Evening star., 1915-02-15
Rockefeller Foundation Relief
Commission Tells of Its
Observations.
POPULATION REDUCED
100000 BY THE WAR
Country Devastated, Industry Para
lyzed, People Impoverished,
Report Declares.

NEW YORK, February 15.-Belgium' s
population has been reduced by about
100000 as a result of the war, and her
condition presents a situation without
parallel in history. says a report Just
issued by the Rockefeller Foundation
from it's war relief commission, sent to
investigate the effects Of the war upon
non-combatants. 1t is the first report
from this commission, which went to
Belgium last November.
After detailing how means Of trans
portation, communication and banking
exchange have been destroyed, COM
merce' and industry paralyzed, homes
and other buildings laid low. the agri-
cultural districts devastated and the
food supply virtually cut off, the re-
port says:
Yet if one is to understand the Bel
gian problem it is perhaps necessary
to emphasize not the destitution of a
few hundred thousand, but the sud
denly enforced inactivity of a strong
and healthy nation of 100000.
This is what makes the Belgian
situation thing without parallel in
history"
After stating that there are 100000
Belgian refugees in Holland and 100000
in England the report says that tho
number of people who are still in Bel
GUM, but who have been driven out Of
their homes, has not yet been estimated
The army, it says, has drawn of 250,00O
men.
Babies Born in Pigstyes.
OF the destruction of home and prop
erty the report says:
I'VE found people living in cellars I'M
der the ruins of their homes, in lofts
over the COW stalls; saw children that
had been born in hencoops and pigsties
and learned Of one man who considered
that he was doing well when the popu-
lation OF his poultry house was reduced
from twenty-five to eighteen refugees.
In Wise there were l,2O0 families. We
did not see dozen houses standing. In
Louveigne seventy out Of $50 houses
were destroyed. In Tremelco half OF the
houses were raZed.'
The destruction of stock is Of greater
Importance than the destruction Of
houses. the report declares.
The country is pretty well cleaned of
horses and oxen" it continues 'The
armies have not refrained entirely frop
requisitioning milch cows. The peas
ants are In the greatest terror that the
few animals that remain to them may
be taken. They are, therefore, killing
them and disposing of them for what
they can get. Meat Is selling abundant
ly at half its usual price in some places.
II this process continues such localities
will have no live stock of any sort by
spring.
Agricultural Situation.
Regarding the agricultural situation
the commission found that autumn
planting has somehow been done, and
that it is conceivable that Belgium
may continue to raise most of her own
potatoes, fruits and fresh vegetables.
mo one Is calculating beyond the
next harvest, and such recko oning in
dicates that a harvest Is expected" the
report says. Everybody Is trying to
help everybody else.
"ln France we found that II was
clearly the policy of the German oc-
cupation behind the fighting lines to
promote the planting Of next years
crops and to spare milch cows and
breeding animals. 1t would naturally
in Belgium to encourage tho raising
of foodstuffs."
In connection with the destruction
of houses and property the report says
that no estimates can be obtained of
the total either OF the military requi-
sitions and levies or of the destruc-
ton of property, but that this total
must be enormous.
while the German army was fight
Ing its way across Belgium" 1t con-
tinues. "the soldiers of both sides took
poultry, food supplies. wines and bed
ding to the limit of their immediate
desires-or beyond.
Germans Take Goods
"Since then the German occupation
has requisitioned grain. canned goods.
food supplies, live stock and horses
from towns and countrywide. 1t has
also requisitioned such things as cot
ton and woolen stores. both raw and
manufactured; copper fixtures and i'm
plements in some factories, motor cars.
gasoline and any machinery that can
be used in the manufacture OF arma-
ments."
The commission found that the de-
struction of tools and implements can
not be estimated. In smaller places and
in some larger towns like Louvain and
Malines where there was fighting or
wholesale burning. 1t appears that
| nearly all the remaining houses have
been looted, tho report says.
The population. tho commission re-
graph and telephone, and there Is no
mail or other means OF communication
with the outside world except through
German channels. The collapse of the
| banking exchange. tho commission
found to be due to tho fact that re-
serves Of coin and negotiable securi-
invasion.
German acquisitions are paid for not
in money. but by receipts, which are
said to be often Of the most informal
ciety has obviously evolved itself
around highly complex mechanism