Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-02-19
BELGIAN SITUATION.

|
the war and her condition presents
situation without parallel in history,
says a report issued by the Rockefel
ler Foundation from its war relic
, commission, sent to investigate tn
effects Of the war upon noncombat
ants. 1t is the first report from thi
commission, which went to Belgium
last November.
After detailing how means o1
transportation, communication anC
banking exchange have been destroy
ed, commerce and industry paralyzed
homes and other buildings laid low
the agricultural districts devastated
and the food supply virtually cut off,
the report says: "Yet if one is to
understand the Belgian problem, it is
perhaps necessary to emphasize not
the destitution of a few hundred
thousand, but the suddenly enforced
inactivity of a strong and healthy
nation of 100000. This is what
makes the Belgian situation a thing
without parallel in history"
After stating that there are 100000
Belgian refugees in Holland and 100,-
900 in England, the report says that
the number of people still in Belgium,
but who have been driven out of their
homes have not yet been estimated.
The army, it says, has drawn off 250,-
900 men. OF the destruction of homes
and property, the report says:
owe found people living in cellars,
under the ruins of their homes. in
lofts over the COW stalls; saw chill
dren that had been born in hencoops
and pig stys, and learned of one man
who considered that he was doing
well when the population of his poul-
try house was reduced from twenty
two to eighteen refugees. In Wise
these were 1900 families. We did not
see dozen houses standing. In Lou
veign 10 out of $50 houses were de-
stroyed. In Tremeico half Of the
houses were razed. -
The destruction of stock is of
greater Importance than the destruc-
ton Of houses, the report declares.
"The country is pretty well cleaned
of horses and OXen." it continues. |
"The armies have not refrained en-
tirely from requisitioning milk COWS.
Regarding the agricultural situa-
ton, the commission found that au-
tumn planting has somehow been
done, and that it is conceivable that
Belgium may continue to raise most
Of her own potatoes. fruits and fresh
"No one is calculating
beyond the next harvest, and such
indicates that harvest is
the report says. "Every-
body is trying to help everybody else.
While the German army was fight
ng its way across Belgium" it con-
inues, "the soldiers of both sides
ook poultry, food supplies, wines
md bedding to the limit of their i'm
mediate desires-or beyond. Since
hen the German occupation has re-
QUESTIONED grain, canned goods, food
live stock and horses from
owns and countryside. 1t has also
such things as cotton
md woolen stores, both raw and man
fractured; copper fixtures and imple-
nents in some factories, motor cars,
gasoline and any machinery that can
,e used in the manufacture of arma-
nents."
The commission found that the de-
truction of tools and implements can
lot be estimated. In smaller places
nd in some larger towns like Lou
ain and Malines, "where there was
ghting and Wholesale burning, it ap-
'ears that nearly all the remaining
ouses have been looted" the report
avs. The population is denied the
sc of the telegraph and telephone,
nd there is no mail or other means
f communication with the outside
'orld except through German chan
els.