New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-10
.ow A IF f r. ! G A >
GENEROUS BLOOD
CLOVIS INTO VEINS
OF PHOSPHATE
BELGIUM.
r, WILLIAM NORRIS HoUGHToN.

- terminal reform. some one startles US
49,. remark that Manhattan Island pos
q, snv given time only few days
| .,,,i,. which means simply that should
- bsp0sn 70 cut us of here from the
=. ~ the world we might just as well be
...,-.ck.d on q sandspit in midoeean. All
:. Ginning gold and crisp bank bills in the
.,.s Of our banks would avail us no more
MANY stones and dried leaves. Within
,...-;eh, we should be turning cannibals or
carving to death.
Wv this is the fix in which Belgium finds
.r That is. she was for time cut OH
'-.,i,,.lv land is now, except for the one
- Of communication through the Com
-,,on for Relief in Belgiun) from the rest
= =, world. and in addition she has had her
'..,s,,iss absolutely destroyed, so that il
- ,re-. Of any value whatever within her
L. which il is not. her available supply OF
...orld o7lv postpone short time the day OF
as,,snt And Belgium is--or was-like
.,..t citv soread over an entire state. with va
=, AREAS here and there such as one sees in
n. Bronx and Queens. In these she grew
,,,5.n truck For the rest she depended tor
=. food supply on importations almost as
-u,b as does New York City.
M course. this does not by any means COM
,-,,. tn. picture OF Belgium's plight Her
,,,s,7 truck was tranpled into the earth by
:, invading Germans. They requisitioned her
.,d stores. They killed her cattle. They ex-
,..d tremendous fraction Of her bank re-
,.rv.s as irdeunities from the various cities.
-s,v took over or paralyzed her railroads.
Thew razed a great portion of her dwellings,
.,ber in retributon or as an incident to fight
90 And they drove al her young and able
/ ,,s;,d men into her army to be slaughtered.
Seven million Of her old men, women and chill
i-,n remain to wander starving among her
ruins
MILLIONS OF BELGIANS MAROONED
ON A MAN-MADE DESERT.
tisthese millions. -narooned on man-made
s.,s-t that tie Commission for Relief in Bel
NUN is trying to keep alive through the winter
hey Represent every grade OF society IN
Ind the most industrious, the richest and in
on. respects the most civilized that the mod
=, world. before this cataclysm, had devel-
,,.d And they represent also the greatest
es,-;.v problem that ever faced mankind
To begin with. there is not single army In
Euro2e Is large as this helpless horde. And
ys great nations find they must strain every
rsrve 10 keep their armies provisioned, though
h.y work through organizations perfected by
Decades Of preparation and with railroad sys-
TINS brought 20 a state Of great efficiency Tor
II. very purpose In contrast the only part
Of Official Belgium left is cooped up with her
amy in the little western pocket south OF
0s,end and her railroads are entirely in the
hands Of the Germans, who monopohze them
tor military purposes. The same is true OF her
telegraph and telephone systems, all that Is
left Of them. Is it any wonder that the prop
csition 10 feed Belgium during the German oc-
tupation, originating in the hearts and minds
Of handful Of Americans appalles by what
they had seen. should have seemed 20 Euro
p.ans the widest dream that man had ever
tfsamed, even on this side OF the AtlanhcF
The MIRACLE WHICH is NO MIRACLE
TO AMERICANS.
And the more one thinks of it the wilder It
seems, or did seem, rather, for now this mira
de is actually being performed. Not only
wsr. seven million utterly helpless people 10 DC
led in a region stripped of every modern ia
City Of communication and transportation out
they must be fed on food begged for them from
the. to eight thousand miles away. The 1000
/ Of an army is Communicated and its bases OF
supply, in the present war at least, are never
nor, than few hundred miles distant Inc
Belgian non-corbatants represent the largest
single unit OF wars dependents the worio mas
ever seen, fighting for life amid inconceivaole
Oscillation, with bases of supply, depenoefi'
upon charity. situated on the other side OF the
,sr,h and with commissarist managed by
snatch organization of compassionate foreign
tN
There was still another difficulty at the be-
ginning and, great as the others were,
ssned for time the greatest OF all lh''
vas the difficulty Of persusding the oeHsei
q, governments to permit this task OF mercy
d be undertaken. Great Britain had refused
allow an ounce Of food to enter territory III
inch the Germans could reach 1t. Germany
'ad been Communicating everything edible
N,hn her grasp for her soldiers. 1t became
''',sssry to get Germanys promise not 10
sGch particle of the food If the British would
Emit the commission to import II into the
&kken country.
But certain British element said, mo. Let
Tn starve. II will reflect on the Germans
q also Civ. them something to DO TO put
:'sn hunger riots" The Germans SAID Inc
'ntsh should feed them. The Belgians are