The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-09-13
: SATURDAY POST On
GIGANTIC WORK OF
THE COMMISSION.

Movements Of Fleet of Mercy''-Pur-
| chasing and Distribution Of
Food Described.
! In its issue Of August % the Sat
urday Evening Post" deyotes four
pages to description OF the gigantic
work performed by the Commission
for Relief in Belgium, through Its
American headquarters at II Broad-
| way, New York. since tsaA break,hp
out of the conflict that Is now rariny
| between the nations OF Europe n
describes the system by which the
/ movement Of the commissions rreaf
1 Fleet of Mercy are controlled from
the New York offices. the routing. In
surance. warehousing. loading ana
| other classifications.
/ Then comes the unloading Of the
| big food-laden ships at Rotterdam into
| the canal boats and barges, which
/ convey the grain and other foodstuffs
into Belgium, where the milling and
distribution to the 100000 people OF
| that nation takes place. 1t also de-
scribes the feeding OF 1850, 900 French
| civilians VINO are hemmed in back of
the German battle front On the east
ern border OF France. The handling
| of foodstuffs in staggering quanti-
ties" by the commissions experts Ia
also described.
i One of the big men in the Commits
sion's work is Edward J. Williams.
who. as chief dishursing officer dur
ing the construction of the Panama
Canal, not only paid out under an
accounting system contrived by him
| SELF $193.0O0,o00 without an error OF
even so much as one cent, but who
also saved the United States s750.000
by substituting a measure of his own
I for what was known as the Taft
Agreement with the Panama bankers.
was secured in March as assistant
+ treasurer OF the commission to relieve
Alexander J. HemphilI, chairman OF
the board Of directors OF the Guaranty
Trust Company. and treasurer of the
commission, who. unless he gave up
his position with the great banking
institution, was forced to ask for
competent assistant
Edward j. Williams a Great Acuuid-
( ton to Commission.
| Mr.. Williams after leaving the Pan
anna Canal work had become treas
urer of a Chicago concern which does
a business of s25.o00,00 a year in
i railroad and automobile supplies. A
and by the exertion OF strenuous d.
plemaey succeeded in borrowing Mr..
| Williams for few months. He. finds
( that his duties wita the comm ssion
! are far heavier than they were in
! Panama, where he disbursed only
/ $4,000. 900 month as against slo,-
o0o.ee0 a month In his position with
, the commission. Under system per-
/ fected by Mr.. Williams the stupen-
/ dous finances of the commission are
/ handled with less friction than those
( of the average corner grocery. and a
/ daily audit of its voluminous and COM
plicated accounts is made possible.
! In one week it was necessary to
get together cargoes COR eighteen
ships, with a total tonnage of l07.S00
tons Loaded into freight cars, the
i food shipped by the commission in
six months wonid fill a series of trains
i from end to end, OF thirty cars 20
a train. reaching from New York To
4 Albany and from Albany to Buffalo.
The greatest amount Of freight ever
shipped out of the port OF New York
in one year was approximately one
4 million tors. The comr1issi6n shipped
I from sixteen ports on the Atlantic.
| Pacific and Gulf one-haif that
amount In six months 1t has cleared
as many as nine ships in a single week
and its regular schedule was one ship
every forty-eight hours
Z Mot only is the Commission for
Relief in Belgium the grea. st pri-
! vate enterprise ever undertaken In
y this country" the article continues
/ but with new problems arising In
! its earlier existence every hour and
I no presidents TO go by, it developed
/, due primarily to the genius Of Lin
! don w. Bates. eminent among the
! civil engineers of the worid--into one
of the most efficient business ma
! chimes of the world in a period OF
time as brief as almost TO stagger be-
lief To build up an effective national
organization. political, social, or COM
! mercial, has hitherto been a matter OF
! years. Mr.. Bates was directing the
daily work of subcommittee of the
commission in thirty-seven OF the
| forty-eight States two weeks after he
received Herbert &. Hoovers cable
message from London that. unless
1 America came to the rescue the en-
tire population OF Belgium must per-
tsh from famine. The commission
has offices In Rotterdam and the prin-
4 cipal cities of Belgium, as well as in
London and New York and through
out the United States.
Great Bulk OF Relief Work Done In
I New York.
: 1T is in New York. however. that
the greater bulk of the work is done:
and, though a majority fthe mem
bers OF the commission are active In
Its interesn-giving their services
without pecun!ary compensation. of
course-its enormous executive bur-
den is borne almost entirely by Mr.
Bates and Mr. Hoover It was Mr.
. Hoover who, after the preliminary
: | nj ho xsith ha hoJ1
: erent powers. by which the commits
sion came into existence, directed the
diplomatic and other negotiations that
make It economically possible to keep
the people of Belgium alive until tho
} war shall cease--a victory OF peace in
; time of war that shall be renowned
as long as history is written. On
Mr., Hoover, also, rests the RESPONSE
bility Of chartering the great fleet Of
ships that Is carrying the food on
which Belgium exists
1.-The weekly balance aheot-n