AN AMERICAN'S REPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 39, 14 August 1940, Page 8

AN AMERICAN'S REPLY

BRITISH CASE STATED

On August 9, the "Sydney Morning Herald" published the following from its London Correspondent:—

"The Times" gives prominence to a letter from an American, Dr. A. L. Goodhart, editor of the Law Quarterly Review and Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford, who states that the interview with Mr. Cudahy shows how important it is that the British case should be stated as distinctly and promptly as possible.

"German propaganda in the United States and elsewhere is reiterating the argument that the British blockade is aimed at starving women and children in German-occupied territory," he points out.

Dr. Goodhart says that, in answering such propaganda, the following points are of importance:—

First, international law, which represents the moral sense of all civilised countries, has always held that it is the primary duty of an occupant of enemy territory to ensure public order and safety in countries he has seized. The duty to save from starvation the inhabitants of territories which he occupies ( therefore falls on Hitler and on no one else.

Secondly, Hitler has repeatedly stated that Germany has large reserves of foodstuffs. On this point he is probably telling the truth. Why, then, has he seized food in the countries which he has occupied, thus adding materially to the danger of famine there? Dr. Goodhart says the answer is that Hitler needs food material, especially fats, for the manufacture of explosives. f

"The choice between guns and butter is literally true." he declares. "Every pound of food which enters territory Germany is controlling will therefore be used directly or indirectly in making bombs with which to attack England. It will be used directly if the food is seized by Germany, as it well may be. It will be used indirectly if the Germans are re-

lieved of the duty to feed the unfortunate people they have overrun." HITLER'S "UNWILLING SLAVES." Thirdly, Hitler has announced that he will force the countries he has seized to furnish him with war material,, aeroplanes, and guns with which to attack England. "He now has the effrontery to demand that America shall feed his unwilling slaves so that he may not be hindered in his war preparations," Dr. I Goodhart says.

Fourthly, Hitler has promised his people that, by blockading England, he will starve her into surrender. Dr. Goodhart believes that these four points confront Hitler with two choices. "He can either feed the people living in territories he has seized or, if he cannot or will not do this, he must evacuate their territory as a whole, so that they can feed themselves," Dr. Goodhart declares. "He cannot ask as a third choice that other countries should feed the victims of his aggression while he is left free to prosecute the war with increased resources." GERMANY'S RESERVES. It is authoritatively stated that, if there is a famine in Germany and Ger-man-occupied territory next winter, it will be because Germany will not, or cannot, distribute available reserves of grain. This year's harvest and reserves should be adequate to prevent a famine. The total reserves available to Germany are estimated to be 10,000,000 tons. Moreover, large quantities of condensed and dried milk, hitherto imported by Britain from Holland and Switzerland, are now available for countries under German domination.

If petrol is denied to farmers or transport companies, and if railways and canals are used exclusively for military purposes, a' famine would seem to be inevitable.