The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-01-06
At Once in Order to Prevent an
Epidemic of Pneumonia in
That Country.

That Country.
Correspondence Of the Associated Press
LONDON, Jan. 6.-During trip Of
inspection which covered the London
Rotterdam, Brussels and Belgian prov.
incial Offices of the Commission for the
Relief Of Belgium. a correspondent Of
the Associated Press was privileged tc
witness the preparations for the sec
ond winters campaign OF the huge
relief body.
During It's first year Of existence II
delivered into Belgium and northern
France enough food to keep nine mil.
lion people alive, involving an approx
innate expenditure Of eighty million
dollars, which provided almost one
million tons Of provisions, with the re.
suit that the population Of Belgium Is
today in better than its normal health
after one year on the commissions
ratlons. Not single person has died
of starvation in Belgium or northern
France There has been none Of the
diseases which result from under
feeding, and there is ample justifica-
ton for the recent statement OF Presi-
dent Wilson that the lives Of millions
Of people have been saved.
Every day. however, the local re-
sources Of the country become more
and more depleted, particularly in the
national livestock, for which the COM
mission must import fodder II the
country is not soon to be entirely de-
nuded Of these necessities. This means
much heavier importation Of food. AT
the same time the charitable purse Of
the world Is getting leaner while the
fighting governments are getting more
bitter in their form Of warfare and
less inclined to turn ready ear to
cries OF civilian distress and with
heavy demands on their war chests the
possibilities Of gaining government
subventions for the work OF relief be-
comes more remote. Less and less
becomes the monetary resources Of
the Belgians themselves while the
great difficulty is due to the scarcity
Of shipping and at present there IL
little indication of any remedy for this
situation. Belgium is purely a manu-
featuring country. importing practi-
cally all OF It's food and raw materials
except coal. Sixteen months of block
ade have exhausted most Of the raw
material, hence the growing length
of the bread line. Not only have -four
and one-half million Of Belgian work
people no means with which to buy
bread, but their spinning mills have
run out of material after having run
two days weekly for the last year
so clothing as we'll as food must be
imported. Every bleak winter day
with an increase in the bread line
brings an even greater proportional
increase OF the destitute in need Of
clothing.
The figures for the month Of October
will give some idea Of the magnitude
Of the commissions provisioning busi.
ness. The following amounts of food
in tons were delivered during the
month: Wheat $1,000, lard 1850
bacon $3.50, rice 1000, maize 21,5OO
sundries 1900. total sale value being
Sc, 202,O 900. The price charged by the
commission to district committees pei
mound was: Wheat 2.94 cents, lard
1913 cents, bacon 15.2 cents, rice 3.7S
cents, maize 2.43 cents. District COM
mittees add small margin to cover
the incidental cost of milling, the fixed
price Of white bread being 1856 cents
a pound. The total profit Of the COM
mission for the month was $1,050,2O1
The total purely benevolent expendi'
ture was $4,323.175, divided as fol,
lows. labor and purchased material
for clothing department S312,7S5
which does not include value Of con,
tribrted material amounting to APP
proyimatcly another hundred thousand
dollars: subsidies to various beneVo,
lent committees Sass, 1893, subsidies tc
communal committees in food and
cash 10 the destitute, S3,52T 900. This
expenditure came from tho following
sources: Profits provisioning depart
ment s1.05o.901. general gifts 10 tht
commission S456.000. provided by cred
its from Belgian institutions abroad
S2.S16,97i. Balance Of receipt ron
food sales were used in ~. - tc
financial relief and conn en-