FOOD AND FOREIGN POLICY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25308, 7 October 1947, Page 7

FOOD AND FOREIGN POLICY

General Marshall said that during this critical period food was a vital factor in American foreign policy, and the attitude of Americans toward food could make or break the efforts to achieve peace and security throughout the world. American foreign policy had en- < tered the home and taken a seat at the family, table. The European economy might break down under the intolerable etrain of another winter of hunger, cold, and want. The reconstruction programme worked out in Paris could not get under way—in fact, the gains already made would be lost—if the ; nagging, elemental problem of how to feed a hungry family and how to : warm a desolate room dominated the thoughts and- actions of European peoples. The evil consequences of a Euro-

pean collapse would spread in everwidening circles until Americans, too, would be seriously affected. Food from America could prevent this chain of events. Americans could meet the shortage by all-out, united effort to avoid wasting food and to economise in food consumption. “We can tighten our belts, clean our plates, and push ourselves way frpm the table,” General Marshall added“We have been called on many times to give, and. lately the motives for our. generosity have sometimes been criticised, even violently assailed. ‘‘Yet Americans are great enough in spirit to meet the present crisis in the typical American manner, which will go far to promote peace on earth and goodwill among men. Let history record that in the coming winter a vital contribution to world peace was made in the American home.”