A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
pUBLIC opinion cannot always be nicely measured, but it gener- ally knows how to make itself felt, and there is no doubt what it wanted in the matter of food parcels for Germany. As a people we perhaps have a soft side, but I don't know that we need regret it. At any rate we are not ready to see even our enemies starve. The food- parcels which the Government, through Mr. Strachey, has now sanc- tioned, will not save Germans from starving, but they will give them a few more calories and a little more variety in their diet. I am not quite sure whether it need have been laid down that only rationed foods may be sent, though that, of course, ensures that there will be no such demand on foodstuffs as to necessitate increased exports, and it should make the Germans realise—as I hope they will realise—that what comes to them is the fruit of very genuine self-sacrifice. It is a pity that such things as cocoa and coffee, which would be particularly welcome, cannot be sent, but when the essence of what was wanted has been conceded it would be factious to complain about what has not.
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