Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-05-29
Cuduhy

Continued From First Page)
classroom and so she had decided
to wait for better days before re-
Stunning his studies.
Rene'S father changed the subject
to America. Like many Europeans,
he was always talking about Amer
lea and asking questions about that
dreamland where everybody was
rich and happy and where in great
abundance were found all the good
things of this earth.
But I suppose even in America
you feel the WARP" he asked.
Yes" I lied. I'm a world of dis
aSter like this no one can escape"
America Rolls in Fat.
I thought of our elevators piled
with grain cereals, stocks of frozen
meats in our refrigerators, tier
upon-tie of bacon, ham and lard,
marketleSs SURPRISES of Wisconsin
milk, cream, butter and cheese. I
thought of the great ranks of over
eating American dyspeptics. the
endless line of Succulent hotdog and
hamburger stands stretching from
New York to California and the
vast wilderness of waste from over
loaded American tables. enough in
itself to feed all furnishing Belgium.
And I was silent.
There is something revolving and
depraved in the spectacle of suffering
inflicted upon child. 1t is like
witnessing the slapping of a blind
mans face, and I felt hurt and
grieved and at the same time bitterly
resentful. So I went to see my
friend DR.. Nolf, at the Office of the
Red Cross, to tell him the story of
Rene Colin.
I must have put some of the
vehemence I felt into words for
when I finished, the doctor was
standing at the window, his spec
tacles off, his handkerchief wiping
his eyes.
You must excuse me-" he apollo
gized. Il am ashamed. am an
old doctor and accustomed to human
misery, but I have never seen any
thing like this now in Belgium"
One Case of Many Thousands.
Then he told me that Rene's case
was only one of hundreds of thou
sands. Two million children of Bel
GUM under Is were all seriously
underfed. The human organism, he
said, was like locomotive; you had
to feed it fuel to keep it in motion,
a minimum amount on the level and
more for the climb or an extra pull.
But children are like plants" he
went on. They must have protein
in butter, eggs, meat and milk for
building tissues, bone structure and
teeth. Here in Belgium before this
war an average person had an in
take of 3,400 fuel units which we
medical people call Galleries. I adj
init that was too much. We stuffed
ourselves, but 2,400 Galleries are
essential to keep the human loco
motive at level"
Brussels was city of walking
wraiths, but Dr. Nolf said his main
worry was not about grown people.
What concerned him above all was
the blighting influence upon the
rising generation, who could never
grow without the materials for
growth and who, because they could
not get these materials, were rapidly
developing diseases like ricketts,,
oedema, partial blindness, bronchial
pneumonia, tuberculosis, pellagra,
eczema and anemia. Most children,
he said, were now eating only one
quarter of what medical opinion had
always considered minimum for the
maintenance of health and normal
growth. He showed me a study by
his colleague, DR.. Van wye, which
indicated that 70 per cent of the
large number of children examined,
between the ages of and 6, were
below normal in stature and weight
and "a per cent of those between
6 and IA we're below standard.
Changes Schools.
We went to the Quarter Marches,
that picturesque old quarter with
the narrow streets sloping down
from the Palace of Justice Hill, their
cobblestones ground smooth by the
grinding poverty of generations, all
so graphically described by former
Ambassador Brand Witlock. The
principal of a large primary school
we visited said forced fasting had
reduced attendance by one-third.
For the last two months he had
given little thought to the cur
riculum, since all his energy was
devoted to devising methods of pro-
viding his pupils with something to
eat. A daily ration came from
Secours Olivier winter help in
large tin containers which looked
like ash cans.
We went to the refectory to in
spect this ration. pale green mess
said to be a mixture of potatoes
and rutabaga. 1t would be the
main meal Of the pupils for the
day and in many cases their only
meal. Most of the pupils come to
their lessons without breakfast, the
principal said, and there were few
who got three meals a day. Lucky
ones, where there were not too
many in the family, had slice or
bread in the morning or evening.
In the classroomes heavy apathy
was apparent in the listless bearing
of the pale, pinched-faced boys with
their dark-circled eyes. The teach
ers said they made no attempt to