Bisbee daily review., 1915-05-26
WAREHOUSES FULL
 OF SUPPLIES FOR
 STARVING BELGIUM
Commission is at LesSure to Handle the Situation Without
 Fear of Supplies Giving Out
 Overnight.

LONDON, May 25.-The warehouses Of the Aemrican Commission for the Relief of Belgium at Rotterdam and various provincial centers are at last sufficiently well stocked so that the Commission can stand the shock of interruption in the receipt of supplies without fearing that the Belgians will starYe over night
 One of the hardest problems with which the Commission had to deal, was the fact that belligerent nations refused to permit the purchase within their boundaries of food stuffs for the Belgian sufferers. It was consequent- ly necessary to obtain all the food overseas. It was found that if pur- clases were made in the primary cen ,crs and the most economical trans. rort undertaken, it was necessary to nave in transit at all times three months food supply. The Commiss- ion, therefore. managed to borrow $1O, ooO,OOO secured upon the foods in transit and the members of the Com mission pledged their personal credit for the further communes to bring up the stock of goods in transit as high
 ometimes as S20,O0O GOO. in the ear -,y days the Commission would have Co send canal boats first To one part Ct Belgium and then to another where Inc supplies were within less than tSenty-four hours of exhaustion
 At first the Commission endeavored t1 distribute the actual gift food con signed 10 them to the actually desti- tate persons. Within a week they illnd an enormous amount of dificul- ty and confusion arising out of this arrangement because it would be nee. ;sary to divide a cargo of gift flour
 instance, over 5000 cCmmunes in relgium, and at the same time to ship parallel with it a large quantity of food stuhs. consigninE them for the purpose Of sale for those who could pay. This meant a duplication of the -ltire transport organization and, in .act, was quite impossible because no o;ft cargo was sufficient in size to dis ibutc over 5000 communes; and the Ecxt thing the Commission found was that it was borrowing from the gift cargoes and was loaning food from inc Sales Department to the Beuevo- l,nt Department The direct business minds of the managers united this
 not by very simple device by which they sold all Of the gift food
 rom the Benevolent Department to t'e Provisioning Department. Tha Benevolent Department instead of
 aYing food-studs thus has cash ia
 and. This they proceeded to dis tribute by weekly subyenuons to tho. communos. and the Communal Author ities with this money purchased their required imports from the Sales De pgrment The result was an enor- nous simplifcation in the work and .cu actual gain in efficiency. as the ccmmuncs were then able te buy pre- cisely what they required for each individual and local institution.
 l. of some interest to follow tho actual course Of cargo of foodsuns through the Commission. Take the case of Argentine wheat. One of the largest firms of grain buyers in the Argentine undertook to make purchas- cs on behalf of the Commission with cut profit to themselves This grain would be purchased in one Of the Cen tral Argentine provinces, trans ported 10 Buenos Aires, and a freight paid on it less that the usual rates by virtue Of arrangements by the Commission with the railway companies at Buenos Aires. A cargo would be taken up by one of the regular steamers of the Commission. Inosmuch as the Com mission had negotiated an arrange ment with all belligerent powers that
 ships flying the Commissions hag would be immune from attack at sea-
 they were able to charter ships and obtain rates at less than normal. This cargo in due time arrived at Botter. dam and was there discharged into lighters which are under time charter to the Commission These lighters ere lowed down the canals from Rot terdam into Belgium and discharged
 .AlD hiAf hl tue llNE NlllllAE ttultiS ID Belgium Tho flour mills in these five
 cities are operated on behalf of the Commission whereby the Commission agrees to pay for the labor and actual cost Of operation. The wheat is mill ed into 80 percent -four and % percent
 bran and the bran is sold to the muni- cipal dairies to feed the cattle and
 thereby maintain the cycle of milk
 supply for the baby canteeus. The
 -four is again loaded into lighters and is distributed into provincial warehouses of the Commission. From
 these warehouses it is again distribu'
 ted into 'arrondisement warehouses.
 The communal authorities come to the Iarrcndisement warehouses for their
 supplies. The consumers pay in cash
 to the arrondisement managers the
 stipulated price of flour, and haviua removed it to the communal ware l houses, there begins ono of the most 1 Interesting phenCmena in the detailed meaaHres taken to secure absolute economy and justice in the method
 Of distribution. In the case of flour.