Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-05-31
k|DDIES FACE
STARVATION
One Million UndernOurished
Children in Germany
Badly in Need of
Food.
SOME BEING FED
American Relief Workers
Care for Most Serious
Cases.
ONE BEING FED
(By the Associated Press.)

Berlin, May 2S.-The, American
Friends. service committee now is feed
ing 100000 of the undernOurished
children of Germany of whom there
are. according to estimates based on
physicians reports. at least 100000.
Only one-tenth of them are being cared
for as the committee can feed only
those seriously or dangerously under
fed. /
In a kindergarten at ~Schoeneberg, a
huge district where the Berlin poor
cluster like bees, the correspondent saw
several hundred pale-faccd children
%ravenously attack the meal the CON-
mittee daily provides. 1t was a ground
floor room with big windows flush with
the street. Every window had a dadO
of swarming little ones. They stood
on the sidewalk peering in, noses flat
tened against the panes. their big
round eyes eagerly watching the chill
dren in the room feasting.
No Help for Hungry.
Most of those on the outside were in
the class Of merely undernourished,
for whom no aid is available. Fraulein
Margaret Barth. a well-knOwn cduca-
tor who, as the head of the local com
mittee, supervises all the feeding ar
engagements in the Schoeneberg district.
sighed as she glanced mt those wistful
faces ut the. windows, and turned away.
ION the first day. she said, I'VE
permitted the parents to come to see
their children fed. They wcpt with
gratitude. We didn't let them come
again. They were hungry themselves
and their pinched faces were more
than we could bear in Il place where
food was being served"
The Food.
Cocoa, milk, flour, sugar, rice, peas,
beans and lard are the foOdstuffs sup
piled by the American Friends commit
tee. OF the different menus afforded
the most popular among the Berlin
children is a kind of pOrridge made of
flour, condensed milk, sugar and lard,
eaten with a roll.
Sixty per cent flour is furnished.
Fraulein Barth spoke of it with en-
lthusiasm. 'Such flour hasn't been seen
in Berlin for years. she exclaimed.
i:Crowds come to look at it,"
The committee began work in Ger
many the latter part of February. The
Kapp revolution and the consequent
disorders in Saxony and the Ruhr
greatly interfered with operations.
However. in Berlin, $4,000 Of the esti-
mated $4,000 to 100000 needy children
are now being fed, and the work in
the provinces is being extended as fast
as conditions permit. 1t is hoped soon
to reach all the most urgent cases
throughout the country. Germany has
been divided into eleven districts, with
Berlin as headquarters and the princi-
pal substations Mt Hamburg, Leipzig,
Dresden and Chemnitz. The Organiza-
ton is said to have sufficient funds to
continue its mission in Germany until
the harvest begin to come in, about
Aug. l. German crop prospects are
poor, however, and the harvest is eX-
pected to give only temporary relief.
Reported by Doctor.
Every child receiving food has been
reported by a registered physician as
underfed. Political or religious cOn
sideratiOns play no part in the chill
dren's selection. The food received
from the committee is in addition, it
has been stipulated, to the regular ra-
tons allowed by the German authori-
ties.
A few weeks of regular feeding
makes n remarkable difference in the
appearance of the children. Little
ones that look to be nine years old
and are actually IL or II grow up
amazingly" as one of the kitchen at
PENDANTS putt.
In addition to children up to II,
nursing and expectant mothers also
share in the committees bounty.