The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-12-10
HORRORS IN HUNGARY
Awful Conditions There Following
BoIshevist Rule.


ly Miss Gladys Vanderbilt Of New
York, returned not long ago to Amer
lea. after being immured for four
years in a small hunting lodge in
Hungary, she was reluctant to discuss
the privatons she had endured dur
ing the world war. Until January OF
this year she had lived in quarters
where there was no electricity, nor I
gas: and where the fuel was SO scarce |
that she put the clock ahead two !
hours OF her own accord. thereby 60 I
ing the daylight savers one better |
Countess S2echenyi but narrowly ,
escaped the horrors of actual invas- !
ion. In the Spring of 1915 the Rus
SLAMS arrived within five miles of her |
home, and might have drawn nearer |
had they not made themselves so
comfortable in neighboring chateau. !
During the four years the lodge was
cut off from Communication with the
outer world. II Il
But Countess Saechsnyi. who was
not interested in politics nor in the
causes of the war. devoted herself in
so far as she could to the relief OF
those around her, and even now she
is interested chiefly in the movement
to supply food for starving Hungarian
children. Those to whom she has
turned in enlisting aid for this project
have been struck by her American
ism Her life abroad has not made a
hungarian Of her, nor even n Euro
pean she is today just as distinctly
a New Yorker and an American as
before her marriage. But that fact
has not diminished her interest in the
plight of the children of Hungary.
where SO per cent. of the babies in
the State Infant Disponsary OF Buda
pest died last March, and where, even
last June, the percentage had been
decreased only to 63 At Trieste, but
forty-eight hours distant, there is
food a-plenty, but Hungary has not
the money to buy it,
Since the Bolshevih went out in
August conditions have slightly i'm
proved" said Countess S2echenyi. in
answer to a reiterated request that
she say something about her wartime
experiences or her observation OF con.
dltions in Hungary My housekeep-
er writes me that prices are now:
Meat. S. a pound; lard. $12; soap,
Sc; butter, $l4. and an egg. so cents
This does not mean that every one
can buy these things at the prices
named, but that IL you are lucky
enough to find them. that is what
they cost. and probably without some
pull or other with the grocers and
butchers you could not get them even
for that
Milk is not TO be had. This means
that practically every child, and
every person in the city. site down
to breakfasts OF tea usually made
with Blackberry leaves, and in most
cases without sugar or milk and
piece OF dry. sour black bread For
dinner they may have beans or pota-
toes, and for supper black war coffee
and bread When children have had
this food for about three years you
can imagine the condition they are
in, Would YOU like to try it on your
children for one day? And if you
thought there was no hope that
things would change; il You thought
Hgou were g0ias to Jest sec the chill
dren starye to death in front OF you
and then suppose one day you heard
"a wild, fairy tale OF comse-that
food had arrived. tons of food; and
milk--thousand OF tons Of milk. ac-
ltually within reachl At first you
couldn't let yourself believe ii was
true, and then, when you really did
believe it, and know it, you were told
YOU were not to have it for your
] In hinC haEuucl no bn1r 4
! for in America. You might sell all
yon had, or work day and night to
/ earn money, or be as rich as Croesus
+ anyway; that wouldn't matter The
people who had the food would not
accept Hungarian money. They must
be paid in dollars. and those dollars
must be collected in America. How
would you feel then?
/ Mr.. Hoover has told me that food
can be got to Budapest within forty
eight hours, and his plan is to feed
100000 children, one meal day, at
cents meal, for seven months The
children who need it most have been
selected, and the mothers are waiting.
! In a letter / have received from
Mr.. Hoover he says: The European
Children's Fund has large stocks of
food at Trieste. but as we have no re.
sources other than those provided by
the hungarian committee we of
course cannot draw on these reserves
beyond the funds placed at orr dis /
posal'
81 have lived there, have known
what the conditions We're. was
there for so long, and was so emf off |
that for me this world had totally van.
ished. had got. to the point when
! thought the war was going on for |
ever and | did not think should ever |
see America again Kindness such
as I shall never forget was shown to
me, not in spite OF being an Ameri- /
can, but because OF that. and because ,
they knew and understood how it
felt
The population OF Budapest doubled .
from 1914 to 1917, having increased .
from 100000 to 100000, so that to
4. Il u.