Bisbee daily review., 1914-12-13

i4DlNilOANt Btt. lA.-- DIT GliUtIl Parker. M P., went to Holland at the request fthe American Commit tee for the Relief of Belgium a week ago to inquire into the work of the committee and the needs of the Bel | gians
 Sir Gilbert visited frontier towns . and the camps of the refugees for the ] purpose of making a personal investi- 1 gation into the conditions That he is deeply impressed by the desper l ate need of the Belgians may be gathered from the following graphic statement and appeal to the Amer ican people:
 Since the beginning Of the war Inc hearts of all humane people have been tortured by the sufferings of Belgium For myself the martyrdom Belgium had been a nightmare since the fall of Liege Whoever or what ever country is to blame for this war Belgium is innocent Her hands are Tree from stain She has kept the faith. She saw 1t with the eyes of duty and honor Her Government is carried on in another land Her King s i the trenches Her army is deci- mated, but the last decimals fights on.
 "Her people wander in foreign 'ands. the highest and lowest looking or work and bread; they cannot l look for homes Those left behind | huddle near the ruins of their shat tered villages or take refuge in
 owns which cannot feed their own ritiasns.
 Abyss of Want and Woe Many cities and towns have been completely destroyed; others, re- | luced or shattered struggle in vain
 70 feed their poor and broken popu
 ations. Stones and ashes mark the places where small communities lived their peaceful lives before the invas ion The Belgian people live now Tn the abyss of want an woe
 CT begin to understand what tn,
 5ufferings and needs of Belgium are They are such that the horror of fl
 almost paralyzes expression. l me
 at Maastfcht Belaiana representa- ives of municipalities. who said tha hey had food for only a fortnigh
 onger. And what was the food they
 had? No meat no vegetables, bu | ,nly one-third of a soldiers rations O
 bread for each person per day A
 Liege, as I write trere is food fo l lnly three days.
 There is no work The factorie
 lre closed because they have not ray l material coal or petrol. because the.
 nave no markets.
 And yet war taxes are falling witt
 1ideoua pressure upon a people who's hands are empty, whose workshop }. are closed whose fields are idle
 whose cattle have been taken, 10 ( compulsokly purchased withou
 'alue received
 , 'In Belgium itself the misery c ' he populace is greater than the mi'
 'ry of the Belgian fugitives in othe ,ountries, such as Holland wher ( here have come since the fall C , Liege one and a half million of f T yitives. To gauge what that miser
 n Belgium is think of what eve he fugitives suffer l have seen i | room without fire the walls daml
 he floor without covering. not eve
 traw, a family of nine women an
 ight children ,one an an improvise
 unk seriously ill Their home
 }elgium was leyeled with the grount
 he father killed in battle
 Their food is coffee and bread fC J. 1rea kfast. potatoes for dinner, wit D ,altand in having the salt they wer D ucky-bread and coffee for suppe .e nsufnciently clothed, there by tl D Worth Sea, they watched the blea l lours pass. with nothing to do e. l, .ept cling together in a vain atteml 2 O keep warm.
 3 Multiply this case by hundreds t thousands, and you will have son .s l int of the peoples sufferings D "Chudren are born in the huge
 nugger of such conditions but u
 ood Holland citizens see that tl
 hidren are cared for and that q
 labies have milk Devoted pries l' each the children, and the value A military organization Eliminates q ], whole panopIy of misery Yet t ly best Of the refugee camps w0u [, eem to American citizens like tl D lark and dreadful life of an unde ol yorld. in which Is neither work pu D ose. nor opportunity It is a sig sd apugnaut to civilization n "The saddcst most heartrendu
 hing ! have ever seen has been q
 patience of every Belgian whatey
 is state ] have met Among q
 thousands of refugees ! have seen m Iouand in the long stream th n rosscd the frontier at Maastric a nd besicged thc doors of the B 5t ian Consul while ! was there, m nan mo woman raiied or declsim (, gainst the horror of their situatiC m The pathos Of lonely staring apat