Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-24
NO FEAR OF BELG|ANs
STARVING OVERNIGHT
Warehouses OF American Commits
sion at Various Centers Well
Stocked With Supplies.
MANY HARD PROBLEMS SOLVED
Managers Make Actual Gain in Eli
ciehcF' With Enormous Simplifica-
ton In Methods-ActuaI Course of
Cargo Followed to Its Distribution.

LONDON. May 23.-The warehouses
OF the American Commission for the
Relief of Belgium at Rotterdam and
various provincial centers are at last
suihclentiy wei! stocked so that the
commission 'can stand the shock of in
terruptions in the recent Of supplies
without fearing that the Belg!ans will
starve over night.
one OF the hardest problems with
which the commission had TO deal was
the fact that belligerent nations re-
fused 70 permit the purchase within
their boundaries OF foodstuffs for Tho
Belgian sufferers. II was consequently
| necessary to obtain all the food over
seas II was found that II purcha ses
were made in the primary ccnters and
the most economical transport under
taken II was necessary to have in
transit at all times three months food
supply. The commission, therefore
managed TO borrow $4,000 900, secured
upon the goods in transit, and the
members OF the commission pledged
their personal credit for the further
communes to bring up the stock of
goods In transit as high sometimes as
S2o,oocooo In the early days the COM
mission would have to send canal boats
first to one part of Belgium ard then
to another whore the supplies were
within less than twenty-four hours of
exhaustion.
AT first the commission endcavorcd to
distribute the actual gift food con-
signed to them TO the actually dcsti-
tute persons. Within week they
found an enormous amount of diff
Guilty and confusion arising out of
this arrangement. because it would
be necessary to divide a cargo OF gift
-four. for instance, over 1000 com
munes in Belgium. and at the same
n la1 4, 1ar
quantity OF foodstuffs. consiGning them
for the purposes % sale for those
who could pay. This meant n duplica-
ton of the entire transport organiza-
ton. and, in fact, was quite impossible
because no gift cargo Vas sufficient in
size to distribute over 5000 communes:
and the next thing the commission
found was that il was borrowing from
the gift cargoes and was loanng food
from the sales department, to the be-
nevolent department. The direct bust
ness minds OF the managers united
which they sold all OF the gift food
from the benevolent department to
theprovisioninE department. The be-
nevolent department instead of having
foodstuffs. thus had cash in hand. This
they proceeded TO distribute by weekly
subvcntions To the consumers, and the
communal authorities with this money
purchased their required imports from
the sales department The result was
an enormous ssmpliiication in the work
and an actual gain IN efficiency. as the
comnunes were then able to buy pre-
risely what they required for each
individual and local institution.
ACTUAL COURSE OF CARGO
OF FOODSTUFFS
1t is Of some interest to follows the
actual course OF a cargo of foodstuffs
through the commission. Take the ca Sc
of Argentine wheat. One OF the larc-
est firms of grain buyers in the Ar
Sentine undertook to make purchases
on behalf of the commission without
profit TO themselves. This grain would
be purchased in one of the central
Argentine provinces, transported to