The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-11-11
LEND BnoIUM a HAND.

What WAS once . home, humble or
otherwise, il now q mass Of ruins. OF
crumbled masonry.
What was once q fertile field il now
q desolate waste. mayhap a shambles
drenched with the blood OF human&
Where once there was = father to
guard and provide for his family.
there is now a weary widow with little
ones clinging in terror to her rags and
cdyfng piteously for bread.
Such is but a feeble picture of the
lot Of thousands upon Thousands OF the
Belgian noncombatants. Indeed. they
number three or four millions in the
aggregate. Some ray no less than
100000 Belgians are facing starva-
ton.
They have been the sorest sufferers
OF the horrible European conflict. They
are deserving of the most aid. hap
~. peace-loving people, intelligent and
Industrious. their land was supposed
~ held inviolate as neutral territory
by the nations engaged in the war.
Whatever excuses Germany may have
had for ignoring this neutrality, the
fact is that Belgium's proper resis-
lance to Germany's advance through
it and into France. has spelled the de-
vastation of Belgium. and made it tho
scene of most of the major conflicts
in the western theater of the great
war Just the extent Of the ~destruc-
ton to the country that has thus been
wrought may be better imagined by
Kansans if they will recall that the
whole OF Belgium's territory IL only
about one-seventh that Of Kansas.
Suppose armies with a million and
half or two million men on either side
had battled back and forth over a
small! slice, a seventh of this state.
What condition would 1t be in? But
the destruction is even proportionate-
ly greater in Belgium because of the
density of the population there. AL
though Belgium is only q fraction of
the size Of Kansas It has supported a
population six times as large.
1t is this population that is hungry
and homeless. Many of them have
been driven like 90 many helpless
sheep into the outstretched arms of
little Holland. But the problem of
caring for these refugees is too big
one. for the generous Dutch. Even
the Belgium refugees in Holland are
in need OF more assistance than Hol-
land can give.
Never was there a stricken people
in such urgent need Of help. Where
can it come from but the United
States. And is there any state in a
better position right now to do it's
duty in this particular and a little
more than Kansas. This war has af-
fected Kansas as little as any COM
munity in the whole world. With the
crops of the last season,
Kansans are as prosperous as they
ever have been. In fact, there are
many kansans who are much better
off than they would have been had
not the war been begun. It gave them
an extra Is cents and more per bushel
for their wheat.
Governor Hodges proclamation in
the premises is timely. He suggests
that Kansas should send at least a
destitute women and children of Bel
GUM, for the aged and the infirm
among the non-combatants of this
brave little nation. Surely Kansas
won't do less. A shipload of food!
out taxing her surplus resources to
any appreciable extent.
Rather liberal contributions have
been made by Kapsans to the
Red Cross funds. But these for the
most part go to relieve the sick and
the wounded among the soldiers that
are being sacrificed on the altar Of
This is a most necessary
work, a most worthy charity. But the
relief of the Belgians is q greater one.
Never have a people. and an innocent
people at that. been so utterly pros
trated. Their case is desperate.
Will Kansas help them?
God shame us, if we don't.