FEEDING THE HUNGRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 212, 15 February 1915, Page 6

FEEDING THE HUNGRY.

SAD SCENES IN 15ELGIUM. ALL CLASSES TAKE THEIR PLACE IN THE BREAD LINE. The economic condition of the people in Belgium is graphically revealed in tin- following extracts from n. cablegram sent to the New York World, by Sir Arno Dusch, who recently returned to London from Belgium:— e '•I have made a two weeks _ oour 01 Belgium to see how the American and (.t!"'r food is being distributed, and 1 can' sav that it is Soing right to the mouths by the swiftest and surest nutans. Only hungry Belgains are getting it, and not one sack of (lour i:s foinc to the German soldiers. If Belgium is not to starve this winter, the United States must send a continuous string of ships loaded with grain an-! flour.' What has arrived, has already eaten at once. r lherc is no surplu-. The Germans are acliially facilitatii:.', til., transportation of food, and even permitting the u-;c of the railway.

A DELICATE SITUATION. "The slightest misunderstanding might even now upset everything The relations between the Germans and Belgians are strained and dangerous. Jii Brussels I felt as if I v.'.-.' c:i ill-:

half-formed crust of a vo-cano. A single hasty action by an Ae'eeeeiit might bring disaster. The thirty Americans in Belgium have trying positions, and Minister Whitloek has the worst. He stands between the Germans and the Belgians, but his word is accepted by both sides. He has remarkable personal power, and responsibility. "The most difficult, situation is due to the billeting of soldiers on families and the use of bote's. A quarter of a million soldiers are in the area fed with the Commissioners' grain, and to keep those soldiers from eating the neutral food is Mr Whitloek'» task. He does-it-by an exact computation of how much food soldiers eat, and that much food must be turned over to him by the Germans! n advance. As this problem concerns chiefly bread, and as the bakeries are practically communal institutions, exactness of information is possible. Mr Whitlock's figures are accept-, ed by the Germans without question.

"The National Committee of Relief lias 47 soup kitchens in Brussels alone, to which all classes of people come. There is 110 shame i„ buying at a spup kitchen. I saw the Liege branch of this committee issue bread to 00.000 people at one point. It took nearly three hours to do it, and though the line was foul deep and kept moving rapidly, a. record of the recipient of every loaf of bread was kept. I was a quarter of a milt away when the distribution began, and I was swept along in a great ariuv of hungry people pouring through the'narrow streets. Anyone who saw that hungry throng would stop (sating bread himself to see that the Belgians got it.

EIGHT MILLION DEPENDENTS. ''Brussels is feeding 280.,000 people twice a day with soup and bread; Antwerp has about the name number. At least four million people in Belgium are getting their food through the Relief Commission. Within six weeks the bulk of the food ij! Belgium will have come from the United States. This means everyone will have to give more generously. We shall have eight million people on our hands. "I have stood in the long soup bread line in Brussels watching the half rations being handed out to all classes of people. As their readv money gives out they must fall into line Manufacturing is stopped. First workmen, then small shopkeepers, and now professional men are appearing daily for their soup and bread'.

"In Malines T was besieged by youngsters begging for money. T thought at first they might not really be hungry, but their eyes were proof. Finally, when I was stripped of monev, 1 thought of a sandwich in my pocket. I hail hardly got it out when it was pounced upon by dozens, who tore and clawed for it. In the scramble the sandwich nas ripped to pieces, some bits plunged into eager little mouths, others falling ill the street and again scrambled for."