THE GOOD SAMARITANS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21206, 31 August 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE GOOD SAMARITANS

Hoover’s Great Task :: Succour For Refugees

(Robert R. Mullen, in Christian Science Monitor)

JN A PLAIN OFFICE at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, Herbert Hoover, quietly and with little public notice, is meeting one of the biggest challenges of his crowded career. Perhaps symbolising more than any other individual the warmly-throbbing American determination to ease suffering wherever possible, Mr Hoover has already been officially called upon by the Polish, Finnish and Belgian Governments to succour their civilian peoples. Facing staggering difficulties of organisation, transportation and supply, Mr Hoover is accomplishing a remarkable job. Moreover, Mr Hoover today has a definite scheme for American participation in relief work. He believes he sees a way to help Europeans and simultaneously accelerate solution of one of our own major domestic problems. No doubt this is one reason he has Leaped Into His Present Work without the reluctance he felt 26 years ago. In 1914 Mr Hoover was.a mining engineer of international reputation. He was in England early in August as representative of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and when war broke out was receiving congratulations of friends because he stood to profit greatly from his lead and zinc holdings. When the German war machine rolled across Belgium, some 200,000 Americans were caught overseas. Because of the bank holiday, many were short of funds. Boats were being withdrawn for transport duty right and left, leaving transportation in a muddle. Calmness is a characteristic of Herbert Hoover. This quality, those on the scene have said, stood out like a beacon. Ambassador Walter Hines Page noted this and asked Mr Hoover to take over the organisation of the American exodus. Setting up headquarters in the basement of the Savoy Hotel, Mr Hoover immediately instilled order by guaranteeing that every American would have money and transportation. The work was done with dispatch and success at the rate of about 5000 persons a day for 40 days. When it was over, late in September, Mr Hoover expected to sail for home. But in the meantime the war had left 10,000,000 non-combatants in occupied areas. Many were homeless; many were hungry; all were miserable. The Belgian Government turned to Ambassador Page; he turned to Hoover. For three days Page and Hoover and the Belgian representatives talked the situation over. For three nights Herbert Hoover pondered his career, his lead and zinc, his home. When he made his decision, the Eelgians were fed. In the years since 1914, Herbert Hoover has helped to feed 26 great populations. Out of his experience has evolved a philosophy and a procedure that cannot but serve him well as today he meets the problems of what he believes to be “one of the most terrible events in the history

tailed, Mr Hoover in his methodical way states it for you. Denmark and Holland, he reminds you, are primarily “fat factories.” Their cows produce milk, but much of the fodder must be shipped in. When existing stores are exhausted, the cows will be eaten. Then the Danes and the Dutch will be hungry, and dependent upon outside aid. The need is not immediate. The Finns are in a better shape. They are busy getting in a crop, they have opened a port at Petsamo and have a road built to the rail head, over which they can get supplies. Mr Hoover tells you that 600,000 are still homeless, but that aid is being sent at the rate of 100,000 dollars a week. Belgium is in a worse plight. The country is 80 per cent industrial. It has been a violent battleground. Refugees are as yet uncounted. More than a million are in France, taxing all resources. The Most Vivid Situation exists just now among the Poles. The Russians took the eastern half of the country, which normally was the agricultural half. The Germans took the western half where the industrial and heavy populations are. Thus, some 15,000,000 Poles are now divorced from their normal source of food. Available estimates are that supplies are now virtually exhausted. Before the next harvest, some 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 Poles face starvation. The Germans require what food they have, and deny responsibility for the Poles because of the Allied blockade. Transportation of food to these hungry Polish millions is no easy problem. The Baltic is closed. Railroads up from the Mediterranean are jammed. The sole channel is through the Balkans. Headquarters, therefore, have been opened in Bucharest as focal point for relief distribution. So far, Mr Hoover reports, the Germans have co-operated in seeing that food destined for Poland actually reached hungry Polish mouths. “ Now, of course,” Mr Hoover tells you, “ the question of feeding any such number of persons as those in Poland exceeds anything that private charity can be expected to provide. It is a project demanding the help of whole governments.”

The Polish Government in exile has some resources; the British and French have certain stores in the Balkans. All these have been made available. But the real impact is yet to come. Demands are multiplying daily. In addition, a good manager must foresee the* urgency likely to arise in Scandinavia and the low countries, to say nothing of other potentialities. That is why the former President is asking that Congress make available 15,000,000 dollars’ worth of the nation’s surplus foods for distribution abroad. He admits that this would probably only be a starter for what Europe is going to need; but he sees it as a solution just about as welcome to the American farmer as to the hungry European peasant. It seems plain that wheat cannot advance much in price while a 296,000,000bushel surplus remains. The same is true of the 460,000,000 bushels of com, and of the quantities of pork. They hang as a sort of damoclean sword over any price upturn, and this price increase is the thing farmers say they need so badly. Also, there is the serious problem of Diminishing European Markets. It is estimated that markets which formerly took 400,000,000 bushels of wheat, com, rye, oats and other grains have already been lost because of the war. This means greater surpluses. These things being as they are, Mr Hoover’s proposal appears logical. It would feed those who need food; it would relieve the American farmer of depressing surpluses. Its cost would be below the 100,000,000 that Senator Bilbo proposed the other day be set aside to bolster falling farm prices. Even though conditioned by years of words and pictures that have starkly portrayed the sufferings of Chinese, Ethiopian and Spanish civilians, Herbert Hoover does not believe American compassion will fail in the present emergency.

of civilisation.” Mr Hoover today Presents a Complex Picture for the interviewer. Obviously he is deeply touched by the war. Many of those now fighting are the youngsters whom he fed two decades ago and whom he hoped to win to everlasting love of the American flag. The institutions of democracy which he cherished most are those now under fire. His own political disappointments have weighed upon him. Your first impression is that Mr Hoover must be very tired. But in a few moments that thought is dispelled. His movements are lighter, quicker, more purposeful than at any time since the White House era. You realise that Mr Hoover feels more acutely about the war and its consequences simply because he knows more about them. We read in round numbers of 1,000,000 civilians being homeless, and it means less to most of us than to a man who has seen the homeless, and been among them. These are friends of Mr Hoover who are homeless and hungry. He feels as would a good friend. The only relief for this feeling is to help them. Just as the kaleidoscopic military scene permits no final analysis, just so the situation of tens of millions of civilians lacks clear definition. So far as it can be de-