The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13

pean peasants Down the street the crowd moved, straggling-bent backs and strong young ones, thin women and fat boys and sallow girls and ba- bies, their sabots clattering on the hard stones.
 PUT ON NEW GARMENTS As they went they changed before my eyes, pulling on the new garments over the old.
 Women who had been shawled and aproned a moment before and men in sleezy factory made garments became strange caricatures of the American fashions of 1914 1912, of 1905 and 1900 as far back as 1880. Bodies squirmed into sweaters that still kept the stripes of American universities chapped necks and thin chests were covered with other forms of wool, arms dan gled from faded coats that had done duty in Toledo or Seattle or Atlanta. Buffalo coats from the Dakotas were there, caps with earlaps such as they wear up near the Canada line in snowy weather, wristlets and socks and chest protectors, Fauntleroy suits and split skirts, fleece lined underwear and ten his shoes and pink bath robes and cor duroy trousers and silk shirtwaists and linen vests.
 It was a strange by-product of war, this masquerade on the streets of con- quered Liege. But it happened every day during that early cold spell.
 It was not so startling after that as we drove the automobile of the commission for relief through the wind swept country sides to find gaunt
 peasant-sociable, diligent, extremely ignorant and extremely likable being that he is who has frequently never been twice in his life beyond the linn its of his own parish-emerging from a patch of sugar beets with Harvard" or Stanford" sewn into the front of his sweater. Or to note that the young woman behind. balancing a huge bas- ket on her head, wore an importation that must have been particularly smart three seasons ago on Lake Shore drive
 OLD METHOD
 That was the old method of relieving Belgium and it died when the last Of Americas old clothes were used up toward the end of 1915. A year and half ago, when Belgium's need was megaphoned to the four winds, the world ernptied it's old clothes into ex-
 pensive liners and hurried them to Europe. Up to the end of last June the commission for relief had acknowl- edged the receipt of S125,000.OOO of these goods That stream of relief was an unheard- of outpouring, it earned unheard- of gratitude, it was touching, funny. dramatic-but it will never be repeated.
 In the first place, no one can stand the expense For it cost money to transport each garment from American doorsteps to Belgian backs; the fumi- gation in Belgium required by the military authorities cost more money. It was possible to raise these sums before the world realized that the busi- ness of keeping Belgium alive Will De sober necessity for sometime 10 come. This winter, with 3,000,000 peo- pie wanting clothes again--for cer- tain proportion of the gifts were use less, another freezing winter Is upon the stricken people and there are far too few of the first lot to go around, anyway--no one who understands the problem will consent to the importa- tion of worn clothing.
 Besides, there are the idle hands 10 think of. Today Belgium and northern France are darllened workshops, where 20 months ago 9,000,0O0 people toiled -toiled with an intelligent doggedness that within a generation had made that section of Europe the richest, per capita in the world. Right after the necessity for food and shelter comes the necessity for finding these people something-anything- do.
 Already great ouvoirs (workshops) have come into being in Brussels, Ant werp, Liege and half a dozen of the smaller cities. Here, for many months, men and women have been making over Americas old clothes It is te- dious labor; it's only advantage, aside from keeping the people at work and together. is that Belgium hands can devise two or three garments for themselves out of the capacious orig inals. The pittance that pays the work CTS is provided by the government which ultimately, of course. will re- collect from the people. Yet, once gathered in warm halls. once really at work again, once earning even a little money. and it has become next to impossible to drive the people away. The work spirit, even under paraly- sis lasting IS months, Is still as strong as that in Belgium.
 SEARCH FOR MATERIAL For months past, with practically nc more gift clothes to make over and with what new clothes existed in Bel gium at the outbreak of the war ex- hausted, the search of the Belgium committees for material to keep the ouvoirs open has had an air of des- peration. New cloth only is wanted.