GUNS BEFORE BUTTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 March 1940, Page 9

GUNS BEFORE BUTTER

GERMANY'S FOOD POSITION. “Germany’s food position is not a very cheerful subject,” remarked Mr Donald Tyerman in a recent broadcast talk on the subject. “The Governments of Britain and France have no wish to deprive German people of their food. But they are determined, by the weapon known as economic warfare, to cut off the war industries and fighting forces of the enemy- from the supplies they need to import. The trouble is that the German Armies, quite naturally. have first call, on the foodstuffs Germany buys from abroad. That means that these imports have got to be stopped, simply- because they are war supplies. Moreover, quite a lot of commodities which are usually- looked upon as foodstuff’s can just as well be used to make munitions. Fats, for instance. can be used, and are used in Germany, to make explosives. Their import has obviously got to be stopped. It may seem distasteful Io stop food from going into Germany. It is distasteful. But it is not really- our fault, ’fho decision was made by the Nazis themselves, a long time ago. when they deliberately began to devote all their country's resources to building up a gigantic war machine. The German people were put on short commons, even in peace time, not because Germany could not grow or buy all the food they- wanted, but because the resources of the nation —labour, import capacity, ships and foreign exchange and. up to a point, agricultural production —were very largely- taken over for arms and munitions. Germany’s leaders quite deliberately- preferred guns to butter, and said so."