Food for Vichy France
Negotiations are in progress, as they should be, between the British and American Governments regarding the supply of food to unoccupied France. There are manifestly objections to facilitating such supply as well as to not facilitating it. Unoccupied France ought to be fed from occupied France, where the chief corn-producing lands are. If occupied France is fed by America the Germans will feel less compunction than ever about pillaging the northern fields. That perhaps matters little, since their capacity for compunction is hardly existent. It matters more that American food will be strengthening the physique of French workmen in unoccupied France who are producing aeroplanes and munitions for Germany to fight Britain with. But a British veto on the passage of American foodstuffs through the blockade would alienate both the growing sympathy for Britain in Vichy France and also the strong humanitarian impulses of America herself. It would therefore be wisdom to approve the import of a certain amount of necessary foodstuffs, provided the American Government itself is prepared to supervise both transport and distribution as an absolute guarantee against the diversion of any part of the imports in a German direction. President Roosevelt has asked the American Red Cross to examine the possibilities of the situation. That is a good beginning, but nothing less than the full authority of the American Government itself can inspire confidence that both the Vichy Government and the Germans will be held firmly to the strict terms of any agreement reached. There must also be a clear declaration from Admiral Darlan as to what his policy of co-operation with Germany means. Does it, for example, cover the infiltration of German agents in Morocco?
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