New-York tribune., 1919-05-04
Appalling Conditions Are
Revealed by Eyewitness
Reports Received by the
American Commissioners
Hunger Invites Disease
Distribution of Money and
Supplies Wholly Insufli-
cient to Meet Demands

death from hunger, disease ana; priva-
tion is graphically told in eyewitness
reports of representatives of the joint
distribution committee of the American
Funds for Jewish War Sufferers. This
organization sent into every part of
Europe. Asia and Asia Minor, including
Egypt, relief workers to aid the great
populations of Semitics, and their re-
ports reflect the seriousness of the
situation brought on by four years of
war and industrial and commercial sus-
pension.
The reports are made public by Felix
NJ. Warburg, of the banking house of
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., who is chairman of
the Jewish relief organization. The
aTint distribution committee has to date
slisbursed more than $25,000,O 900, con-
tributed by all sections of American
Jewry.
while in general way it has been
known that the populations were
,argely without food and clothing, the
conditions narrated are more appalling
shan has hitherto been known. On
many occasions the representatives of
the joint distribution committee COM
prising commission of Jews sent from
the United States, and the members of
which are scattered throughout the
various countries, have, they report,
returned to their lodgings overcome by
the scenes they have witnessed and un-
able to sleep or rest.
Terrible Conditions in Poland
The situation in Poland is graphical
" described by DR.. Boris D. Bogen:
"The population has seen and felt
so much of suffering that it has
become calloused to hardship and to
want, but the spectacle of hundreds
of starving children, of women, in
the biting cold, clad only in the scan
test of filthy rags, and of men, list
1essly and aimlessly walking the
streets asking for bread, has deeply
affected the committees representa-
tives."
Writing of conditions in Warsaw, he
says:
And then the women, with their
csreworn faces, dressed in God knows
how many garments, all rags, and still
not protected from the cold. 1t is
only lncldently. that you meet prop
erly clad individual. In the poorest
q lstrict the houses are horrible
sight-the windows without panes,
covered with rags and paper-impos-
siole streets and still more impossible
courts, dirty, dilapidated entrances,
broken steps-Poverty is King here"
One Scanty Meal Day
Describing a typical school, known a $
Froebel school, or school for small
children, DR.. Bogen says:
"The school is situated on the third
floor Of a tenement house The teach
ers are one man and two women, earn
est and sympathetic, but the children
are miserably dressed and sickly look
ing, with fabby, what seemed to be,
swollen faces. They spoke Yiddish
and asked questions about America
and whether we had brought food.
They used to get two meals a day, but
lately have received only one The
teachers thought, however, that this
was enough, and SAID in explanation,
The children are used to going hungry
and can now stand much better the
consequences
Dr. Bogen adds:
Il spent only one day in Cracow. I
met, however, DR.. Landau the presi-
dent of the local Gmina. He claimed
the conditions are bad, and that in ad-
dition to their usual local wants, they
are burdened now with the care of
about 500 orphans that were sent there
from the CzechoSlovak country.
Il am sure that the other cities in
Galicia must be in terrible distress
and adequate appropriations should be
do lo . \
the only thing done for the people is
the supply Of food by the United States
government
Il visited also hospital, the most
terrible sight to behold. Patients were
lying on the floor without linen and al
in rags. No bandages, and some Of the
children covered with garments made
out of old towels. The clothing situa-
ton and the lack Of soap is the most
serious problem. The mortality here
\ also is in excess Of births"
Further light on Polish conditions
n is given in a report as late as March
20 sent by Lewis Strauss, of tht
American Relief Administration, from
an agent of the administration, sem
on special tour into the Brest- Pinsl
district. In Brest-Litovsk typhus is
raging and one-third Of the popula-
tion is i'll, the people dying like flies
facility for combating the plague.
People Live Underground
This report says, in part:
There are not enough buildings
left standing in Brest for the former
inhabitants who are now returning
80 that d number Of these are obligec
10 live in the underground easement.
of the abandoned forts surrounding
fhe town. The conditions which VIZ
found in these easements were ex
tscmely bad. About one-third Of ths
people are sick in bed or on the floors
Typhus IL the chief sickness. In one
easement, containing about twenty
five people, a short time ago six died
IN one day. There was no milk o,
meat whatever IN one place famil,
was eating boiled herbs. The SICK
were receiving no medical attention.
"The worst cases Of tuberculosis
we're given only black bread anc
soup.
ain Pjnsk we visited q large sour
Kitchen, which fed formerly 900 per.
eong per day. At present it ia cIoset
because there is no bread or food
atuHs with which to make The soup
Next door 10 this lis another sour
Kitchen which, until recently, fed or
phan children and children lost o.
Separated from their homes. 1t il
algo closed In a Jewish nome We
found z00 children from two to twelve
years Of age in most deplorabls
condition, The children were wei
housed and the institution was vel
managed, but for the past two weeks
*he institution has not had a pouGt