The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-18


sidewalk after the fashion of In.
Greater Paris. In her arms is baby
A child staggers along. clinging to heisgl
apron. The woman's face is blue an6ss5
yellow; she Is on the verge OF COLI
lapse. The baby, surely not over five
months old, has pale, lead-colore6s8
skin Its mouth Is open as though
set that way. It's eyes are closed. &
/ Two women of Brussels pass this8l
unhappy group. They hurriedly ex
charge some words. turn back to the
woman on the bench. Then one
stands guard while the other hastens {
for some milk and hread-such as is
to be found In the Brussels of today
/ They force little milk between the f
teeth of the mother. They let this
baby drink. 1t drinks as though ii
had never drunk otherwise.
To the face OF the mother comes
a few patches of color. She siowl,
RECEIVERS until she is able to eat a bit
! of bread. The baby opens it's mouth
drinks more greedily. 1T has not fed
since two days" the mother whispers
! The mother tries To rise from the
bench, but she cannot. The elder
child drinks the milk that Is left II
looks cnriousy at the piece OF bread |
as IL 1t did not know what 1t was
/ The mother forces 1t to eat. A crowd h
| has gathered. murmuring This sight
Is not new. yet each time 1t draws
] little crowd. Every one would like
10 give--but no one can. Who is not
poor at this time? Many of them have
children at home VINO today weigh
less than the day they were born.
| France and England and Germany
and Austria are issuing their lists OF
/ the dead. which are mounting up day
1 by Gay To a CHASTITY million. But these
| take account only of the strong young (
men who have died in the fighting
They dc not take account of mere
/ noncom batants. They do not list the
women who, foolishly or ignorantly
sticking 10 their homes have died.
under the shell-tire OF enemies orH
| friends. They do not list the weak and
helpless who have dropped out fromE
the pathetic caravans of refugees 70
| perish along the edges OF the roads e
They do no; list thQse who are be- s
ginning to die by hunger in stricken
Belgium And finally, they do uot~'
list these babes OF Belgium. dropping
off before their lives have fairly be-
gun, because there is no milk. 5
I tsr us vfew the situation In cold
blood. Belgium Ia shut off from tia
/ world-ringed with steel. Her own
food supply was used up long ago.
either by the people or by their con-
daerors' The cattle were first OF all
to go, even In August | saw the Ger
mans killing mich cows for rations
cow or a small dairy herd is left 8
hers or there; but they are the ex-
ceDtions. Ms
The supply of condensed milk ran
short long ago. Now milk is ne
cessity to most civilized children be- 4
tween the ages of one and two years. {
Some children, 1t liz true. pull through. ~
under exceptional circumstances Of #a
privntion. without Ii, but these are &a
the unusually sturdy. they stand apart d
from the rule The average young s.
child must nave milk or he will die. NJ
And there is no milk, ~
Again. the yuckllng baby must have
mot hers milk or a substitute. Thew
Is. Of course, no substitute to be had n
In Belgium and equally there is little II
mothers milk. 81
Every woman knows that n civilized a
nursing mother must keep up her 4
strength" She must have nourishtng Il
food-~-in many cases special food \
Every woman knows that a certain
proportion Of civilized mothers cannot y
feed their own babies even AT that
Nourishing food-~-special food, The #
news which filters ont Of that locked,
stricken country to The Commission IN
for Relief in Belgium makes gar I
casm and a moekery Of those phrases M
In many. II not most Belgium cities Ss
the populace is down TO one large SS
bakers bun a day issued by the mu- 81
nietpal authorities. In some places, 91
the authorities have been able to sup
plement that ration by one howl OF ~
cabbage soup a day. One bun ard NJ
one bowl OF cabbage soup a day--for
nursing mother.
Yet that Ia all they have and all
they will have this winter at the best
America can do. The commission
hopes at most to transmit ten ounces
OF food day TO each tnhabitans of
Belg,um~-ana TO do that the people
of the United States must strain every
resource OF charity How little that
is for civilized human being. and
especially for nursing mother. be-
comes plain when one learns that the
average inhabitant of Greater New
York consumes forty-two ounces OF
FOOD day. The mothers OF Belgium
can hope only for a quarter ration
this winter.
Even allowing for the reduction Of
the birth rate due 10 the war. there
mus have been forty thousand births
In Belgium since the Germans came.
There will be forty thousand more in
this winter of hardship and privation.
how many OF the newly arrived forty
thousand have already died unneces-
sarily--undecorated, unsung victims
OF this war-no one will ever know.
How many OF the coming forty
thousand will die this winter depends
upon us in America--upon how much n
food we send to the nursing mothers.
how much milk to the pa hies
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