Remarks at the fifth International Congress on Nutrition.

Dr. King, and ladies and gentlemen:

I am delighted to open this fifth International Congress on Nutrition, a Congress attended by representatives from 59 countries, including every continent on the globe. Since you have previously met in London, Basel, Amsterdam, and Paris, but this is your first visit to Washington, I bid you a hearty welcome to this side of the Atlantic and to this city.

May I remark, President King, that I envy you in your association with this Congress. You will not need to veto any of its actions. Now this, of course, is because each of you is selflessly and wholeheartedly dedicated to the advancement of a science that underlies human health. You have come with a vision to build a better world, now and for years to come.

The twentieth century is unique in many ways--not the least of which is the fact that ours is the first generation which has dared to think in terms of food enough for all. And our age is the first to be deeply concerned about the quality as well as the quantity of the food supply. for the first time in history, man's ancient enemies--hunger and malnutrition--are on the defensive. They are not whipped. But ours is the first generation to catch the scent of victory.

Let me turn for a moment to one phase of the free world's campaign against hunger, a program to send crop surpluses to needy areas. I take as an example the case with which I am most familiar, that of my own country. But first a word of caution. Any transaction involving the transfer of commodities from one nation to another is of more than bilateral interest. Thus, in moving our abundant surplus of food products overseas, we must be diligent to avoid disrupting the markets of others. Irresponsible handling of our huge stocks of wheat, for example, could unjustifiably harm a nation which is heavily dependent on foreign exchange earnings from wheat and other cereal exports. My concern regarding this problem is one of the reasons for recommending increased use of the United Nations so as to distribute surplus crops under methods that will benefit all.

During the past 6 years, the United States Government has sent more than four thousand shiploads of food abroad in exchange for foreign currencies.

In similar transactions, we have done or engaged to do things like the following--to one country 16 million tons of wheat and 1 million of rice; for disaster relief, in earthquakes and hurricanes, 300 shiploads of food have gone abroad--through voluntary charitable agencies 400 shiploads of food to help 60 million stricken peoples.

Twelve hundred United States agricultural technicians are now working overseas, translating agricultural science into better living for the world's millions. Last year we received more than three thousand agricultural visitors from other countries, who came here to study food production, agricultural research, and education, and to meet our farmers and to see how they work.

We have loaned over $265 million abroad to build irrigation projects, fertilizer plants, and to improve transportation facilities. Now these activities of my own country are only a part of the total free world program to lift the scourge of hunger. Great efforts are being made by the developing countries themselves. Much help has come from other industrialized nations. The special agencies of the United Nations--the World Health Organization, the United Children's fund, and the food and Agriculture Organization--have all made outstanding contributions in our common effort to eliminate hunger from this planet.

And the combined effort has been effective. There have been no major famines in the free world during the past decade, and to my knowledge this cannot be said of any previous decade. Nutritional levels in most of the developing countries, while still distressingly low, have nevertheless crept up slightly. World agriculture has generally kept abreast or ahead of the population increase.

While we have thus helped lift production capabilities abroad, the stream of agricultural and industrial exports from the more industrialized nations has increased, not diminished. The reason is a simple one: a better-fed neighbor is a better customer.

This is as it should be, and reflects the wisdom of programs which meet current needs while building long-term self-reliance. To make the recipient countries indefinitely dependent upon our assistance would be disadvantageous to them and to us. Compassion and prudence are equally important in this undertaking; our food-for-peace program partakes of both.

There is a Danish proverb which says: "You may light another's candle at your own without loss." Indeed there is gain in the lighting of many candles; in the brighter light we can all see better.

There are risks, indeed, in our undertaking. But the risks of failing to face up to our opportunities are greater than those involved in considered action. Political explosions can result, in a shrinking world, from a widening gap between the wealthy and the underdeveloped nations.

And science has given us a set of tools designed for human betterment. farm people, in the United States and elsewhere, have translated these tools into a capability for constructive action. Though the task is gigantic, we seek opportunity to move ahead rather than becoming preoccupied with despair.

The world cups its ear to hear the rattling of rockets. It listens less closely to the sounds of peace and well-being which emanate from the slow but steady improvement in world health and nutrition.

For centuries orators and writers have developed the habit of warning about the crossroads that the world was facing at the very moment of the particular speaking or writing. Many of these crossroads have existed only in a lively imagination. Yet if history, which will one day view the events of this period in perspective, could only say that it was at this moment the world began truly to take the high road of health, and plenty, leading toward peace, leaving forever the path of strife and anxiety, then indeed would our great-grandchildren call this the brightest era of all time.

To each of you, my best wishes for a successful Congress. To the degree that you succeed, the human family in the nations here represented will step from under the shadow of want. This is the purpose that has brought you half-way around the world. The earth's nearly three billion people join me, I am sure, in my good wishes for your success. And may God ever be your helper.

Thank you very much.