862.5018/7–2047
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas (Hilldring) to the Secretary of State
Subject: Principles of Food Supply Program for Germany
The Secretary of War by a recent letter61 has proposed the bizonal area in Germany be given priority for food shipments from the United States. We cannot accord Germany an unlimited priority on food shipments. We should, however, give the bizonal area a prior claim on enough food to meet the ration scale based on 1550 calories per day for normal consumers. Such a priority would assure a food intake level which would still be considered below that in Western and Northwestern European countries. It cannot validly be considered as in conflict with our desire to see such countries maintain a feeding level higher than Germany. The establishment of a priority to maintain such a level would, as a matter of fact, be only an expressed statement of what has been and is a firm U.S. policy to assure this minimum ration for Germany. The advantage of formalizing the policy would be that the Government can make definite advance plans for shipments to maintain the 1550 ration level. This should help to avoid the re-occurrence of the numerous crises in delivery of food to Germany which we have had to meet in the past.
The granting of even this limited priority should be contingent on adequate administration and distribution of the food program in Germany. In the past, German crops have been officially underestimated, and delivery quotas based on such underestimated crops have not been met; and excessive quantities of indigenous foodstuffs have been fed to livestock. The United States cannot therefore undertake to make good shortfalls in supply resulting from deficiencies in administration and management of food resources in Germany.
To the present money has not been available to do much more than to provide emergency food deliveries to Germany, though the Army [Page 1158] has made substantial progress in stepping up production and shipment of fertilizers. It has been impossible to accomplish much in the way of providing the machinery necessary to enable the Germans to increase indigenous food production. Rather than keep Europe and Germany dependent on enormous exports of foodstuffs from the United States we should assist Europe and Germany in raising its own food output by providing the essential means of production. It is, therefore, recommended that you approve the following policies and obtain the agreement of the Secretaries of War and Navy to them:
- 1.
- Allied authorities on the bizonal area should do everything in their power to ensure that the Germans maximize the production of food in terms of calories, secure accurate estimates of food output, fix farm delivery quotas in such a way as to permit farmers to retain no more than is absolutely necessary for self-supply, enforce such delivery quotas and bring about an equitable distribution of the indigenous and imported supply.
- 2.
- The United States should make every effort (a) to maximize its exports of fertilizer, farm machinery and other supplies that would increase agricultural output in countries now heavily dependent on imports of U.S. foodstuffs, and (b) to ensure the occupied countries, such as Germany, an equitable share of such exportable supplies. Steps should be taken to obtain the funds necessary for this program, either by a request for an appropriation or by other means.
- 3.
- The United States should assure the bizonal area in Germany as a matter of priority imports of foodstuffs sufficient to supplement the indigenous supplies resulting from the application of the measures outlined in paragraph 1 to the extent necessary to provide non-self-suppliers with rations on a scale based on 1550 calories per day for the normal consumer.