Quaker Professor Wants Food Shipped to Beaten Democracies

Interviewed on a recent visit to Harvard, Rufus M. Jones, professor of Philosophy, emeritus, at Haverford College, and Chairman of the American Friend's service Committee, declared that if president Roosevelt gave his support to the plan for sending food to the conquered democracies, Great Britain would more than likely assent to the passage of the food ships.

Twenty-three years at the head of the service committee, a pioneer organization in its field, have made Jones one of the best authorities on the subject of food relief. Today he is strong in the belief that Europe is really in a dangerous condition from lack of food, and that America is the only country in the world capable of feeding her people.

British Must Cooperate

The immediate problem as Jones sees it is persuading the British to see that American ships are allowed to pass through the blockade. English sympathy is at present lacking, but Jones believes that a word from President Roosevelt would be enough to bring the British to agreement.

Jones was of the opinion that a good many Americans are unwilling to co-operate in the plan because they see nothing more in it than a charitable move towards the beaten democracies. These men forget that by sending food to them, the United States will gain their gratitude and lasting friendship. In the same way, the British will gain immense prestige by opening the blockade to the food ships.

Work Already Being Done

Already the American Friend's Society is hard at work, not in the occupied areas, but in Free France, where they have distributed large quantities of vitamins to young children and their mothers.

In reputation of claims that the Germans might get hold of the food, Jone., remarked that all shipments will be send in one at a time, and that a group o. local committees will be set up to supervise distribution. Whatever rations the Nazis do manage to capture will be very small, as is shown by the success on the same plan under Hoover in the last war.

As the scheme calls for German participation, in that Hitler must pass on it before anything can be done, many people seem to think that because of his ruthless character, nothing will be accomplished. Jones suggested that Hitler would lose a great deal of his prestige with his own people by blocking so necessary and so humanitarian a movement.