Evening star., 1948-08-08


! = growing nearer
/ every day the
/ Rev Ernest
Dick, secretary
Mr.. Dick. of the General
Conference of Seventh-day Ad-
ventlsts, was in Germany.
Mr.. Dick has just returned to
Takoma Park from flve-week sur
yev of Seventh-day Adventist con-
eregations and missionary church
properties in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dus-
seldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Han
mover, Stuttgart, Neanderthal ana
Bielefeld. With him on this mission
and still in Europe were Elder Mel
son, treasurer of the General Con-
ference and chairman of its relief
program. and Elders l.. Dickson,
Cossentine and w. B. Ochs.
The critical need is for 1ooo'
Mr.. Dick told me. The rations are
sufficient, perhaps, to keep the
people alive but are insuftlclent TO
give them the strength to resist
disease, the rigors of severe VIM
ter or additional hardship. The in
cessant drone of the planes in the
Vittles Operation is the music which
sustains the spirit of the people OF
Berlin. The American sector OF
Berlin is actually an island IN the
midst of the Russian zone.
Produce Goes to Invaders.
Prior to the war Germany pro-
duced IS per cent of her food re-
ouirements, according to Mr.. Dick
But the eastern section, which pro-
duced 25 per cent of this amount,
was handed over to Poland. For
two other reasons Germany does not
benefit substantially from what she
produces today. In the French and
Russian zones, the occupation per-
sonnel are supported largely by
military economy Again, a very
large part of both the agricultural
and industrial products in the Rus
sian zone are taken over by the
occupational forces and sent to the
Soviet Union. Huge quantities OF
sugar, potatoes and manufactured
goods are rolled away to the east.
Despite this the Germans are
working hard and making super
human effort to meet their own
food needs. Mr.. Dick saw garden
allotments in the suburbs OF every
city he visited In addition, house
holders cultivated every inch OF soil
around their dwellings. There were
few lawns and parks in Germany
Every kind of receptacle was filled
with soil and planted with garden
crop. The unseasonably cold sum
mer over all Germany and heavy
rains were crop deterrents.
! Their struggle for existence ano
the uncertainty of their future have
chiseled deeper and deeper lines in
the already pale and emaciateo
faces of the people. Most adults
have lost weight. OF the $500 chill
dren of Thuringia, as reported by
it's Board of Health, u per cent &c
to school without breakfast, SIS pei
cent have only bread for breakfast
81 per cent take no food with them
to school, II per cent Of all families
have no potatoes, 10 per cent ol
all children have no dinner.
i Children Are Stunted.
! Everywhere he went Mr.. DICE
, saw u and 13-year- old children
who looked to be or years old
They chewed crusts of black breae
!, avidly. Many wore Wooden-solee
sandals, a poor protection agains'
chilblains and frost-bitten feet next
winter.
The returning prisoners Of wal
were physical and spiritual wrecks
, There was frightful overcrowdinl
in the German cities visited by Mr.
Dicks group. Refugees and dis
placed persons fleeing the Baltic
states have helped to increase the
population from 400 to 600 pei
square mile.
In Hamburg, quarters intended
for two to four persons were housing
nine to IS, even as many as 20
Efforts we're being made to require
a floor area of 7 to 9 square feet
per person.
Even in the best shop windows
little was seen except a meagel
supply of shoddy goods at exorbl-
tant prices. The chief needs among
the people generally were for shoes
warm winter clothing, fats, pow
dered milk, sugar, flour, oatmea
and legumes.
I Simnle cheese sandwiches, 6
banana and an orange which Mr.
Dicks group allotted fellow German
church workers during an all-day
trip constituted supreme luxury
/ The bananas were the first they flac
eaten in seven years. The peelings
from their own oranges and those
of the visiting Americans were
treasured to take home in then
pockets as if they were strips OF gold
They would be used to flavor the
ersatz spread for black bread.
With fearful outpourings OF
gratitude, the American Adventists
were thanked by hundreds in the
church congregations for the Lie
bes- gaben" of food and clothing
sent by the General Conference In
the United States.
"Churches are filled once again
with those who are turning to re-
ligion as way of hope in theil
plight" Mr.. Dick said. Every op-
portunity should be taken by all
religious groups as the surest way
to help combat the ideologies OF
communism to which desperate peo-
pie may turn"
Mr.. Dick is particularly happy
that children are not compelled tt
60 to school on Sundays as they
were during the Hitler regime. Sun.
day schools are now crowded with
young people who were formerly
swept into Hitler youth camps and
other Nazi group organizations.
Too high praise cannot be giver
the United States military anc
civilian authorities in Germany fol
SUMMER CAMPS.