The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-20
BELGIAN RELIEF FUND IS BIGGEST
 EVER COLLECTED
American Aid at Outset of War Set Precedent For
 Nations.


 Relief in BelgiUn,, covering the first eight months of it's existence. reveals that in income and eXpendtture the organization forms the greatest re- lief movement of history. The Com mission has >co1lected and diSbursed fifty million dollars, fifteen million of which has been contributed in the form of money or gift food by the people of the United States and the British Empire and Belgium itself. The bulk of the income has come from other than purely phi1anthropic sour ces, but the raising of this enormous sum has been exclusively the work of the commission, which by financial arrangements with Belgian indiVidu- a1s and institutions, exchange of cur rency with Belgium and a system of providing the solvent Belgian iahaDi- tants, has maintained the entire popu- lation of a nation for almost a year.
 A remarka b1e feature of the report which has hitherto received but little notice is the effort being made by the Belgians to help themselves. Over fifty per cent. of the money expended by the commission in benevo1ence is being furnished by Be1gians abroad, and a large amount also is being sup piled by Belgians in Belgium.
 In discussing the report Herbert c. Hoover, chairman Of the Commission, said: 'It may cause more surprise among Americans, who believe that the United States is provisioning the Belgian and French people in the track of war, that only something over six million dollars in food, clothes and money have come from the United States However. the American public should realize that the commission in it's organization, working personnel and political as- poets is distinctly American The American charitable support, so early and promptly given, came at the very inception of the movement when such backing was vital to the success of the organization in giving it/firne to build. This support gave the com mission it's foundation from which it acquired the moral prestige that en- a1bled it to secure vitally necessary concessions from the various fbelliger- ent governments. Nor is the necess- ity for this valued support at all over The problem becomes more difficult every day for the number of destitute has increased from 100000 last Oc- tober to 275O, ,00ONin June, and now grows at the rate of 200, 600 a month. And our resources large as they are. cannot keep pace with the need if the charitable public loses interest in our work. Moreover, the ontinued
  provide the Com mission with the nor. al prestige as an American institution which it now possesses in the sight of the warning Powers. and the main tenance of this prastige can only be secured by the continued sentimental and practical backing of the Ameri- can people,
 The report includes detailed state nents of the missions work, such as complete accounts of the disposi- tiom of 195 cargoes of foodstuffs and clothing, and other statistical data, as well as a. general survey of the situa- ton in Belgium. It is pointed out that the organization as it stands now is the result of constant up building, a feature of which has been the organ ization of local relief committees in practically every commune with a fed eraI system of district and provincial committees with the Comite National at the apex. The relation of this structure to the commission is one of joint endeavor. and the membership of Americans. entirely interlocks the organization.
 The relief operations are divided into three classes. one to provision the entire population, another to conduct financial relief ard exchange opera tons; and a third to care for the des- titute.
 The provisioning department says the report, ttis charged with the duty of revictualling the whole 7.0OO,OO0 people with necessary imports, and up to June 30 had either delivered or had in stock over 60O,OOO tons of food stuffs for the Belgian section to the gross value of over 5.50O,000. The whole of these foodstuffs are resold to the population through 8. broad sys- tenn of reticulation. and the profit earned on these operations is devoted to the support of the destitute. Such profits have been made possible by the volunteer executive commercial and transp ortation services, and the amount of these profits-about $4- S0O,O00 to date-iS the measure of the value of such voluntary service.''
 After referring to the work of the financial relief and benevolent de- partments, the committee states that half million people who might oth- erwise have fallen into destitution have been provided for through the remittances made available by this department, which to June 30 totaIled about o,000,00O.
 Through the benevolent depart ment, the report continues, '.the charity of the world and of the Bel gian people themselves is mobiMzed to the support of the destitute, and through it over 2.75O.0O0 persons are now being assisted in some measure with food and clothing. The total resources made available to the com mission from abroad for the support of the destitute was over $31, 100000 to June 30, and the expenditure from these sources was at that date S25.- 100000. and is now proceeding at the rate of about $5.O0o,OOO per month. Beyond this expenditure lies local charity, now exceeding $10,0o0Ooo
 The Belgian people have risen to an unprecedented emergency with the utm ost devotion, and aside from local charity about fifty per cent. of the charitable funds of the commission from abroad are provided by Belgians and Belgian institutions
 The response of the American British and other people to the plea Or1 of tho