New-York tribune., 1920-12-30
Starving Children of Eu.
rope Represented by
Vacant Chair Between
Pershing and Hoover
S2,O1l,21l i'm Aid
Pledged by Diners
Rice, Stale Bread and Co.
Goa Comprise the Menu
ON Bare Board Tables

If the hungry children Of central anc
eastern Europe could have peeped into
sthe grand ballroom of the Hotel Com
modore last night they would have be.
| held about 1000 men and women. all
IN evening clothes and most Of them
millionaires, each eating $1,000
dinner
But it was not the lavish dinner
$1,000 ordinarily would buy. Savory
dellcac!es were absent. Rafting tin
cups took the place of clinking cut
glasses; glittering silver cutlery was
discarded for iron knives and forks
and instead of guests sitting before
tables covered with immaculate, linen
the hungry children would have seen
John u. Rockefeller ir. Prince Casimir
Lubomirskl, General Pershing, Mrs.
August Belmont, Otto H. Kahn, Mrs
Wizard Straight, Mys. Felix Warburg,
Henry l.. Stimson, Alfred E. Marling
Herbert Hoover and scores of others
gathered around bare wooden tables.
Menu for Sl,O0O,OOO Dinner
The menu OF this 81 100000 dinner,
which was served the guests at the
rate of about $50 bite, consisted IF
only three dishes The dishes we're:
Boiled rice.
stale unbuttcred bread
Cocoa.
Beef stew was to have been served
instead Of the rice, but it was elimi-
mated on the ground of economy.
a III i,},
Of a ragged child, eagerly devouring
rice out of tin bowl, and saying:
Thank you for saving me-"
Between General Pershing and MI
Hoover in the center of the speakers
& bic, stood an empty chair. The empty
chair was occupied by the "invis bic
guest the 350. .o0O starving children
Tor whose benefit the dinner was given.
The dinner was arranged by Mr..
Hoover. General Pershing and Franklin
X. Lane, of the European Relief Coun-
Gil, which had undertaken TO raise
S33 600 900 for the relief of $500 900
children war victims. Ten per cent Of
the children are to be taken care Of by
tho New York committee.
Mr.. Hoover announced that as the
dinner sold for "$1 900 plate and up
actually $2,O11,22l had been raised
from it, since many Of the diners had
"oversubscribed" He decla red that
this sun, would take care Of 2Ol 900
children until next years harvest.
Relief 2aticns Served
The cost OF each dinner served was
90 cents, but even this small cost was
not deducted from the pr &C paid, for
all overhead had been provided for by
special contribut on. The reason why
rice, bread and cocoa were selected,
Mr.. Hoover said, was because they rep
resent the exact fare which the coun-
Gil is now engaged in distributing TO
the destitute children through 10000
elm 'cs, hospitals. feeding stations and
orphanages scattered through eastern
and central Europe.
Four portable army cooking Kitchens
in which the food was prepared were
wheeled into the grand ballroom to
show the guests what Kind Of vehicles
the European children like most
Not only were the children present
in the form of an 'invisible guest" as
Mr.. Hoover declared, but message
from the children was read 1t was
penned by Mr. Lane as having come
from ali the children in Europe. It
said:
I'VE. the unhappy children of Eu-
rope, send you our gratitude. BY
every WlNQ tnaC DIONS OuilllS tHiS lOHS
winter we will be whispering cur
thanks to our American saviors.
Eve are only boys and girls, you
know; not men and women. We did
not make this awful war We are its
last victims, and we cannot help our
selves; always and always We Will hate
to think of war.
"To die in battle, they say,is not hard
because it is SO quick and because it
comes in q game. But to die slowly is
not easy, and to see your playmates
grow thinner and thinner and weaker
and weaker in their cry for food-that
is not easy. We do not think Go |
meant it to be so, do you?'
Rice consumed and tin plates pushed
aside, Mr.. Hoover, his arm hung low
ingly over the back of the empty chair,
pointed out the prosperity of America
and said no one had ground for being
despondent mere.
But" he said, eve will have ground
for dcspondcrcy if we fail in that i'm
pulse of charity by which our sur
puses can be placed in the hands Of
these needy children. So long az any
person in this nation can entertain an
automobile, he can entertain an invis-
iblc guest. There are 100000 auto
mobiles and only 100000 guests.
fContnued on mex. paoe)