Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-11
People are stationary here and towns
do not build beyond their most i'm

People are stationary here and towns
90 not build beyond their most i'm
mediate needs. Locations do not
change In value very quickly and
there Is nothing to tempt the specula-
tor 70 pnildt In advance Of the de-
mand. 70 place the new arrivals
means q thorough canvass Of all the
resources OF every town, village. ham
iet. ! nave not as yet been present
wnen g convoy arrives, but I under
stand the people are heartened by q
warm reception having an Official sig
nlncancG are fed by a committee
made up Of the people Of the town or
Y and then conveyed to a .'can-;
tonment;" they are housed and fed
IKE an army. having barracks and q
common soup kitchen.
The French love their "foyers,"
their own fireside. and the solidarity
and s~eparateness Of their family life.
Ihey have: not the boarding house or
hotel habit as we have in America,
and gregariousness. does not suit their
temperament. The very enterprisinE
do not wait for the officials to find
separate lodgings for them. They
usual do It themselves. For the
Others, the less energetic. it is a mat
ter OF weeks sometimes before they
can be satisfactorily placed. With q
proper regard for the training Of the
people, the french official does try
not to send q weaver to an agricul-
tural center and a farmer to a fac
tory town. But mistakes do happen.
n French government. has plan
ned well for its now shifting popula-
ton. A daily allowance is made ac-
cordlng to age; rent is paid, or, rath-
er, provision is made for rent when
e families decide to lodge separate
~. Ihat the fine program Of the
government is not always carried out
may be due to the enormous volume
OF work-thts placing Of whole cities
OF people at one time and at short no.
tice. Where the task is too big for
local authorities, the Red Cross
steps In, and together the RESPONSE
bllitles are carried. There is a fine
spirit of cooperation. With the Red
Cross workers. understanding that
she Is not here to show the French
people what they should do, but to
nelp them carry out the work they
nave planned. rehabilitation Of fam
lilies can be made to count.
1t is a tremendous rush and hurry
all the time. Things must be done
quickly, must think on ones feet.
Getting materials, furniture, stoves,
Kitchen utensils. Is q problem; in
some things the country has been
scraped to the bone. It keeps the
purchasing bureau on the hop. Here
are thousands Of people with nothing
put the clothes they are standing in.
And eventually they are to go back
to their homes-homes denuded-yes,
an DIN many instances RACED to the
ground. The few things thew can
take back with them will be their be-
ginning.
Give a Frenchwoman a he'd. a
"marmite," and a stove. and she can
; make home. It Is one of the graft
Tying things after a days work to step
into n of these little improytsed
homes of q "repat," as we. in our
american hurry. have abbreviated
tnem, and see q reconstructed family.
II may only be a bed, a table, some
chairs. a stove, and a 'marmite," but
we know that in their hearts they
Torment" and the woman, Industrious
from habit, busters about as IL she
mad a complex household to take care
You may drop into a home at al
most any time and the "marmite" fs
on the stove. A thick soup with
some bread broken into it, and thew
have a meal. It is we'll not to cues
! tlen what goes into that SOUP: but
Wi1eH II is ready to be served 1t is
very savory and palatable. 1 can on
y. recall n instance where there
was that lack Of provident planning,
SO apparent in many Of our American
households, where the "delicatessen"
store Is the first aid. and there the
woman a%pologized for having eggs.
putter. red wine. and bottled water
Tor her luncheon. Eggs and butter
are almost prohibitive as to price, n
one wondered how she ever did it on
the ALLEGATION money! franc 50
centlmes Gao cents) a day for adults.
n l franc GEO cents) for each child
plus the 40 confines an hour she
earned for .cleaning-s cents an hour.
War bread, loaves fully a yard
n or in rings no less than two feet
IN diameter. or in solid round loavee
OF similar dimensions, is ever present.
It is never wrapped in paper. Every.
body walks along the street with his
!oaf OF bread under his ARM, and ali
the sanitary measures we take to