Grand Forks herald., 1917-02-02

ministration would be occupied by
| enemy soldiers. A sentry would stand
on every street corner, and every cross
road. and the instructive feeling of
security Of every free man in his right
to be heard in justice would be sub
merged in the practical power Of life
and death by the enemy army. You
| would be called upon to contribute to
the cost of the occupying army. In
word. the whole economic. intellectual
and governmental functions Of ordin-
airy life would be suspended.
| "1n picture 'of such situation
you can imagine the indescribable de-
spair and terror OF every citizen. the
terror famed by the millions Of ru-
mors which shiver through the popu-
lation. Couple with this the over
shadowing fear as to failure Of the
very food upon which your women
and children survive or die. This is
! war.
Such has been the situation of l0,-
100000 people in Belgium and north
ern France for over two years. but for
the relief commission. And this has
been a relief not only to their physic-
al being but to their terror and q
shield to their despair"
Mr.. Hoover told how the relief or
ganization had grown. He and others
who first Joined it thought that so
terrible situation could exist for on
ly short time. but I'VE found" he
said. that we were confronted with
81 task not merely over days but
months, and an expenditure far be-
yond dreams Of any relief hitherto
known. 1t became clear that the rills
of charity of the world would fail us
and that banking measures we could
establish in this situation were hope
lessly insufficient. Ultimately we Sc
cured the support of the allied govern
! ments and now, after 500 weary days,
we look back on an expenditure Of
some $3.50, 100000 Of which $s0,OOO.-
600 have been from charity. and Of
which America has found under So
| 0OO,O 900"
Over 5000 Committees.
Altogether we have created a
structure composed of over 5000 COM
mittees,' continued Mr.. Hoover. Our
organization now represents a volun-
teer service of some $4,000 people. We
buy our own material. we employ
from fifty to seventy cargo ships at
all times. and these ships fly the flag
Of the commission for relief in Bel
gium and this is today the only flag
at sea that is immune from attack or
seizure. We employ hundreds of tugs
and railway cars. We operate ware
houses, mills factories and monthly
distribute 220.OO0.00O pounds Of bread
and 20.000,0O0 pounds Of bacon and
lard, 5000, 900 tins of condensed milk,
beans. corn, coffee, sugar and thou
sands of tons of other commodities.
Our dependents every month consume
the wheat product of nearly 200, 900
acres Of American lands.
ITO ensure efficiency we have asked
FOR and always received the advice
and gratuitous service Of the worlds
greater commercial houses and banks
\ orfs
The monument of our efficiency lies
In the fact that the bread sold in Bel
gtum to those who can pay has al
ways been from 1 S per cent to 20 per
cent cheaper than in New York city.
To insure the integrity Of our or
ganization we maintain bureaus Of
accounting. audit statistics and in
spection. covering the whole range
from New York and Buenos Aires to
the last village in northern France
and Belgium.
Beyond all these questions, we
have had to take direct or indirect
control over the native food supply Of
the country. With all the resources We
could assemble there could be no hope
of maintaining this population alive
unless we could reduce their food con-
sumption by at least fifty per cent,
and to do this we must directly or in
directly control every. mans food In
| fact. we must repress consumption
down to the absolute crust upon
which the human body can maintain
an existence in health. Such q reduc-
ton Of consumption must be accom-
panied by rigid adjustment Of food
! supplies to various classes. a rigid
justice in distribution to each indi-
vidual, lest if some obtained more
others might starve.
Feeding of Children.
i Such an instance as this lies in the
feeding of the children. From early
in the work special meals in public
canteens were provided for the babies
and mothers but in July last year the
physicians of the country reported to
us an alarming increase in glandular
tuberculosis among adolescent chill
dren. We Immediately instituted an
investigation, and developed the fact
that the growing children of the In
dustrial and middle classes were
showing signs of undernourishment
and that we must find and apply i'm
mediate remedy. We turned to the
public schools, to the teachers or
CARNATIONS, to the use Of the build
ings and we installed a daily meal to
100000 school children as an ex-
ira and supplemental supply, in ex-
tension to the 100000 babies to whom
we were already giving special food
This extra service costs over a million
a month on to our burden and we
asked America to help ,us in this for
the children. but with poor response.
I'VE never have seen a day when
our finances was certain for sixty days
ahead, nor in two years time when
our contracts did not exceed our as
sets from five to twenty million dol
lars. The Belgian relief is haunted in
every dark hour by the grim tragedy
of possible failure.
Americans opened the door to
Belgium and have founded and sus-
tained this enterprise in it's adminis-
trative and in its political phases. We
felt that it was the national duty for
i America who stood out unharmed in
this vast swelter to keep alight the
lamp Of humanity. OF the $3.50. .OOO,-
900 spent in this work Approximately
100000 has come to our hand
from the public benevolence of the
world and less than $9,OOO,O0O of this
/ sum has come from the American
people. And with the exception Of one
great gift of $1.OO0,00O it has been the
little rills of charity of the poor to-
wards the poor. The great bulk of
this expenditure has been furnished
by the allied governments and has
been debited to the Belgian govern-
ment or to the communes or munici-
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