Norwich bulletin., 1915-04-29
Restitution and
 Disease in Serbia
ROCKEFELLER RELIEF COMMIS- SION REPORTS. CONDITIONS.
25,OOO HAVE TYPHUS
Found 3oo,ooo Persons Destitute-Ev- cry Community on the Main Line of Travel is Infected With Disease Gruesome State of Affairs.

New York, April 2S.-The Rockefeller foundation war relief commission made public tonight a report on destitution and disease in Serbia in which it is stated that on March 10 probably from 25,000 to 30,000 persons were suffering from tYphus in Serbia and that this and other epidemics were swiftly en- Veloping the entire nation" The re- port was transmitted from Berlin.
 3o0,ooo Persons Destitute.
 Cholera was at that time expected with the arrival of warm weather, and no preparations had been made to combat it, the report said. Probably 300,000 persons were destitute. Neither the Serbian government, absorbed in the war, nor the people themselves were able to control the situation, which the commission described as not only a menace to the health of the Serbian people, but of the whole world
 It was upon this report that the Rockefeller foundation, at the instiga- tion of the Serbian government, joined with the American Red Cross in send l ing to Serbia the American sanitary commission which left here April 3 under the leadership of Dr. Richard | P. Strong of the Harvard Medical school. The commission proposes as it's first step in controlling the epi- | demic the isolation of the infected. Influx of Refugees.
 The Serbian government, the report | says, attributes the inception of typhuS l to Austrian prisoners who were quar- l tered to the number of 60,O0O through out the country. Every community on l the main lines of travel is infected with the disease. As one illustration l of it's ravages and of the prevalence of Restitution, the report describes the situation at Nish, the temporary capi- 1 taI whose normal population has been 1 i1oar Cn6 frn11 fn dY1n l chiefly to the influx of refugees. | About 225 refugees occupied 8 school building adjoining and in the | closed grounds of a large church in Nish," the report says.
 Eleven small school rooms were used, with the number of occupants in each ranging from 15 to 25. There were no beds.
 Beds of Filthy Straw.
 Some of the refugees had filthy stacks of straw, others had only thin blankets or ragged quilts. Some lay on the bare floor The building was un- der the charge of a janitor and his wife. She was an ignorant peasant, who saw no disgrace or menace in the awful filth of the building and sur- rounding yard.
 "Not the slightest attempt was made to clean the place, inside or out. Some rooms were not as dirty as others, be- cause the groups occupying them re- ta1ned more strength or pride, but no one seemed to heed the condition of the halls or stairWays
 Ravages of Disease.
 'It is difficult to describe the condi-
 ton of the people in this building in the language of restraint The hall floors and the stairways were foul and grew worse with each days addition.
 In the rooms the people were huddled in family groups on the floor. The ravages of starvation and disease were
 appalling.
 Gruesome Picture of Baby.
 soFhere remains in our minds the pie ture of a baby whose drawn face, the l skin stretched sharply over the bones,
 gave an impression of toothless old . age, clutching weakly at the breasts of
 a mother too weak to nourish or care
 for it. The woman in charge said that
 usually there were three or four deaths every day.
 } 'tTo the members of the commission } it was obvious that several of the sick were dying. Disease and starvation are rapidly settling all problems for that
 unhappy group
 In fact, the commission was told l that in the whole city a hundred pa ] tients were dying of typhus every day and that the force of grave diggers was 5 inadequate to keeu up with the work of burying the bodies.