Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-23
:: The Truth About Belgium =:
BY BRAND WHITLOCK

screaming over their roof, support
ing their fate with royal fortitude.
He brought back the kindcst of mes
sages from their majesties and from
Baron de Groqueville and from my
colleagues at HavTe, and he brought
back the details of the great organ
iZation Mr.. Hoover was undertake
ing. We had been experiencing the
first OF those tremendous and COM
plicated difficulties in carrying on
the work of feeding the Belgians,
difficulties that were destined to dog
US with an almost maddeninS per-
sistence during so many months and
what, in their slow lapse. seemed
so many years. The organization OF
an enterprise that had to devise
ways and means OF raising sic, OO0,-
600 every month. of purchasing
foodstufrs in the distant markets of
the world, in Argentine, in Canada,
in America. find the means Of trans
port across troubled and dangerous
seas, and distribute II to seven mill
lions Of people in q land where the
whole machinery of common life
had been dislocated, where there
were none Of the ordinary means of
communication, and 10 do all this in
the midst or armies in the field,
was a task that would have seemed
insuperable a few months before.
The c. r. B.. as we were soon call
ing the commission for relief in Bel
GUM, had offices in London, in New
York and in Rotterdam, and now II
was to establish an Office in Brus-
sells, and one of the first difficulties
was to coordinate its relations with
the gigantic organization Of the c.
N, &C we were soon calling the
CoTnite National. Under these con-
ditions imposed by the British gov
eminent the foodstufTs were to be
consigned to the American minis
ter at Brussels and TO he distrib-
uted under his supervision: he was
to be the responsible witness of the
fact that there had been strict OBJ
servance on the part OF the German
soldiers OF the guarantees given by
Field Marshal BaIon Won der GoltZ
Pacha, governor general OF Belgium.
But since the American minister,
even with the best will in the world.
could not be ubiquitous. he had to
have recourse to representation, and
Mr.. Hoover hit upon the happy de-
vice OF securing the services Of two
score young Americans Just then
students at Oxford. young men who
had proved their metal by winning
the Rhodes scholarships. They vol
unteered for the work
II would have been difficult to
create such an organization in the
ordinary times Of peace, with ev-
erybody well disposed, but, in ad-
dition to the physical obstacles ere
ated by the chaos of war, there was
an atmosphere highly charged with
its various suspicious, envies, jeal-
ousies, hatreds and all the meaner
passions let loose in mad fury in
the world, that made It almost i'm
possible. This stupendous organiZa-
ton was due largely to the genius
OF Herbert Clark Hoover, but the
minor task OF keeping peace in the
family seemed by some unkind IA
taIity to fan to the lot of the per-
son who happened to be American
Minister at Brussels, and seemed
to offer a convenient human sub
stance to absorb all the numerous
shocks. Perhaps IL was because that
substance was Of the very softness
sometimes irritably attributed to IT
when IL declined or failed to range
itself promptly and belligerently
on one or the other side of the dis
agreements that almost daily dis
tressed US; 1 do not know; all 1
know is that Il seemed to be my
role for a long time to, induce
pouting men of various national
tiles and widely separated points
of view and different habits of
thought to meet at the Legation
and, over a cup of tea VIGOROUSLY
an innocuous and soothing bever-
age. to compose or forget their diff
ferences and to allow those poor
BeIgians, who had no quarrel with
anybody, to go on eating.
Tho Kaiser in Brussels.
The atmosphere in Brussels dur
ing those early days in November
was not congenial to accords, and
indeed, it did not improve in this
respect as time went on. The Ger
mans were not in a conciliatory
humor; they were, indeed, distinct
IL difficult and irritable. The kais-
er had come to town for day and
had installed himself in the dark
old palace of the d'Arenberg' there
in the Petit Sablon; II was said
that things were not going on well
toward the sea and down near
Calais and Dunkerque; and, as
heard sometime later. that the
kaiser had come within fifteen min
utes OF his death by an English
aviator's bomb at Thielt. He was
in a chateau then, so German
officer told me; was to lunch and
leave IN the imperial motor at one
thirty. the imperial luncheon, how
ever, was finished earlier than had
been expected and the kaiser lett
in the imperial motor at one-rt-
teen. At one-thirty the aviator
was lowering overhead, and the
bomb dropped and exploded in the