Freedom from Want

Into Washington this week trooped the delegates fresh from the United Nations Food Conference at Hot Springs, Va.

They got a big hand from the President.

Both the President and the delegates had reason to feel pleased. The conference had started off under a cloud of suspicion, brought about by the President's ban on the press. It ended with a considerable air of achievement, even under the heavy limits set on it.

Biggest accomplishment was the bringing together of representatives of 44 nations, and their education in working together.

Many of the delegates had a sense of making history. There were some pretty important "firsts": for the first time the Soviet Government expressed a willingness to work with the rest of the world after the war; the first clear indication that the little nations, not just the Big Four, will have a say in the shape of the future; and the first general stocktaking of world food needs.

The conference might be criticized for its failure to indicate specifically the Gargantuan size of the job ahead, and to specify ways & means of accomplishing it.

But here the limits of the conference prevailed. Said the summary: "While the ultimate objective must be a world in which all people are fed in full accordance with the requirements of good health, it will be necessary as a practical measure to concentrate on intermediate goals which can be progressively raised. . . ." The conference made public a minimum dietary standard to provide a yardstick for judging the sufficiency or insufficiency of the diets of all peoples, and translated this into an ideal American diet. The diet, for one person, for one day: Ten ounces of grain products, such as bread and cereals. Slightly more than one pint of milk. A half pound of starch-rich vegetables, such as potatoes or yams.

Slightly more than one ounce of leguminous vegetables, such as peas or beans.

Four ounces of such vitamin-rich products as citrus fruits and tomatoes. Four ounces of leafy green and yellow vegetables. Six ounces of meat, fish or poultry. Three ounces of butter and other fats. Two ounces of sugar. Three eggs every two days.

Restriction for Some? In view of the enormous disparities between supply and need, some hoped that the final report of the conference would specifically condemn artificial restrictions on food production, restrictions aimed at keeping food prices high.

But on this subject the conference, by force of political circumstance, had to play cagey. For instance, some delegates wanted the final report to say flatly that no nation should ever again kill pigs in order to raise the price of pork. This idea was turned down in deference to the Administration, an old pigsticker itself. Boldest statement came from the British, who repudiated export or production quotas, and advocated price policies "which balance supply & demand, and allow a steady rate of expansion to the most efficient producers." When in Rome. Fact was that the conference was hamstrung. The U.S. was its host, but the U.S. has also been one of the worst offenders in the matter of trying to boost agricultural prices through artificial restrictions.

Commented the New York Times: "What is chiefly necessary now is not the beginning of still further Governmental controls on food and agriculture but the removal of the mistaken controls of the past. . . " This week the President, after hailing the conference as a demonstration of the United Nations' ability to agree, set the tone of the more substantial meetings still to come. Said he:

"A sound world agricultural program will depend upon world political security, while that security will in turn be greatly strengthened if each country can be assured of the food it needs. Freedom from want and freedom from fear go hand in' hand.

"Our objective can be simply stated: It is to build for ourselves, for all men, a world in which each individual human being shall have the opportunity to live out his life in peace; to work productively, earning at least enough for his actual needs and those of his family; to associate with the friends of his choice; to think and worship freely; and to die secure in the knowledge that his children, and their children, shall have the same opportunities."

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