Goal Attained

With justified pride, President Truman last week announced that the U.S. had kept its promise and that the world famine emergency had been met. What had been done was not enough to prevent widespread suffering, disease, and uncounted deaths in Europe, China, India. But the threat of mass starvation had been dispelled.

In ten days of June had come a tremendous spurt in U.S. shipping to the hunger areas--some 477,000 long tons of grain and grain products. By June's end the half-year goal of 6,000,000 long tons was in sight. The U.S. was actually short on deliveries by about one-twelfth, but this deficit was already in the pipelines.

The President gave his praise and thanks to the U.S. people, to farmers, millers and bakers, and to Chester Davis' Famine Emergency Committee, which had done much to promote public conservation and aid.* Last week former President Herbert Hoover, who had done as much as any man to spur the U.S. conscience into action, made his final famine relief report in Ottawa (see CANADA). Not mentioned in the official reports was fiery, little Fiorella LaGuardia, head of UNRRA, who had cut through much Government red tape and indecision.

It had taken something more than conscience-stirring appeals to pry the grain off U.S. farms. The hard fact was that hard money--the 30-c--a-bushel bonus--had been the major factor of success.

The crisis of world food shortages remained. To war-wearied Britons it was brought home last week by something war had never brought--bread rationing. For the bountiful U.S.--where last week farmers at Plymouth, Ohio, poured some 2,000 gallons of milk on the ground in protest against OPA pricing--there was merely the next goal: 6,700,000 tons of grains to be exported in the coming crop year.

*Its emergency appeals continued. The public was urged to send money contributions to "Hunger, New York City." (no street address necessary).

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