the country as
a single whole.
For the time being, however,
agreement has been reached be
tween the new government and a
greet majority of the Maharajas
for the states to “accede” to the
new dominion.
Bow to Central Rule
In Pakistan, almost the only
Initially important political party
will be the Moslem League. This is
the political organization that Jin
nah built up from almost nothing to
a force capable of demanding and
eventually winning a separate coun
try.
Pakistan will be a largely agri
cultural country. In the northwest,
the Northwest Frontier Province
and Baluchistan are mostly barren
territories while in many parts of
the Punjab and Sind the desert has
blossomed, thanks to some of the
biggest irrigation works in the
world.
But, aDart from Lahore and Kara
chi, there are no large cities. Nor
is there much industry.
Eastern Pakistan covers the east
ern part of Bengal Province and
a slice of Assam. Here mo6t'of In
dia’s jute supply—a world monopoly
. still very important to the United
"States—is gfown.
7 Jute may be a source of great
wealth to Pakistan. But if the
' jute trade is to continue, there
-must be close co-operation between
the two dominions.
<„ "Hie new. abbreviated India is
_ fortunate in starting out with most
‘ of the old India's industries and
i much of its economic strength. But
. the infant dominion will have se
' vere problems ranging from food
j shortage to dangerously growing
, public corruption. Inflation has the
t country in its grip, and both labor
~ era and peasants are disturbed and
restless. As they seem ready to
C strike against employers and land
lords, they are now a fruitful field
c for fomenting disruption.
(Copyritbt. 1947, Chieito D»Ur S(wij
4 I
The Steel Industry East
i — ■ —-——-t__
I »
By Robert N. Cool
A big change in American steel economy is in prospect as a conse
quence of the predicted depletion of the Lake Superior open-pit mines.
Though experts say that such vast and accessible irop ore deposits
as Minnesota’s fabulous Mesabi range will not be played out for from
five to 30 years, and still may be an important factor even after that, the
steelmakers of the East-Central States already are looking toward the
St. Lawrence River region for the.ir next ore bonanza.
Research, under way since 1946, indicates that undeveloped ore
fields in Labrador may rival even the Mesabi., About 18,000 square
miles of land in Labrador are marked for eventual mining. Like the
Superior hemaftite. which has supplied more than three-quarters of
United States needs for half a century, that found in Labrador seems
to be of high quality, readily mined and plentiful. ♦
Adirondacks Are Re-examined
As exploration continues, a railway is planned to connect the Quebec
Labrador ore region with the St. Lawrence River.
Another area where Midwestern steel companies are becoming active
is New y^rk State’s Adirondack Mountain section. Here are still, found
the overgrown pits and ruined structures of old-time mining operations.
Much of the armament for the Revolution and the Civil War came from
Adirondack furnaces. For several years steel companies have been
quietly re-examining this region, believed to contain a reserve of 800,
000,000 long tons of high-grade ore. It could not compete with the open
pit hemattite of the Mesabi, but it may come back into large-scale
mining when the more accessible fine ore in the Lake Superior range has
been exhausted.
As long ago as 1938 one large Midwestern steel corporation announced
that it had leased an old Adirondack mining property, and the next year
World War II brought helicopter-riding prospectors into the mountains.
Their airborne instruments showed thpt a lot pf iron remained in these
hills- . * .
. . .. .T---- ‘ V" -" ■
’ The possibility of increasing import* of foreign iron ore, now running
at only 3 per cent, has also been suggested by steelmen. Annually the
United States uses more than 100,000,000 tons of iron ore.
Ever since the beginning of the century most of this huge traffic
has been carried in long freighters from Lake Superior to the "industrial
Riviera” behind the southern shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. The
St. Lawrence Seaway project, now awaiting action by Congress, would
open a channel for large ships from the river to the lakes—and this
would reduce the cost of moving subside ore to the inland* steel .plants.
Lake-carried ore would then converge from both East and West.
Of World Importance
~ Recently C. M. White, president of the Republic Steel Corp., told the
American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers:
"The Northeastern ores, high in quality after concentration, can
reach some parts, but not all, of the lake-based steel industry, in com
petition with lake ores. The Southeastern ores do not have this possi
bility. As long, therefore, as the steel industry continues to cluster
about the lower Great Lakes, its ore supply should come by lake from the
Lake Superior district (or by lake from Labrador, Newfoundland or else-1
whers, if that be possible), and to a lesser degree from the Northeastern
district. This is the future of about 80 per cent of our present steel
industry.”
Some iron ore is found in most States. A steel industry is -based upon
ore, coal and limestone. For years Birmingham, Ala., has been the
leading rival to the flakes-based steel pattern, and lately the West has
developed a new’ steel industry.
Much of the world’s reconstruction hopes are pinned on American
steel. With the high quality Lake Superior ore passing its peak, author
ities say that an almost inexhaustible supply of inferior iron ore may
keep that region on the map even after new se^ions have overtaken it
in the steel picture.
■-j(Distributed by th« Am>cl»te4.'PrMjM
Industrialized Axis
Policy Makers Visualize Little Chance for International Economic and Political Stability Until
Germany and Japan Produce and Stop Leaning on U. S.
By Constantine Brow#
So long as Germany and Japan,
two highly industrialized nations
with a total population of more
than 150,000,000 persons, remain un
productive and dependent on the
United States for their minimum
daily ration, there is little chance
for world-wide economic and politi
cal recovery.
The situation is seen clearly by
all American policymakers. But
considerations of high politics have
prevented their taking a definite
stand on this all-important ques
tion, which transgresses all the
world plans of the administration.
The Morgenthau plan, which was
adopted by the American Govern
ment at a time when resentment
against Nazi crimes was running
high, proved absolutely unworkable
and devastatingly detrimental to
world economy—particularly that of
the United States.
Shortsighted Plan
Henry Morgenthau and those who
inspired his plan to convert Ger
many into a pastoral state paid
little attention to what the post
war picture would be like. They
imagined, like the vast majority
of the public and most members
of the administration, that the end
of the shooting war would see Big
Three harmony continuing and
projected into the future.
The fact that Allied unity existed
only in name and was preserved,
even during the most difficult days
of struggle, by a continuous yield
vrti MIC pull Ul MIC UIIII^U OMHC3
and Britain was completely ig
nored. Liberal political philosophers
felt certain that the postwar policy
of the United States necessarily
would be one of "political isolation
ism and economic interventionism.”
Benjamin Cohen defined this
cryptic statement in 1944 when he
was counsel for James F. Byrnes
in the Office of War Mobilization.
At a private dinner in Washington
he explained that politically Eu
rope would adopt some form or
another of neo-Marxism and thus
would be far ahead of our political
system. Regardless of what we
might say or do, Europe—and for
that matter the rest of the cold
world—no longer would follow our
political doctrines of antiquated
liberalism and capitalism. But after
the war there would be a long pe
riod of dire poverty in all countries
which had suffered destruction. We
would be the only nation capable
of helping the otHfers out and
would be compelled to siphon nioney
and materials into the poverty
stricken world. This was the
meaning of the expression, "eco
nomic interventionism.”
No one in the highest quarter
of the Government conceived that
there would be an early breakdown
of "harmony” between the Big
Three, although those who did not
shut their eyes to facts could easily
' <r
1 -
see that the U, 5- S. _R. was going
to insist that she alone obtain the
chief benefits of Allied victory. It
was obvious to all those who had
attended the Teheran. Yalta and
Potsdam Conferences that Russia
was going to " take everything she
wanted and give little in return.
U. S. Foots the Bill
In spite of all these clear signs,
which far-seeing politicians should
have taken as a warning, the ad
ministration adopted and applied
the Morgenthau plan, which pro
vided for the destruction of all
German industry and the trans
formation of the Reich into a purely
agricultural state.
The Morgenthau plan was put
into effect with a vengeance. But
it overlooked the fact that the main
German agricultural areas—which
were insufficient to feed the popula
tion .even in peacetime—had been
taken over by the Russians, who,
immediately after the Nazi sur
render, pulled down the iron shut
ters between the eastern lmd west
ern zones of the Reich. Whatever
land is tilled in the eastern zone is
tilled for the benefit of Russia and
her statellites alone.
The result of that Russian policy
has been to force the Allies to feed
the German population west of the
Elbe River from their own stocks.
America has footed the bill. Britain
is too poor to do much for the Ger
mans in her own occupation zone
and France is not much better off.
a r>_• 17__
nil ▼ uvuuui
The various impartial investiga
tions by former President Hoover,
certain congressional committees
and more recently by Gen. Lucius
D. Clay, the American commander
in Germany*made it clear that we
must put Germany back on her feet
industrially. This was necessary
1 not only to unburden American' tax
1 payers, wh<> will have to pay more
than $1,000,000,000 oyer the next
three'years for the support of their
former enemies, but also to assist
recovery in Europe.
Germajf coal and German manu
factured goods played an important
role in world economy before the
war, just as Japanese products did.
The war created an economic vac
uum which, apparently, cannot
be filled. After World War I Brit
ain, France, Italy and Japan
temporarily took the place of the
defeated Central Powers. After
World War II Britain and France
were so shattered that they were
incapable of filling the vacuum
produced by the collapse of our
former enemies.
Russia is both unwilling and un
able to co-operate economically
with the rest of the world. Her
price for providing other countries
with some of her Agricultural sur
pluses, products of the rich Ukraine,
is that they become her political
satellites.
Whatever Russia sends to Italy
4
and France is simply as a matter of
propaganda and the goods are con
signed to the local Communist
parties to bolster party membership.
The result of this is that America
alone is called upon to expend her
wealth to maintain Europe. We
have spent, or are spending, more
than $20,000,000,000 in foreign as
sistance programs.
a
The new plan offered to Europe
by Secretary of State Marshall in
his June 5 address at Harvard Uni
versity will call for an additional 25
or 30 billion dollars. The wealth of
the United States is not unlimited.
We spent $300,000,000,000 during the
war and are reaching the bottom
of the barrel.
London, Paris Protested
Under these circumstances, and
as the result of comprehensive re
ports from Gen. Clay, the War
Department instructed its repre
sentative in Germany to scrap the
Morgenthau plan and begin partial
re-industrialization of the Reich,
taking care to prevent the recon
struction of plants which might
produce goods for war purposes.
This brought an Immediate pro
test,from both London and Paris.
The British government, which is
wedded to a neo-Marxist policy of
nationalization of all industry,
wanted to apply the same policy in
Germany and consequently disliked
the new instructions given Gen.
Clay. The French protested because
they fear an industrial Germany
might once more become a threat
to their national security.
The French position is somewhat
__i otiaeana
UlWUiyr VMV1UJ1U1V TO ' —— —O —
American, who believes that the
United Nations is able to prevent
aggression against weak countries.
The realistic French, however, point
out that the League of Nations—
which was more efficient—from a
practical point of view, than the
present U. N. organization—did not
prevent the Germans from starting
another war. Moreover, the French
whisper, won’t re-industrialization
of the Reich play into the hands
of the Russians if they can jockey
the other power* ■ into leaving Ger
many?
Clay Fought Change
Faced jvith a storm of protest
from London and Paris the State
Department attempted to change
the orders given Gen. Clay. But
Gen. Clay fought against the
change. He informed the War De
partment plainly that if the State
Department instructions, which ran
counter to those issued by his im
mediate superiors, had to be obeyed
he would resign from the service—
which would have canceled his
right to a pension—and would take
the issue to the country through
the press.
Alarmed at the effect such action
might have on public opinion 4n this
country, Secretary of War Royall
I
rushed to Germany shortly after
he was sworn in as successor to
Robert Patterson, who had resigned
in disgust.
A compromise is likely to be the
upshot of the whole situation. But
whatever is done to alleviate the
German situation, it is obvious to all
American observers that all our
plans for the economic reconstruc
tion of Europe must remain mere
palliatives jso long as the vacuum
produced by the destruction of Ger
(Sec BROWN, Page C-2.)
^ % 1 1
’s Crop Outlook Below Average;
China Expects a Be tter Yield This Year
- t_• __
Change i n Weather
Would Hurt Orient
By Harold K. Milks
NANKING.—The one bright spot
in China’s otherwise dismal pic
ture is this year’s crop prediction,
which agricultural experts say
should bring a better-than-averagc
yield.
Despite spotty conditions in some
provinces and the usual localized
famine areas in others, the general
expectation is for a rice and grain
harvest at least equal to or large:
than last year’s average crop.
Reports from Szechwan Province
frequently called China's breadbas
ket, say spring crops were ‘ excep
tionally . excellent” and that there
is every expectation of even bet
ter production for the summer
season.
Unfavorable Factors
Weather in the next several weeks
will determine China’s 1947 farai
production definitely, hut observers
in this capital said that only pro
tracted drought or excessive rain
fall could pervent harvesting enough
to feed the nation.
Against these favorable, forecasts,
However, are four unfavorable
factors:
11. The heavy military requisitions
of foods and collection of land taxes
in kind (that is, in crops) have
placed serious burdens on the
farmers. Several provincial govern
ments have urged the national ad
ministration to "forgive" the land
taxes In their regions this year
2. Transportation blockades pre
vent easy and cheap movement of
foods from surplus sections to con
sumers, particularly in the case of
Manchuria’s surplus soybean crop,
oadly needed in hungry North
China.
3. Many farm areas are unplanted
or untended, particularly ip Shan
tung Province, because farmers have
fled or been driven off by military
operations.
Transportation Problem
4. The Communists have shrewdly
planned and executed raids against
government food-collection centers,
either carrying off or destroying
large stocks of grain, or in' some
cases handing them out to local
populations.
A considerable volume of food
manages to filter through military
blockades, but costs are high, and
sometimes cost alone prohibits
traPftportatkHP Heavy melon and
ftaflfr_brops in West China went to
waste because, of the expense of
moving them id the dense eastern
population centers.
Surveys by NanUng experts in
dicated these harvest prospects by
regions: , ' pf ^
Szechwan, better than average;
Yellow River regions, grain crops
good; Hopeh, spotty due to some
local drought areas; Lower Yangtze
Valley, at least average; Kwantun^
Province, rice heavily damaged by
worst floods in many years; Hunan,
Kwangsi and Kiangsl Provinces,
spotty with numerous local famine
areas due to drought; Anhwei
Province, state of emergency de
clared because of “local rice riots,”
indicating probable food shortages.
(DUtrlbuted by the AisocUted J>rea«>
Electricity Crisis Due
Nation’s Reserve Power Plants Are Expected
to Be Pnt to Severe Test by Winter y
By Robert E. Geiger
America is heading into a new
electrjc light and power crisis.
The margin between demand for
electricity and the capacity of the
plants to produce it is about as
narrow as it ever has been.
But industry leaders say. that next
winter, when the “squeeze” on' the
reserve power plants will be the
tightest, the flick of a switch still
will bring an adequate flow of elec
tricity into homes and plants.
The industry is in the midst of
its greatest expansion -program—a
(5,000,000,000 job—to meet the un
precedented demand for power.
Charles E. Oakes, president of the
Edison Electric Institute, says this
program “will add more new gener
ating capacity to local company
plants than is presently Installed
in all of the Government-owned
power projects, including TVA,
Boulder Dam and Bonneville."
It may take five years. An in
stitute survey showed that by next
year the situation probably will
improve slightly but that not until
the spring of 1949 will the country
be past the “tight squeeze.
Consumption Peak in ’45
Here is the situation:
At the height of its war effort
in January, 1945, America touched
a power consumption peak of 38,
352,000 kilowatts, about 10,000,000
above the prewar high.
The power industry expected this
peak to decline after the war. It
did fall off ior a time but soon
started up again.
The peacetime high that was
reached in the Christmas week of
1946 was more than one-eighth
higher than any wartime record. It
climbed to 43,194,000 kilowatts.
The equipment available tb major
utilities to meet this peak, had a
total dependable capacity of 45,928,
000 kilowatts. That means they
Were operating with a reserve of
only 2,734,000 kilowatts. Normally
the companies estimate they need a'
1
10 per cent reserve, around 4,435,000
kilowatts.
The reserve is necessary so that
fresh equipment is available in case
drought reduces the output of
hydroelectric power plants or if
some of the equipment has to be
shut down.
The power companies have placed
orders for generators with a capac
ity of 11,000,000 kilowatts. They
estimate this is necessary to keep
pace with expansion for the next
three years.
Another ‘Squeeze’ Due
But it takes three years to fill an
order for a large generator. The
annual capacity of generator-build
ing plants is only sufficient to con
struct equipment with a capacity
of around 4,000,000 kilowatts. So
the manufacturers' output hasn’t
peen great enough to overtake new
demands.
Power experts believe the “squeeze”
next winter will be even tighter
than last Christmas weefc.
Already they are looking ahead
lor ways 10 meet me situauuu.
For Instance Florida companies
have requested the use of part of
the wartime fleet -of tankers, now
at anchor in Florida waters, to boost
power output. Each of these'ships
is equipped with generators suffi
cient to supply a small town with
electricity.
Mr. Oakes says “all customers’
demands will be met in 1947 and
the yearn following."
What can the power commission
do to help if the power supply be
comes drastically low?
The Federal Power Act provides
that 'it can order power companies
to interconnect their lines and if
necessary form great “grids" or
power networks.
In the spring of 1941 the entire
Southeast was interconnected. Re
cently the commission has ordered
interconnections hi the Northwest
and the Gulf States.
(XMitHbnue lw th* SmcltM Press.)
n
Food for All
Is U. N. Goal
Geneva Conference to
Try to Keep World
Larder Full
By Sigrid Arne
Forty-seven nations will convene
August 25 at Geneva to do battle
with the monster of want which
helped to wreck the peace of the ’30s.
They will strive to get world
agreements to a system which they
hope will prevent the periodic wild
swings in food prices which have
been both cause and symptom of
world depressions.
The plans are complicated. Econ
omists think that if the Geneva
; meeting is successful, the system set
up will be the most far-reaching
organization the world has ever
'known.
I' The conferees at Geneva will be
delegates from the 47 nations which
;are members of the United Nations
Pood and Agriculture Organization,
j Here is the heart of the Geneva
proposals:
j 1. Each nation would build up its
j own stockpile of basic food, buying
: when world prices drop too low. The
! hope is that government buying at
i such a time’ would bolster prices and
prevent a flood of farm foreclosures
such as hit the American Midwest
in the ’30s, when wheat dropped to
around 30 cents a bushel.
Steering Committee
2. Each nation would sell from its
stockpiles when prices began to sail
through the ceiling, just as American
corn has been doing at *2.17 a bushel.
This is'not an untested government
action. Twice in the ’30s the United
State Government sold corn to bring
down prices.
3. To tie together this world buy
ing and selling, the FAO would set
up a sort of steering committee to
work almost continuously. It would
keep an eye on crop reports, the
food peeds of nations and the prices
of such basic foods as wheat, com,
rice, sugar and coffee.
This steering committee would be
called the “Food Council of the
FAO.” The United States suggests
that It include 18 nations, repre
senting both those that sell food
and those that buy it.
This food council would have the
power to warn nations both when
surpluses were piling up (when
prices mig^it crack badly) and to
warn when it thinks prices are
climbing too high (and governments
could begin to sell their stockpiles
to ease off prices).
To meet such duties the FAQ.
plans to set up world commodity
committees, one each for the basic
products. These committees would
decide the top and bottom prices
at which commodities should be
(Sold. They would be responsible for
giving the go-ahead to governments
to either sell (when prices are too
high) or to buy (when prices are
too low).
Economists Confident
There is no proof that govern
ments would comply with such a
plan, since there never has been
such a plan, and there could be the
temptation for some nations to make
a national profit as against a world
good.
But FAO economists are confident
of the plan. They that world
.AlU. ...»
the “dog In the manger” and that
few nations have the nerve to wear
the label.
4. FAO also plans to agree on
the time for the sale of surpluses so
that no nation can “dump” large
supplies of food on the world market
and break the world price.
5. There is a companion plan, in
which the United States is inter
ested, to aid the famine-area na
tions such as India and China. This
plan would permit the periodically
surplus nations such as the United
States and Canada to sell surplus
foods to famine areas at a price
below the world price.
From there on out, FAO thinking
spreads in all directions. It over
laps the four other agencies of the
United Nations which were set up to
drive toward the pledge of "Free
dom From, Warit”: The Interna
tional Bank, the International Fund,
the International Labor Office and
the International Trade Organiza
tion which is now being set up in
Geneva.
New Pattern for Some
FAO economists think food pro
duction should never again be cut
back Just to “up” the prices of
farmers, as it was during the ’30s in
the United States. Insetad they
think the U. N. member nations
must both raise more food and make
it possible for the underfed nations
to buy the increasing supplies.
±aey turns some nations, to gam
freedom from want, will have to
change their agriculture-industrial
pattern. They point out nations
where millions of paupers struggle
along on handkerchief-size farms
where it might be better if some
farm hands were moved into town to
work to local industries.
This shift would take money to
buy the needed industrial ma
chinery. FAO hopes to be able to
suggest where such investments
could be made with a fair hope of
return. They look to aid from the
International Bank, various govern
ments and private investors.
This plan is not regarded as an
overnight cure. The Geneva meet
ing, if it succeeds in getting such
international agreements, will be
looking ahead to the^next 10 or 20
years. Also the plan assumes a
political peace which must be ironed
out in other XT. N. agencies.
(Distributed by th* AMOdsUd Press.)
- . ; t
Russians Say Grain
Prospect Is Excellent
By Richard Tompkins
LONDON. — Harvest time la
Europe finds drought and the black
market dogging the Impoverished
continent's eternal quest tor food.
Widespread drought has reduced
tpe grain Harvests in virtually aft,
countries except Russia. Bulging
black markets, especially in Trance
and Italy, are paradoxical to the
hungry without money.
Only Russia has produced enough
food to feed the country and allow
food for export. Other nations still
look for outside help, particularly
from the Upited States.
Of Russia's prospective grain
yields, the Moscow radio said: "The
news Is extremely favorable. A
yield of 45 bushels per acre, which
exceeds the prewar yield of wheat
in Denmark or the Netherlands, is
reported by scores * of farms on
thousands and thousands of acres."
Dry Spell Hurts Britain
As tl\e reaping crews move north*
ward to harvest 'the bumper crap,
the Moscow radio reports tha
gathering of grain in full operation
from the Black Sea and the Ukraine
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Beyond the Urals, it says, “pros
pects are exceedingly bright,”
In Britain, where farmers toiled
extra hours to overcome the effects
of last winter’s blizzards and spring
floods, there has been little rain to
nourish the late and famished
grain. Farmers’ reports to' the,
Times sho%that wheat, barley, oats,
potatoes and sugar beets are all
well under the 10-year average
yield.
The National'Farmers’ Union of.
Britain says “harvest prospects in
most countries are below average.”
The union said: “Lateness of the
season, sodden or flooded ground
and drought all had combined to
retard production.”
However, Minister ef Food John
Strachey said last month "there is
ho food crisis and there will be no
food crisis between now and the
next harvest. We have stocks and
supplies of the major foodstuffs to
see us through until the fruits of
the 1947 Northern Hemisphere har
vests are gathered.”
Cereal Harvest Short
In the Danube Valley breadbasket
of Central Europe and in normally
food-rich Poland and Denmark,
drought and frost have taken a
heavy toll.
•;.|kulgaria's estimated million-ton
cereal harvest is a half-million tons
«h&t of estimated needs of her
breid-eatipg people. Only imports
of . cereals will make possible any
raising of the present bread ration
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and 500 grama daily for peasants,
a government source said.
Poland s harvest is expected to be
better' than last, but still insuf
ficient, and the government already
is looking to Russia for grain. It is
estimated that 44 per cent of Po
land’s wheat, 23 per cent of her rye
and 15 per cent of other grain suf
fered from last winter's weather.
Denmark's rye and barley crop*
are expected to be almost 20 per cent
below last year’s, a loss of 700,000
tons. Denmark Introduced meat
rationing August 1 for the first time
since 1922, in an effort to increase
food exports to Britain. Danes
probably face a cut in bread rations
this autumn, an agricultural council
spokesman said.
France Better Off
Only Hungary has a really
bumper crop, "much more” than last
year's, say government officials. But
20 per cent will go for reparations
and bread remains the principal ra
tioned item, along with cooking fats.
A ministry of supplies spokesman
in Bucharest said Romania’s grain
crop, if stringently rationed, might
make the country self-sufficient in
the coming year. The wheat harvest
is estimated at 1,200,000 metric tons,
800,000 tons short of normal.
France's food situation has shown
some improvement, except for wheat
which is reported "very bad" and
has resulted in poor quality bread.
Fruit and vegetables have become
more abundant.
The estimated wheat harvest in,
France is 40,000,000 quintals, com
pared to the 1938 normal of 70,000,
000 quintals. Milk production in
July was 900,000 liters, compared
with 1,?00,000 liters in July, 1938.
Beef arriving at Paris slaughter
houses is only half what it was in
1938. Coffee and fats are still
scarce.
But on the black market, tourists
and Frenchmen with money can
And anything they want—steak*,
fruits, choice wines, vegetables and
delicacies. An excellent meal can
be bought for 500 francs (about $4)
but that Is beyond the reach of
poorly paid Frenchmen.
Black Market Prices
In Italy the black market again
is Just a mirage to the poor. Food
prices have soared week by week
until spaghetti has reached the
price of 420 lire a kilo on the black
market, compared with about 129
lire Ave months ago.
Germans will be lucky if their
1947 harvest turns out as well as
last year's, according to estimates
by American representatives of the
four-power military government
Food and Agriculture Committee
in Berlin. This means that support
of the civilian ration in the com
bined Anglo-American zones, which
contain about two-thirds of Ger
many’s population, will continue te
depend heavily on grain Imports
from the United States.
(Distributed br the Assoelsted Press.)
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