Look At Greece

[Music] now [Music] this report submitted to the copenhagen conference of the fao was prepared by five members of the mission from the united kingdom france and the united states of america these five men were not politicians or military men they were the best agricultural and economic experts in the world they went to greece requested the greek government to make a plan for building a new and productive greek economy they spent three months in the field visiting all major areas from a paris to thrace from macedonia to crete here is the greece they saw with them look at greece from one end of the peninsula to the other daybreak awakens every greek farm to the hard realities of daily living mother is the first to rise father sleeps out of doors giving up whatever wants a small hut for his women folks his sons too sleep out of doors under the squibs hung up to drive [Music] the ritual of the family preparing for work never changes even the young know that water must not be wasted [Music] and the icons evoke the same daily prayers for their daily bread a bridge which is earned with sweat and distributed with care with a horse borrowed from a neighbor the farmer gets ready to go to work his son too will lead his british sheep out to pasture into fields without grass everywhere the same barren soil [Music] the two children start with their mother there they will learn that there are farms in other parts of the world where the land is rich and worked by huge machines where the wheat is high and the grass is green where the houses are warm and spacious and where the labors are less but the results greater but their elders realize the difficulties of everyday life and know that this day will be no different from yesterday that there will be no miracles no extra help they go to work with the silence that only a peasant knows water must be taken sparingly from the well that runs dry too often a can full has to do for his small vegetable patch mother has to think of meals for her family perhaps a few fish and these only because she has goats milk to give in exchange which carries out the very barter system the ancients knew [Music] as the day goes on there is not much to look forward to but hours of hard work and only the hope of a scanty harvest the boy like the shepherd of old takes his young dreams and his sheep to another posture always looking for a patch of green grass [Music] the women of the house make the daily bread and mother spins of thread that will provide the clothes for her next born out in the field the farmer pours all his efforts into a fruitless soil a soil which needs not more of his sweat pulling and dragging up the line even and ending the fishermen of greece also toil on from the aegean to the ionian they cast their worn out nets upon the sea [Music] after two hours of falling they find themselves with so few fish that they can count them one by one the boxers are transported to a nearby market [Music] the catch quickly sold brings barely enough to live on everywhere in these aisles of greece we find the serenity of olive groves and their silvery leaves [Music] but most of the olives are lost for export insects destroy many of them and only the old women and the children can be spared to do the harvesting [Music] in a world which demands the fruits of the land hours of work only bring a few pails of wine picturesque yes but not for the grease that must have the fruits of her vineyards [Music] and in corinth the current industry is far behind the times here in factories women wash separate and box the best reasons for export [Music] in macedonia many different religions try to survive and live together to these crowded towns the peasants and fishermen come from nearby farms and seas with their wares different in race as well as religion turks slavs and greeks come together in the backbreaking work of picking tobacco here is the center of the tobacco industry here again the old or the very young gather the leaves one by one carefully picked dried and neatly tied not one must be lost but the tobacco industry cannot progress until it is forced out of this rut of inertia spin constantly when they are not at other tasks [Music] always under a burning sun there is nothing but the simple hands of the peasants to do the work [Music] always bent up old women always worn out cattle doing their daily tasks in the same age-old way [Music] but the time had come when the outside world could no longer hide its eyes from the modern tragedy of greece with the help of unra the first united nations relief organization material aid was sent later the mission of the food and agricultural organization made recommendations for long-range development of greek agriculture land and water potentialities the fao mission found that the thought with seed banks and scientific help the farmer could bring in his own seed for grading an improvement in the future he should no longer be dependent upon the few seeds he grew and saved for himself the cattle are weak and for this reason the mission urged experience in artificial insemination mixed with the yoke of an egg the semen of one pedigree bull now serves 400 cows the mission saw livestock everywhere being overloaded and worn out with too many tasks in addition to dragging a plow through the fields this horse walks blindly round and round the water mill in crete the experts saw that windmills still are used to supply water depending upon a capricious wind for the much needed power the fao mission also found that the few electric pumps which unreal sent are lost in this immense stretch of arid land where rains are seasonal and torrential downpours tear away the precious soil the national problem of water depends upon new dams drainage and irrigation and the development of her parched land through irrigation is of utmost importance to greece the women must stand in line for drinking water and men are obliged to use every drop of rain for their construction work the reconstruction of these roads ruined by military convoys makes little progress although even the children are supposed to lend a hand however a game often appeals more to their young natures there's a car quick let's get to work this is where we get a tip no all right the hell with the greek roads in order to finance road construction tolls are paid each time a vehicle leaves a city but with money labor and material lacking it seems a hopeless task to rebuild the royal roads and this is only one example of destruction caused by german armies hi [Music] oh [Music] has been destroyed and blocked by the germans and not until three years after the war had ended did the work of reconstruction begin but the sound of canon interrupts the work [Music] yesterday it was invasion today it is civil war greek fights against greek on one side a government troops on the other party's ends and along these roads charger refugees homeless carrying their meager belongings [Music] at each station the crowded trains take on a new load of wanderers hoping to find a far from their village homes a chance to live and work in peace and safety [Music] patiently the refugee waits ready to challenge the city of athens with all his new hopes in the crowd his sister waits for him anxiously embrace a reunion the civil war and the misfortunes of the day are forgotten for the moment he has brought news of the farm of friends of conditions in the country and he has brought a present the last remaining foul she leads him to the unfinished building where she lives in the most fashionable district of athens unfinished because of lack of materials it is the only home of countless refugees men out of work makers and children who seek its protection without doors or windows it has a hostile error to newcomers and for the first time he climbs the concrete stairs [Music] [Music] a friendly hand helps him unpack a few blankets a bit of clothing and some food he's here to stay what can athens offer to those who seek its shelter here at the foot of the acropolis noisy aimless crowds fill the streets draining the necessity of life from the city where on top of six hundred thousand inhabitants are a million refugees cut off from their villages and the products of their parks what meat there is rots on the stalls for lack of fire prices soared in a tragic inflation until the bear needs of existence are out of reach of those who have not the thousands and thousands of jagmas it takes for one good meal [Music] in athens the farmer of yesterday is just another refugee out of work how will he earn his daily bread [Music] restless idol with nothing to look forward to the refugees spends what few drachmas he does possess in the cafe here he can pass away the time smoking a long pipe or remembering happier days over a glass of rocky and you can always and when the hoped for morrow does come if he is ever lucky enough to get a job he can hope to build one of these little huts for himself but the task will not be easy but he'll have to spend all his time at it and it'll take more than himself alone perhaps his family or neighbors will help him he will have to make his own bricks and build it from floor to paper roof [Music] and when it is finished it'll be just that a roof over his head and the luxury of this one room will not be for him alone he'll have to share it men and women the young and the sick they all have to crowd into this one room called home but the children crowded together in these mud hovels do not stay more than half of them find their way to hospital beds for the tubercular and undernourished lost to the nation's future looking down on the misery of these people who have not deserved it the parthenon reminds us of what greece once gave to the world its principles of liberty and tolerance its arts and its philosophy today greece has joined with the other nations of the world in the united nations where the welfare of one is the concern of all the united nations with whose help greece can hope to play her part in the shaping of a better world [Music] you