Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-10
BELGIAN RELIEF
PUTS BIC STRAIN
ON DUTCH WOMEN
Matrons of Netherlands Have
Borne Without Complaint
Almost Unbelievable Bur-
denS of Great War.

The Hague, Netherlands, April 30.
The immense drains made by the
refugees from Belgium of the good
heartedness Of Dutch women have by
no means exhausted their efforts for
the beterment of social conditions In
their own country The strain Of Bel
gian relief work has undoubtedly been
very great, and still Is especially heavy
upon the wives and daughters Of the
Netherlands. Holland was totally UNI
prepared for any such emergency as
the arrival over night within her bor-
dcrs OF more than a million destitute
neighbors 1t was the women of the
Netherlands who had to find imme-
date accommodations until the re-
lief work could be systematically or
ganzed. They did it mapnficently
and without a whimper. Thousands
OF homes in Holland still shelter ref
ugees, notwithstanding the general
provisions which have been made for
the unfortunate Belgians one house
in The Hague, albne, has afforded
asylum to seventy-one destitute Bel
gians for nine months.
Hut In addition Ia this work OF
pressing necessity, the women of Hol-
land are carrying on their suffrage
campaign, are knitting and sewing
for their own soldiers and their faml-
lies, and are keeping up such work OF
social Improvement as the schools OF
household arts and the schools for
working women, which exist in many
of the larger cities. In the former,
young ladies' Of the better families Of
the Netherlands are taught house
keeping, the care Of children, teach
ing, cooking and whatever else may
be necessary or useful in the forma-
ton of a model wife and an efficient
mother The schools are. of course,
paying organizations.
schools for Working Women.
The schools for working women in
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The
hague, however, are in the nature of
charities. Here the daughters of the
people are taught to be Independent
or of aid to their families They are
trained rs housemaids cooks, semp-
stresses, laundresses and nursemaids.
If they are able, they pay a small TUT
ton fee; il not. they are received just
the same, and no one but the treas
urer knows who has paid and who
has not. The schools are provided
with babies for the nurses to practice
on, and even with older children, who
serve as the raw material for kinder
garten instruction.
In the school for working women In
Rotterdam last year, 1903 girls were
turned away on account of lack of ae-
eommodations for them. This year
The number has been less, since the
general condition of hard times has
forced many families to send their
girls TO work earlier than usual. also
the absence of many men modified to
guard the neutrality of Holland has
greatly Increased the demand for
women workers.
The annual report of the Rotter-
dam school for working women which
has Just been issued. TO cover the year
1914 shows that the tuition fees re-
ceived in the school amounted in that
year to $375.70. The expenses, how
ever, were S1S,099.20. The deficit
was met By private gifts. Many of the
girls are forced to leave these schools
before finishing the fun three years
course, to earn their own living or 70
assist in the support OF their families.
But even these are sDapped up at
once by Watchful Dutch housewives,
anxious to secure good servants. The
girls themselves are only too glad TO
be employed in domestic service in
Holland, for the wages Of women
workers IN the factories are notably
low.
Horrors of War Evident.
Nor are these the only practical
measures taken by the women OF
Holland for their less fortunate sis
ters The war has brought, ven to
this neutral land, some of its ghastly
train of medieval horrors. There
are Red Cross buildings in many
streets of the larger cities. and one
of the royal palaces in The Hague has
been turned over to this work. In
this country there are not, of course,
any wounded to care for. But there
are the sick and the needy and they
are cared for
The home for destitute babies, too,
since the mobilization has shown
marked increase in the field of its
charitable endeavor. 1t is really an
organization devoted to the care OF
the unfortunate children of unmar-
ried mothers. The babies of such Of
the poorer women as die in childbirth.
whose fathers are prevented by the
character of their work from giving
or providing proper care for the very
young children, are also taken in
The infants received in this home are
kept from TWO to three years, upon a
slight payment By the mothers, whose
a Its.sa M AZ