The farmer and mechanic., 1915-03-02
Copyright by The Commission For
Relief i'm Belgium, II broadway,
New York;

New York;
1t is with q consciousness OF deep
humility that L take up my pan 10
write these words about BelSlum
When others have pleaded her cause
so much more worthily than L can
ever hope to plead it and when l
have seen even the most passionate
eioquence turned to an Idiots taie'
signifying nothing in its attempt 70
express a nations crucihxion, | ask
myself by what right | dare intrude
with those poor words OF mihe'
The cities of Belgium are raZed
and her people are crying out for
bread Louvain is become heap OF
rubbish about which women scratch !
aimlessly; Brussels, that once was a
gay princes, has been debaSed 10 the
similitude of starving drab; IN
Charleroi and Dendermonde, in Macs |
tricht and in Blankerburghe the chill |
dren are whimpering for food; in Ant |
yerp the children have clawed their
victuals from the hands of the Ger
man soldiers. in the windows OF Ma
lines, windows that are now as emp
y as the eye-sockets OF skull, llttle
ghosts are peering, not the ghosts or
the happier dead. but the ghosts made
by that hunger which is Death-in-
Life.
The world has read of the destruc-
tion of cathedrals and shuddered Tor
the world has uttered paeans Tor the
heroism of a nation that esteemed
honor above gain and laid down her
life for an ideal; II is not too much
to say that the world has actually
been hypnotiZed again in the blood OF
Belgium. Now comes paler story,
and one that is horrible with all that
despair can bring of horror. Women
stand shivering in the winter slush
az they wait for as much bread as
once upon time they would have
seen thrown away without second
glance. Children are kneeling TO
gnaw at the sodden roots of the fields.
Rich and poor must behold them
selves degraded from their humanity
10 lead the lives Of rats. Nothing that
misfortune can give OF uncleanllness
and indignity, of age and youth hui
inflated, Of pain and hunger has been
spared to Belgium.
Seven Millions Alive In Husk.
Yet with all that they have en-
dured and with all that, whatever
the worlds compassion. they must
still endure, seven million Belgians
once country. They may be
trampled upon by the march of the
conqueror; they may be denied al
news Of their devoted army; they may
be taxed and fined and paid for theil
labor with bits of paper; they may
frozen and thawed and frozen again
the very foundations OF their shorr
houses may have vanished like the
foundations OF Babylon and Troy, tht
future may be more black than thu
olackened shells Of their churches
they may have lost mothers and sis
ters and daughters in that vile fol
which follows in the wake OF war
they may have lost fathers and son
and brothers some gloriously on tn
field Of battle. some with bandage,
eyes shot against the doors of thei
own cottages not less gloriously; an
yet seven million Belgians are aliv
In Belgium.
But-and If ever that conjunctio
was fraught with heavy alternative
II is fraught with It now-these peo
pie will not be alive much longer un
is found every month to pay for foo
and for the transport Of food to Bel
gium. l wish that but could b
printed in letters of blood--in letter
Of blood. did I say? Nay, rather
letters of imperishable fire that woul
burn the alternative into the eyesigf
of humanity fed so full with horror
as scarcely any more to be able
heed their reiteration.
The fate Of these seven million pc,
pie Is the worlds responsibility. Tn
Is not the moment to try to say WI
is guilty of their state; the wranglir
of diplomats and the clash of arm
will not drown the means Of seve
millions starving for bread. We ha,
read before 1914 OF earthquakes,
pestilence ana shipwreck, Of railw;
accidents and mining disasters; AZ
yet II all the lives lost in fifty yea
by sudden visitation of calamity we
added together. they would not near
equal the sum Of these people wi
are at this moment actually depende
Hor - Gxra
lion dollars a month. 1t Is costil
the powers Of Europe more than fif
million dollars a day and ten thousal
lives q day to determine the future