Bread Is Life The Objective The he policy of the United States toward Germany recognises that a democratic and peace-loving nation can only be built up with the support and active cooperation of a populace that has enough to eat. Having enough to eat does not mean a diet laden with luxuries. It does mean the irreducible minimum which men and women require in order to do the work that is expected of them. The threat of famine stalks the world. Germany and Japan were largely responsible for this condition, which followed in the wake of war and which obtains throughout Europe and Asia. These two former belligerents are therefore at the bottom of the list of countries which are eligible for a share in the emergency food shipments now pouring out of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and other surplus nations. Germany can either be allowed to starve, and in the course of starving become a dead economic weight which will drag Europe with her to disaster and chaos, or can be provided with sufficient basic nourishment to prevent epidemics and upheaval. Never an agriculturally self-sufficient nation, Germany is at present more dependent upon food imports than ever. Important food producing areas have been lost, and refugee Germans returning to the already overtaxed country of their origin have increased by many thousands the number of mouths to be fed. It is U.S. policy to help the Germans help themselves, by, (a) importing sufficient food to make up the difference between indigenous production and minimal subsistence; (b) raising German agricultural production to its maximum level; and (c) enabling the factory worker to maintain if not increase his output by having an adequate diet. The only way defeated and occupied Germany can start paying a measure of her indebtedness to the United States and other nations now feeding her is by manufacturing for export. The factory hand cannot be expected to German mother and six children taking their evening meal which consists of bailed potatoes and soft cheese. Their meat ration is usually saved for Saturday and Sunday dinner. Signal Corps Photo remain at his bench a full working day, and produce a full day's work, on a starvation diet. This is the problem which challenges the occupation authority in the U.S. Zone. The success of the occupation depends upon its solution. General Background The task of feeding 17,000,000 people in U. S. occupied areas of Germany must be measured against the background of basic facts about the food position and agricultural economy of the country. German agriculture did not recover until ten to fourteen years after World War I. Combined areas of wheat, rye and potatoes did not exceed their pre-war level until 1932. Numbers of cattle and hogs were not restored for 12 years and yields of principal food crops, despite increased utilization of commercial fertilizers, required ten years to regain prewar levels. Under the Nazi regime farm production was increased to a very high level by the use of artificial fertilizers, mechanical equipment and a vigorous agricultural policy. Nevertheless Germany had to import about 20 percent of her total food and feed, or about 6,000,000 tons annually during 1935-38, and in 1943-44 more than 7,000,000 tons of food alone were imported. Through transfer of territory east of the Oder-Neisse line to Poland and to the U. S. S. R. in 1945, Germany lost about 25 percent of its pre-war agricultural land an area capable of producing enough surplus food to feed some 4,000,000 people. The density of its population does not permit Germany to be entirely an agricultural country. There is only enough farm land to provide three-quarters of an acre per person in comparison with seven acres in the United States. In recent years roughly 80 percent of the population, or more than 50,000,000 people, have been engaged in occupations other than agriculture. The size of the country will not allow absorption of this non-farm population into agricultural pursuits. The U.S. Zone of Germany is only about as large as the State of Ohio, but contains more farms than Ohio, Indiana, Ilinois, Iowa and South Dakota combined. In 1939, 91 percent of the 900,000 farms in the area were less than 49 acres, and fewer than one percent exceeded 247 acres in sice. The predominance of subsistence-type farms engaged in production of high value but low calorie crops, together with a heavy preponderance of non-self suppliers, makes the U.S. Zone a food deficit region. In pre-war years the Zone accounted for only 25 percent of German's total wheat crop, 15 percent of the rye crop, 6 percent of the sugar beet crop and 17 percent of the hog production. The average production of principal foods within the boundaries of the present J.S. Zone in 1935-38, as compared with production in other parts of Germany, is shown in the following table: Average production of principal foods, 1935-38a) Area Old Reich U. S. Zone British Zone French Zone Soviet Zone Ceded Territories Production (Calories per capita per day) 2,643 2,086 1,958 1,983 3,253 4,310 a) Since it is impossible to estimate the amount of An influx of refugees, together with other factors, has raised the total population in the U. S. Zone from 13,690,000 people in 1939 to about 17,000,000 at the present time. This means that there are more than 400 people per square mile in the Zone, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. On the other hand, the area under cultivation in the U. S. Zone declined by 9 percent and the area under direct food crops by 17 percent between 1935 and 1945. The number of hogs has decreased by 49 percent and the number of cattle by five percent, since 1939. Owing primarily to lack of fertilizers, yields of most crops declined after 1939, especially during the last two years of the war. As a result U. S. occupation forces have been faced with the problem of feeding more than 3,000,000 additional people in an area that has never been self-sufficient in food, and which now suffers heavily from loss of interzonal trade and from a reduction in agricultural resources resulting from the war. Under these conditions there has been no alternative to providing imports of food. Collapse of Economy in July, 1946 In July the four occupying powers were confronted with an almost complete collapse of normal agricultural and food distribution operations. Harvesting was disorganized; an acute labor shortage existed; essential farm supplies, such as fertilizer, seed, tools, binder twine and sacks were almost unobtainable. Damage to processing plants and disruption of transportation facilities, prevented processing and distribution of such foods and farm supplies as existed. German agencies which normally supplied producers with essential services and supplies and controlled the production and distribution of food were functioning only on a county basis when at all. Reorganization of Institutions The reestablishment of basic administrative machinery was the first step necessary to restore the German agricultural and food economy to a more normal operating basis. This task has been accomplished through restoration and partial reorganization of German agencies at Land, Kreis and Gemeinde levels to control the production and distribution of food. A Food and Agriculture Administration or Ministry has been established in each of the three Laender of the U. S. Zone. These Administrations are organized along approximately the sarne lines in each Land. In each there are two major divisions one for food and one for agriculture which function through subordinate and local food and agriculture agencies. Overall administration of controls on production, delivery, marketing, processing, storage and distribution of food to the ultimate consumer, and allocation of agricultural and processing supplies to producers and processors, is assigned to the Food Division. This Division directs county (Kreis) and township or city district (Gemeinde and Bezirk) ration offices, using the authority of the County Administrator (Landrat) and the Mayor (Buergermeister). It also directs food collection, marketing and processing through marketing associations which assign county delivery quotas. Delivery quotas for individual farmers are assigned by the county agricultural offices through local mayors and farm leaders. Farm inspection committees in each Gemeinde check production and delivery quota compliance under the direction of the county agricultural office. The Agricultural Division supervises farm extension services, agricultural schools and farmers' organizations and exercises functions of real property administration, land development and resettlement. Early in April provision was made for reestablishment of agricultural cooperatives on a democratic basis in all four Zones of Germany. Cooperative associations have played an important role in German agriculture. In 1939 there were 4,820 agricultural cooperatives in Germany, which furnished their members with credit, farm supplies, storage and processing facilities and other assistance. During the war, however, the activities of cooperatives were restricted or, in certain instances, suspended. The Nazis used them entirely as an instrument of Nazi domination, robbing them of their democratic character. Standards to be applied in the future development of cooperatives will be based on the principle of voluntary membership without regard to race or creed, and officials will be elected in accordance with democratic principles. For the time being activities of cooperative associations are confined to the territorial jurisdiction of a single Land. In November 1945 a Council of Minister Presidents (Laenderrat) was set up to coordinate the three Land Governments in the U.S. Zone. Decisions require unanimous vote and are put into effect by the Minister President in each Land. The Laenderrat has a permanent Secretariat and numerous committees, including a Food and Agricultural Committee. This committee consists of the Ministers of Food and Agriculture for Bavaria and Greater Hesse, and the Minister of Economics for Wuerttemberg-Baden. It has a working staff and some sixteen working parties covering important fields for which the main Committee is responsible. On account of the serious food situation the office of a Commissioner for Food and Agriculture in the U. S. Zone was created in April. Broad powers have been delegated to the Commissioner by the Minister Presidents and the Laenderrat to strengthen the production, collection and distribution of food in the U.S. Zone. The Commissioner is directly responsible to the Laenderrat and acts as Chairman of the main Committee for Food and Agriculture. In accordance with Military Government policy, operating responsibility for all phases of the established food and agricultural program has been turned over to German organizations as rapidly as possible. The Minister Presidents or the Laenderrat are now authorized to take all necessary action under established policies without obtaining prior approval of Military Government, except for matters requiring quadripartite action or coordination, and for establishment of the total caloric allowances of ration scales by consumer categories, determination of overall Land delivery quotas and annual production programs. Upon approval of the Laenderrat the Minister Presidents are authorized to carry out programs for allocation and distribution of agricultural producer supplies and for the processing, storage and distribution of food and beverages without waiting for approval by Military Government. They are specifically authorized to distribute imported food in the same manner as indigenous supplies, unless otherwise instructed, and to make changes or substitutions which do not alter total calories within approved rations scales for any category without prior approval of Military Government. However, all actions taken as result of decisions by the Laenderrat or by the Land Governments are subject to review and possible revocation by Military Government if such action is not in accordance with specified policies and standards. |