The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1916-09-07
belgium Under the Surface
Observations of A. Hemph of She Commission
For Relief In Belgium-6 90 1000 Little Ones Need
Special Diet to Keep Them Alive

A. ]. Henphill, chairman of the
guaranty Trust company. of New York,
mas just returned after visit to Bel
GUM and Germany. He was also re-
celVed by King Albert.
Mr.. Hemphill, who acts as treasurer
OF the Neutral Commission for Relief,
crossed the Atlantic to see for himself
the conditions in the German occupied
part OF Belgium and to Investigate the
distribution of the relief supplies to
which the American people have gener-
ously contributed. In order to secure
permission to enter Belgium he had to
go to Berlin, where he spent the better
part of week In an interview, Mr.
Hemphill said:
Il was greatly impressed while in
Berlin with the difference Of opinion
winch exists among prominent Ger
mans as to the advisability of permit
ting the continuation Of the present
system of relieving the Belgians in
Belgium. The shortage of food supplies
In Germany ITSELF owing to the allied
blockade, has given rise to considerable
criticism of the German governments
action in agreeing to the allies de-
mand, as a condition Of continued re-
lief imports. that the whole Of the
homegrown food supplies in Belgium
should be devoted to the sole use OF the
Belgians. An influential German sec
ton maintains that at least portion
of these supplies are, under the Hague
convention, the rightful support OF the
occupying army, and that so long as
there is any possibility of German
women and children and German SOL
dlers being in want of food these Bel
gian native productions should be taken
by the German army for this purpose.
Criticism In Berlin.
Another criticism levelled at the
German government is that the policy
of permitting relief supplies to be dis
tributed merely prolongs the passive re-
sistance which is still practically uni
versal among the 100000 Belgians
who are under German rule. However,
despite the serious opposition on both
these scores, l am confident that the
more humane policy authorized by the
German chancellor will continue to pre-
vail.
When l got to Brussels my first inn
preston was THAT everything was
normal, except for the absence of We
hicles owing to the scarcity of horses
and the prohibition of motors except
! to a few. The people are we'll clad,
the shops are open and every one goes
about their daily life much the same as
they do in London or New York. AT
the markets | saw people buying and
! selling-mostly vegetables-and bust
ness being freely transacted in the
j ordinary way. That was on the sur
/! face. But one has to remember that
Belgium normally lives on imported
raw materials and food and pays for
/ her food by export of her manu-
| features. This vital current is stopped
| by the war and 60 per cent of Bel
| GUMS work people are idle. A large
F.! part of the commercial class are also
| idle and reduced to dependency upon
/ charity When | went to the RELIEF sta
| tons where the wholly destitute
| amounting to a large proportion of the
! population-get their soup and othe,
provisions. | saw, in the waitins
! queues, not only the needy class thai
one would expect. but we'll dressed
! men. women and children. In Brussels
/ and elsewhere throughout Belgium the
I human lines that daily wait for thu
| small ration provided by the charity OF
! the world are marked by this same sac
/ feature. Destitution is not only wide
| spread, but there are now dependen
upon relief thousands OF the upper
classes who never dreamt of coming tC
! such a pass.
! Misleading First Impressions.
! 1T is only after being in Brussels
| for a little time, and after visiting
! Charlerio, Malines, Antwerp, Liese am
| other places that one realizes how mis-.
| leading are first Impressions of life II
| Belgium as it is today. The outward
! appearance of normality is sustained
only by the fact that relief to the value
| Of over s6,O00,O0O is. so to speak. in
| jected into the country every month
| The external calm is an amazing tri-
/ butte to the efficiency of the system
| whereby the relief organization pro.
| vides and distributes to this whole ma
| ton the supplies without which there
| would be chaos and '1nthinkable sui.
! ferins. In this complex work Of ra
tioning every day over 100000 souls
| of whom Just one-half are totally OF