Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-01-24
COMES TO ASK AID
FOR 100000 SERBS
Nine. SIavko Grouitch Arrives
in New York With Ap-
paIIing Story.

NEW YORK. January 23.-Madam
Slavko Grouitch. wife of the perma-
nent undersecretary for foreign al
fkairs Of Servia, arrived from England
on board the steamship Lusitanla today
to seek American aid for 100000 Ser
VANS who. she said. we're driven from
their homes by the war, and most OF
whom are now in concentration camps
in southern and central Servia.
The Servian government. M m e.
Grouitch said, cannot re-establish
these refugees on their farms until
after the war. Consequently, the Ser
Wan agricultural department, she said.
had sent her to America to obtain
funds to provide the peasants with
live stock, farming implements and
seeds and grain to be planted in March
and April.
Nine. Grouitch was formerly Miss
Mabel Dunlap Of West Virginia She
said she had visited the Shabatz re-
gion. one of the districts devastated by
the war. and that it was scene OF
desoldtion. She had served as nurse
in Servian hospitals for five months.
Servia Was Unprepared.
"Servia was utterly unprepared for
the war she added. Its army was
unequipped. its supplies exhausted. 1t
had no uniforms. not enough rifles. and
little or no ammunition for its big
guns. Its medical supplies had been
ordered from Germany and Austria
and were undelivered.
THE first Austrian invasion crossed
the plain of Shabatz and eliminated in
the battle of the TIER mountains. When.
after a Siberian victory, the Austrians
were driven from that district, 100000
persons had been rendered homeless
in that rich plain.
Many of the inhabitants of this sec
ton had remained to gather their har-
vests, but when the second invasion
took place in the latter part of DC
tober and the early part of November.
in all 100000 persons were driven out
and took refuge in the southern part
of Servia and Macedonia.
The Matchva and Shumadia districts,
the very garden spot of Servia. were
devastated during the second invasion.
Was a Fertile Country.
This was a fertile country. fruitful
in wheat. corn and all products of the
orchard and farm. When the invaders
had been driven out there was not a
living thing left in Matchva. The ma
jority of the villages had been de
stroyed. Refugees who are now creep
ing back find their homes in ruins.
They are camping near the military
posts. so as to obtain a little bread
from the authorities. are digging caves
and making huts of boughs to live in.
They need food to live until they can
again TIL the soil. There is nothing
eatable left in the devastated sections.
Il hope the United States goVernme
or the Rockefeller Foundation will
help US. They might send shipload of
seeds for planting. I have left commit
tees in Lopdon to organize this move
ment and hope committees for that pur-
pose will be formed in America. /
would not divert one dollar intended
for the relief of the Belgians''
Appalling Hospital Conditions.
crowded with the wounded after the
battles, were described by Nine. Grou-
itch as appalling owing to the great
lack of anesthetics, all kinds of medi-
cal supplies and of trained nurses.
Three large missions sent from Eng
land. she said, had greatly relieved
that situation. but there was still need
of experienced psychologists. first
class surgeons, good nurses, absorbent
cotton. bandages. chloroform and anti
toxins.
Il served in one hospital in Kragu-
yeyatz where there were but ten
trained nurses and 1900 wounded men,"
she said. There are now $4,000 Aus
triaEs and $4,000 Servians crowded
into improvised hospitals in Servia,
but feel that the Red Cross and other
agencies will continue to care for
them