The farmer and mechanic., 1915-03-09

CAhleO otdtea nave iIduc a SPECIAL |
NO -thlrdS rate, and in every eApress
o' IAio SoAAAilAooioii > pla.druS nave |
oeen posted ana foou will be re- |
celved Inc food SO collected goes to |
-he nearest or one hundred Inianu |
Storage DepOtS WneIe these small
ckages are assembled into carloa u |
.otS tor II ans 1>uII 10 seaboard The
oInmlsslOn has its Shipping agents
IN fourteen ulAlortnt pur.s, including
fortland, Maine: Boston, New York.
Philadelphia, Baltimore. Norfolk,
Newport News, Charleston. New Or
ieans, San Pedro, San Francisco, Port
| land, oregon; Seattle and Tacoma.
From each Of these ports ships Of the
commission carry the donated food
that has been assembled
Ihe Commission purchases food
from funds sent it from all the world,
| from the Spanish and Italian Com
missions, by individuals and Commit
tees in the United States, and from
the Trust-fund bestowed by the Bel
| gians themselves
| Ihe Commission from America has
| to date handled, or arranged for. a
total Of $4,000 tons Of food already
| transported or to be carried in 4a
| ships. date there have been un-
| loaded at Rotterdam 81 900 tons from
! United States ports. There are six
| steamers In transit carrying 40 450
tons more. The Commission has three
steamers representing 21,9OO tons.
now being loaded in various ports. 1t
has eleven ships in transit to America
to carry $4,000 tons Of cargo 1t has
eleven ships Of $500 tons on charter
for early loading. Our Canadian
Branch has sent food and clothing to
the value Of s1,745.563 in 5 ships and
ten shipments in liners
All Ships To Rotterdam.
All the ships go to Rotterdam. An
army Of StevedOreS discharges them
into another fleet Of hundreds of canal
boats. The barges go through the
| canal network Of Belgium each
,oat covered by the flag
In Belgium our last army takes
charge-volunteer distributors, many
many thousands. captained by young
Americans Most are young college
men-the Rhodes Scholarship grouI
furnishing several The food is issued
twice daily under q carefully adjust
ed system of distribution. The five
!. million people in Belgium who still
, can buy supplies pay the cost-price
: for what they get This money re
= turns to The Commission and is re
!, invested. The number of those wht
d can pay is diminishing daily. Their,
are now 100000 absolutely destitute
/ who receive food at bread-lines. Ths
> men, women and children who a
: this very moment are standing on
. behind the other are waiting for th
" Supper-dole would make line 60
e miles long. \F.very day as the mum
ber who can pay diminishes, tn
g bread-line lengthens. Within fey
months the line will be 2,500 mile
long-which would reach from Ney
u York to Salt Lake City.
What 1t Costs.
= To feed the destitute requires a
/. II present 100000 a day, nearly IS.
IL 100000 a month. or at the rate G
l. $50, 100000 a year This was abOu
ol the annual rate Of appropriations fo
"a the Panama Canal construction. Whe
II in q few months all the Belgians ar
Oh destitute, it will take S12.O0000O
le month, $144, ,000,00 g year. four time
10 The annual expenditure for the Cana
Y Already in addition to all that is dc
III mated we are eXpending S6,O00,oo
en per month.
e. On the cards which will be passe
n to you. you will see the records {
90 distribution to families in one of tf
st Brussels agencies. Each destitu1
rs. | family receives such a card on whic
ne is stamped the record of "rations r.
n ceived.' You will note that two
as the successive spaces are blank Th
ty indicates that for two distribution
1t the Commission was not able to gil
= food and they went without any Wha
fe- ever.
it. Several of these cards show 9th
les similar blanks You can Judge
he the insufficient reserves and how pl1
m | fully small is Our margin OF safety.
les Help Babies First.
he 1t is natural that the appeal for i
in fants should meet the readiest r
lg: eponse The babies and young ch
led dren have by far the best provision.
Of the very first. the Commission gat
ion cred into a large number of dairi
sed all the Mulch cows it was possible
find. These cows it has fed wi
les corn from Argentine. and bran frC
tn; the American wheat which was Sc
an and milied in the flour mills Of b
us GUM. In addition, the Commissi
the | has bought nearlv 100000 cans