Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-02-15

ing it's way across Belgium. tho sol
! diers OF both sides took poultry. food
/ supplies. wines and bedding to the
limit of their immediate desircs-or boz
| You'd
"Since then the German occupation
has requisitioned grain. canned goods,
food supplies. live stock and horses
from towns and countryside. II has
Also requisitioned such things al cot
ton and wooden stores. both raw and
manufactured; copper fixtures and I'M
PIGMENTS in some factories, motor cars
Sasoleno and any machinery that can
he used IN the manufacture Of arma-
inents On our tours about belgium
wo saw very fow cattle. and practical
~ no hogs or drauRht horaes
Few villages have been complete
ly destroyed. A number OF houses
have been burned In almost every viii
iaKe or town along the main thorough
fares The inhabitants frequently had
no time To save anything except the
clothes on their backs
The destruction Of tools and i'm
PIGMENTS cannot DO estimated. In tho
smaller places through which the army
passed. and In some larger towns Hike
i.ouvain and Malines. where there was
hghtinK or wholesale burning. It ap-
pears that nearly all tho remaining
houses have been looted. We found in
many that tho imnovabls furniture
had been broken up
The havoc thus wrought has not
been repaired. Little has been done
even to restore the physical disorder
left by the passing army.
Generally speaking. tho tumbled
wreck OF roofs. walls and rafters re-
mains untouched. 1t would seem that
it might BIO cleared up, and that the
GOOD bricks and stones might be set
aside for rebuilding. Several reasons
are assigned for the general !nertia
In this matter
Many owners have fed. Others
have neither materials nor money to re-
build. Tenants do not bother about
inc ~reckage OF n rented house
The housing problem In such places
may fairly be called acute 1t Ia sur
prlsins TO see with what tcnacity peo-
pie cling to the remains OF their home
steads. family OF six, for instance.
living for more than two months in
piS pen. ten feet by twelve. Tho
NTH about this pigsty mado ono won
der how tho family had escaped sick
ness 30 long. They camp in every
Kind OF remnant OF shelter.
we found people living In cellar.
under the ruins OF their homes. in lofts
over the COW stalls: saw children that
mad been born in hcncoops and pig
stiles. and learned OF one man who CON
sidercd that he was doing we'll when
the population OF his poultry house
was reduced from twenty-five TO eiRh-
teen refugees.
In Wise there were 1900 families.
We did not see dozen houses stand
Ing In Louveigne. seventy out Of $50
houses were destroyed In Tremeloo
half the houses were RACED
These are examples. Where the do
siruction was on a large scale there
was necessarily a considerable exodus.
But II Is. OF course. clear that tho
family which leaves its own Village
adds to the housing problem some
where else: and that such assertions
tend to the Increase OF idlers and the
neglect OF the abandoned gardens and
fields
8. Allevinting Influences.
The disaster. being national In
scale. is shared by all. When misfor.
tune overtnkes an individual In q
healthy community. his loneliness la
usually no small element OF hts sor-
row.
The emergency has summoned every
courageous virtue !rto expression Tho