El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-14
.BELGIUMFEELS
DEPTHS Of WOE
People Have No Homes, No
Food, No Seed or Tools,
and No Heart to Work.

London, Eng. Nov. 14.-No words
could exaggerate Belgium's misery. ac-
cording to Jarvis Bell of New York,
who On behalf of the American COM
mission for the relief of Belgium, assisted
in the distribution of the first cargo
of food supplies sent TO the Belgians,
We drove for miles through grave
yards" he said. Stakes, on some OF
which were soldiers tatCered coats ana
helmets, were the tOmbstones. De-
serted fields are cemeteries AS we
entered the village women and chill
dren sought refuge in the ruins OF
some fresh visitation of war. Their
faces were drawn and lined and If
you could only see the gruesome sur
roundings in which they are struggling
fcl existence you would not wonder
that they fail to smile.
Peasants Utterly Destitute.
''The Belgian peasant has In many
districts no home in which to sleep,
no seed to SOW, no implements with
which to work, no LranspOrtatiO IA
CITIES to reach a market, and finally
no heart to struggle against the in
eVitable. It is unbelievable that war
ever produced such a complete and
tragic paralysis as we saw in many
parts of Belgium. It cannot be at
tributed to lack of courage on the
part of the civilian population or to
the inhumanity of the conquerOr. 1t is
simply war uptodate; civilized, Chris
Barges Bear Relief.
''The American relief steamer Cob
LEM, carrying more than 1000 tons Of
foodstuffs arrived at Rotterdam from
London at 3 o'clock Sunday morning.
The Dutch government with great
kindness, made an exception to the
rigid rule against working on Sunday.
TIL labor unions made equal conces-
fn1 hot m NFrrt dow
morning eight barges, toWed by four
express tugs, left Rotterdam en- route
to Brussels with relief supplies. On
each barge was large printed notice
certifying that the cargo had been sent
by the American commission in care
OF the American minister to Belgium.
on the door of the captains cabin in
each barge was a copy of Gen. Won
Der Goltz's proclamation instructing all
German officials to give safe conduct
and assistance to the American relief
car go Gen. Won Der GOltz is German
military governor of Belgium.
Germans Aided Greatly.
accompanied by NJ. NJ. LanghOrne
secretary of the American legation at
BRUSSELS, and Mr.. Wyman, an American
resident, in an automobile, I followed
this order flotilla OF mercy as It
TIN eaded its way from canal to canal
and from lock to lock. At Hanswert,
a town on the Belgian-Dutch frontier,
I anticipated some difficulties as to
this first consignment of relief. On
the contrary, the German officials
were fully informed and there was no
delay whatever.
Thence to Brussels the German ar
rangements for getting our cargo
through expeditiously were perfect
The sealed matches of the barges were
never opened.
People Stared in Amusement.
1.-THE country people came running
to the banks of the canal, where they
stared at our flotilla as if it were a
mirage. For a week not a single barge
had passed where formerly there were
a thousand an hour
ITO the Belgian country folk it was
at first just a God-sent dream to re-
mind them Of the peaceful days pre-
ceeding the nightmare or war. When