Evening star., 1914-10-25
$500 Tons, Valued at $780,
600, Allowed to Proceed by
British Government.
CHARLEROI DELEGATION
RECITES TERRIBLE STRAITS
Thousands With Nothing to Eat,
Germans Needing Supplies
for Themselves.

LONDON. Octoter "a. $40 p.m.-As a
result of the urgent representations
made to the foreign office this afternoon
by w. Fl. Page, the American ambas-
sador. the British government has given
its permission for raising the existing
embargo on foodstuffs to the extent of
allowing ships to depart for Holland
with a quarter of a million dollars
worth OF food purchased by the Ameri-
can committee for the relief of Belgium
Every effort will be made to hasten
the dispatch Of this cargo. The slowness
Of land transportation means that it
probably will be ten days before the
food reaches its destination.
The failure of the foreign office to
give permission earlier is said to be due
to a misunderstanding between the
board OF trade and the Belgian minister
In London, who was under impression
that the board had granted permission
Tor him to send relief to his countrymen
First Shipment Tuesday. '
The first shipment Of $500 tons of
food to Holland for the relief Of the
Belgians will leave London Tuesday
by the Dutch steamer Iris, one of five
vessels which the American relief
committee has chartered. The cargo
will consist principally of wheat, rice,
beans and peas.
Messrs. Shaler, Lucey and Bell Of the
American committee will accompany
the consignment. Sir Thomas Upton
has offered his yacht, Erin to the COM
mtttee for use as transport.
Emile Devereux. burgomaster Of Char
leroi. and Emil Buisset, deputy in par
Lament for that district, arrived in
London today and presented to the
American committee formal state:
district of Belgium. According to the
statement 100000 out of 600,00 inhabi-
tants. within a radius of fifteen miles
Of Charleroi. are being fed by or
ganized relief. Food supplies are al
most exhausted.
The Charleroi delegation. in the writ
ten statement presented. which it re-
quests the American people to read.
says that while speaking officially only
for the province of Hainaut. I'VE know
that much the same conditions pre-
vail throughout Belgium. and we can
state from bitter experience the posi-
tion Of our own district.
No Food Produced.
Continuing. the statement says that
the population Of Hainout numbers L.
25O, 900 persons, and that the province
agriculture, and requiring that 80 per
cent OF its food supply must be import
ed. This district was occupied by the
Germans early in the war. and at the
time there were only small stocks OF
foodstuffs on hand.
paid in food. August % they took 220
tons Of wheat. forty tons Of bread and
large quantities of coffee, sugar and
similar articles. These levtes continued
The German governor Marshal Won der
Qoltz, then gave orders that they should
cease, after representations had been
made to him s,a 81 the desperate . Plight OF
September 10.
Ion our representations." the state
men continues, "the German civil au-
thorities also allowed US to purchase.
from the stores seized by the Germans
at Louvain. On fve different occasiona
we obtained this amount.
1.-The Germans believed they would be
the stores which they anticipated
would be found in Antwerp. These
stores proving small in volume, we
have not been able to get anything
from that source.
Food Only for Germans.
"on October 10 the civil government
the week ending today was the last
one during which we could obtain any
supplies. He further informed us that
the Germans had food only for their
own people and that. with the exhaus-
tion of the food supplies of Belgium
they could do nothing whatever for us.
"They advised us to go to Holland.
We applied to the Dutch government
through the Belgian minister. but were
informed that Holland had supplies
only for her own needs.
I'VE then came to England to join
with Messrs. FrancQui. Baron and Lam
bert in an appeal to your countrymen
to assist us in our great reed.
"At the outbreak of the war. in the
name Of the municipality. we seized
all known food supplies in the Charl-
eroi district. Since then we have al
chase from shops authorized by the
municipality foodstuffs at the rate of
half q pound Of bour and one pound of
potatoes per diem.
soup kitchens and relief stations in
the Charleroi. We are endeavoring to
issue rations on the above basis
through these stations to upward sof
100000 people out of total of 100000
inhabitants.
Latterly we have only been able to
make bread allowances one or two days
In the week. We can continue supply
hk potatoeS LOT anOther month.
The industries Of our. district are
paralyzed, our workshops are closed
and our money is exhausted. In the
whole province at least S0O.0 900 people
from now on must be fed by charity.
The rest Of the populate still have re-
sources with which they could pur-
chase food. II food were available.
Charity Requiremc ats Big.
IF we allow these p ople half
pound Of bread and one pound of
potatoes per day. for ch: rity require
ments, alone we must have 5000 tons
of cereals and 1900 tons of potatoes
per month. We will require nearly as
much more to supply tho-e who are
able and willing to pay.
Although we can sell part Of the
food supply. payment thereof is a mat
ter oe great difficulty, owing to the
disappearance of gold. We trade alone
In municipal notes. which are of little
value abroad
The statement concluded with these
words:
Our peaople initiated no war: our
army has done it's best to defend US
against overwhelming forces; our
people are now on the verge of starva-
tiOQ through circumstances Of war Our