The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-18
To Ask Million a Month
for Belgian Relief Fund
From People of America


dren will appeal strongly to the charitable
instincts of the American people. and
that they will gladly support us in meet
ing this insistent call of humanity
Since it is the opinion of the COM
mission that the war will continue for
at least another year. relief must be
afforded for corresponding period
This means that the commission, which
has now been in operation for two years.
will! probably have to deliver during thu
next year about 100000 tons of food
stuffs into Belgium and northern France,
calling for an expenditure of more than
s15o,0O0,000 A large portion of the popu-
lation say 100000 people, owing to the
cessation of export and import trade, are
wholly or partially destitute and have to
be provided with food free of charge
This class will call for fully s6O,00O,0oO OF
charity in the coming year. or over So
100000 per month. 1t would seem, there
fore, that the more adequate feeding of
the children now so urgently calling
for additional funds, offers an opportun-
ity for further generosity which the
American people cannot but welcome.
THE commission has lately made a
thorough investigation of health condi-
tions in Belgium and northern France to
determine the degree of success that has
attended it's operations. DR.. William
Palmer Lucas of the medical depart
ment of the University of California,
who undertook this investigation, spent
three months in close association with
Ieia nh
ties and arrived at some interesting con-
clusions He reports that the agricul-
tural class, which has been able directly
or indirectly to secure a sufficiency of
foodstuffs, is, broadly speaking, in a
normal state of health. The same may
be said of the well-to-do classes. On the
other hand, the high prices obtaining for
native products have made it practically
impossible for laborers and minor COM
mercial people to secure the necessary
supplement to their pro rata of the COM
missions importations. These classes,
comprising something like 100000 people,
generally show diminished vitality, al
though the infants, owing largely to the
natural solicitude of the women Of Bel
GUM and to the special measures sup
ported by the relief organization are real
~ above normal in general health.
IMPROVEMENT OFFSET
The Improvement in infantile mortal
ity. however, has been more than offset
by marked reduction in the birth rate,
considered to be largely due to the I'M
der-nourished and anxious state of posi-
BILE mothers, and by an increased per-
centage of imperfectly developed newborn
babies, the ill-nourshment of mothers
being also responsible and being further
reflected in much curtailed nursing
period.
In the case of the older children be-
longing to the poorer classes, particu-
larly those in the adolescent stage there
is an alarming increase in tuberculosis,
due to the lower power of resistance con-
sequent on inadequate diet. 1t is to cor
rect this serious tendency that the sys-
tenn of school feeding is being installed,
and it is this added service that will
entail the extra expenditure of over one
million dollars per month which it is
hoped America will assume. Steps are
also being taken. insofar as resources
will permit, to deal with children out
side the schools and to counterfeit the
increase of tuberculosis among adults by
special feeding and through an extern
sion of the sanatoria OF the country
Asked as to the attitude of the German
authorities towards the crops of the coun-
try, Mr.. Honnold states that the whole OF
the native products of Belgium have,
through the intercession Of the commits
sion, been reserved for the civil popuIa-
ton. The harvest. this year, mas ueen
fairly good one, although the produce
ton is less than 40 per cent OF the re-
quirements In northern France, owing
to the absence of the men with the
French army, the peasants have been in
capable of planting the whole OF their
fields and the Germans have cultivated
large areas. Herbert Hoover, chairman
OF the commission. effected last year an
arrangement with the occupying army
, whereby large part of the wheat actu-
ally raised by the people OF the country,
roughly one-third of their requirements,
was set aside for the civil population
/, This arrangement has been extended to
the present harvest, and, in addition. a
similar quantity is now to be released
by the Germans from the harvest re-
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