CALL BY HOOVER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20185, 1 March 1940, Page 5

CALL BY HOOVER

AIDING REFUGEES PLIGHT IN EUROPE STARVATION OF POLES DISMEMBERED NATION MILLIONS REQUIRED (Klee. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. March 1, 10.30 a.m.) ' WASHINGTON, Feb. 29. The former President of the United States, Mr. Herbert J. Hoover, testifying before the House of Representatives Foreign Committee, urged support to pending bills for the relief of war victims and for Poland. He recommended that Congress should appropriate £2,500,000 to £5,000,000 immediately for Polish relief. He predicted an acute shortage of food beginning probably in May. He added that it seemed certain that the whole of Europe would be threatened with starvation when the war ended. He estimated the cost of keeping the Poles alive in the next 12 months at from £10,000,000 to £12,500,000. “The Poles normally are self-sup-porting, but their dismemberment has taken off the surplus food areas,” he said. “The Russians have expropriated the agricultural areas, while German Poland’s normal population of 12,000,000 to 13,000,000 has been inflated by 2,000,000 refugees.” He said it was hoped to create a trustee organisation to administer relief.