The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-03-28
APPEAL TO KEEP UP
AID FOR BELGIANS
Relief Commission Emphasizes That the
Work Will Go On - Hope for
American Loan.

! NEW YORK, March 2S.-Members
of the commission for the relief in Bel
GUM earnestly desire that the Presi-
dent s action in withdrawing from that
country the American supervisors of
food distribution, should not be under
stood as meaning that the opportunity
for American participation in Belgian
relief had disappeared. Miss Florence
| Wardall of % East Seventy seventh
street, who is organizing the national
movement in operation with the
commission for giving the children of
| Belgium an extra meal a day, in adj
dition to the 80 per cent re- tion which
the commission is able to supply to all
| inhabitants, pointed out Yesterday that
while the President i'll his announce
ment expressed his distrust of German
promises, the French and British gov
crnments still trust these promises to
the extent of continuing the $14, 000,-
600 monthly contribution which they
are making to Belgian relief.
AS matter of fact said Miss
Wardwell, "seven -eighths of the work
Of the relief commission is outside of
| Belgium. Raising the money, planning
expenditures, buying food and shipping
IL TO Rotterdam make up by far the
largest portion of the work done by
the organization, and this will be con
tinued with the present American or
ganization.
As for the distribution itself, il
must be remembered that there were
only forty-two Americans supervising
the actual distribution, which is done
/ Nv ~ oil naIr Oh
men. The Americans are there only to
guarantee that the food does not go to
the Germans This system has been or
ganized until it runs like clockwork,
and now that the United States gov
eminent has called the American Off
! eials out of Belgium il will be contin-
ued by Dutch, who have been trained
under the supervision Of the present
American organizers.
More than that, the Germans have
asked Mr.. Hoover to keep in Brussels
ono man, Mr. Gregory, who has been,
and will be, the head of all the work
of distribution. The submarine com
mander who sank two Belgian relief
ships outward bound in ballast has
been rcprimanded by the German gov
ernment, and the government has de-
MED that ships inward bound with
wheat have been sunk by submarines
| They attribute this to mines. In any
event, only per cent of all the voy
ages made for the commission have
been lost so far, aad, regardless of
these losses, it is incumbent on us to
follow the examples of the French and
British and try to keep the work of
relief for civilians going as long as
possible.
1.-THE relief commission $ reprcScn-
tativcs at Washington arc working as
hard rs they can 70 get loan of $3.50,
/ 900 900 from the United States govern
mcnt. France and England SO far hav?
! contributed more than $2O0,00O,000,
and American contributions by CON
trast have been pitifully small.
The specific work which is being or
ganized by Miss Wardwel is that of
giving on extra cup of soup and a
cracker daily to each of the 10000
| children Of Belgium. As the rations
which tn, commission i able to dis
tribute are only half the normal al
| lowancc, the results of the underau-
| triton, sufficiently severe on adults,
| are naturally mucH WORSE Ill the ease
of children. The extra meal, it has
been computed can be furnished at the
price OF n dollar month for each
child-Sl 100000 extra per month for
/ the whole of Belgium. To facilitate
the raising Of this sum special commit
tees are being organized in the states,
and each Of these state committees,
when possiblea is asked to take over
one of the ten provinces of Belgium as
its especial care. Where a single state
is unable TO handle the work a group