U.S. MACHINERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 5

U.S. MACHINERY

LEND-LEASE AID Rec. 12.50 p.m. RUGBY, January 7J The dependence of the United' Nations on the United States as far as] machinery is concerned has beenj virtually complete, according to thei latest United States lend-lease reportJ The United States has been shipping to Britain during the past! two and a half years 2 per cent, of the; - United States production of suchi machinery, with the help of which! 8,000,000 acres have been'brought into' farm production. ;• Whereas before the war the British, imported two pounds of food for everyjpound they raised, now they raise twos i pounds for every one that is imported.] I Bombers take off from long, level' fields which four years ago were1 I among the best farms. New acreage' has had to be created from marshes^ and hammered out of the rough soil' of hills in the west country. These: marginal lands could not be drained,1 cleared, and converted for food pro-* duction without the heavy type of farm power which is available onlyin America. '< The United States troops in Austra-i - lia and New Zealand are being fed almost entirely locally under lendK lease. This would have been virtual-! ily impossible without United States farm machinery. The United States has sent machinery worth over a mil-' lion dollars to India to assist that country to meet its critical food I shortages. Smaller amounts have been; j sent to North Africa and the Middle East. North Africa is now producing food not only for her own population,! but for the armed forces and southernl Italy. Hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping space have been saved by the increases in food production; achieved by the countries in, the Middle East.—B.O.W.