Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-04-05
HELP BELCIANS!VN
IS APPEAL IN
CLOTHING drive
Red Cross Asks for Apparel for
the Destitute in Occupied
Territories.

Up in the attic, hung in the closet
or laid away on the shelf, are clothes
no n wants, that never will be used
and only exist as an invitation to
moths. Belgium needs these clothes,
and the Commission for Relief of this
brave, little country is asking the wo-
men of America, through the Ameri-
can Red Cross, to clear out their store
rooms and send these garments where
they are SO sorely in demand.
A minimum quantity of 5000 tons
of clothes are needed for the destitute
Belgians. With the Commission for
Relief in Belgium md Red Cross Chap
tiers all over the country appealing to
the people to contribute apparel to the
Belgium Clothing Fund it is expect
ed that more thar the minimum guam
tity will be collected. The campaign
is to continue seven days, ending
March %.
In a letter to Henry P. Dawson,
chairman of the Red Cross War Coun-
Gil, Herbert Hoover, chairman for the
Commission for Relief in Belgium, de-
scribed the plight of the Belgian peo-
pie as follows:
1.-THE practical entire exhaustion of
clothes, shoes and leather in occupied
Belgium and northern France and the
shortage of these necessities in the
worlds market are making it increas-
ingly difficult for the Commission for
Relief in Belgium to keep clothed and
shod the unfortunate people of these
occupied territories. 7
Shoes and Blankets Needed.
"In addition to new material, we
ned gifts of used and surplus cloth
ing and shoes, blankets, flannel and
cloth in large quantities from the peo-
pie of the United States"
Although the clothing contributed to
the relief of Belgians need not be
new, it is said, it must be strong and
durable, for it will be subjected to the
hardest kind of year.. Nor is it neees-
sary for clothing to be in perfect re-
pair, as there + upward of 100000
women in northern France who a
sew and patch garments and make
them ~preSentable.
These ome were modified and
trained into a marvelously efficient or
ganiZation early in the war, while
there was still raw material to be had,
for the ripping, repairing and remak-
ing of old clothes. They are happiest
when at work, having less time to
dwell upon their misery, and they have
been looking forward with dread to
the day when, their garments finished
and the material exhausted, they would
have to lay down their work and await
their turn to receive the next supplies.
The native stock has long since been
used up, and since the first deyasta-
ton of their country no commercial
imports have come in.
1t is for this reason the women of
the country are asked to put their
spare garments at the service of the
world as a measure of pure economics,
conservation and patriotism. The
Commission for Relief has the ships,
the women the clothing, and in the
vessels carrying cargoes of grain and
other foodstuffs there will be room
for all the clothing donated for the re-
lief of the sufferers in Belgium and
northern France. The American Red
Cross is appealing to the people of the
nation to meet this most pressing need.
All who have clothing which they can
spare are asked to communicate with
the nearest Red Cross Chapter, which
will arrange to collect and forward ID
to ports where the material Is to be as
sembled for shipment overseas.