History of the World War, Volume 2 (of 7)

by Jr. Francis A. March; Richard J. Beamish

As far as the Cardinal was concerned German action was a very delicate matter. They could not arrest and imprison so great a dignitary of the Church for fear of the effect, not only upon the Catholics of the outer world, but on the Catholics in their own Empire. An officer was sent to the Cardinal to demand that the letter be recalled. The Cardinal refused. He was then notified that it was desired that he remain in his palace for the present. His confinement lasted only for a day.

The Americans who were in Belgium as representatives of the Relief Commission had two duties. First, to see that the Germans did not seize any of the food supplies, and second, to see that every Belgian who was in need should receive his daily bread. The ration assigned to each Belgian was 250 grams of bread per day. This seems rather small, but the figure was established by Horace Fletcher, the American food expert, who was one of the members of the commission.

Mr. Fletcher also prepared a pamphlet on food values, which gave recipes for American dishes which were up to that time unknown to the Belgians. He soon got not only the American but the Belgian committeemen talking of calories with great familiarity.

Some of the foods sent from America were at first almost useless to the Belgians. They did not know how to cook cornmeal and oatmeal, and some of the famished peasants used them as feed for chickens. Teachers had to be sent out through the villages to give instructions.

A great deal of difficulty developed in connection with the bread. The supply of white flour was limited; wheat had to be imported, and milled in Belgium. It was milled so as to contain all the bran except ten per cent, but in some places ten or fifteen per cent of cornmeal was added to the flour, not only to enable the commission to provide the necessary ration, but also to keep down the price. As a result the price of bread was always lower in Belgium than in London, Paris or New York.

Much less trouble occurred in connection with the distribution of bread and soup from the soup kitchens. In Antwerp thirty-five thousand men were fed daily at these places. At first it often occurred that soup could be had, but no bread. The ration of soup and bread given in the kitchens cost about ten cents a day. There were four varieties of soup, pea, bean, vegetable and bouillon, and it was of excellent quality. Every person carried a card with blank spaces for the date of the deliveries of soup. There were several milk kitchens maintained for the children, and several restaurants where persons with money might obtain their food.

It was necessary not only to fight starvation in Belgium but also disease. There were epidemics of typhoid and black measles. The Rockefeller Foundation established a station in Rotterdam called the Rockefeller Foundation War Relief Commission, and some of the women among its workers acted as volunteer health officers. People were inoculated against typhoid, and the sources of infection traced and destroyed. Another form of relief work was providing labor for the unemployed. A plan of relief was drawn up and it was arranged that a large portion of them should be employed by the communal organizations, in public works, such as draining, ditching, constructing bridges and embankments and building sewers.

The National Committee paid nine-tenths of the wages, the commune paying the other tenth. The first enrolment of unemployed amounted to more than 760,000 names, and nearly as many persons were dependent upon these workers.

Providing employment for these led to certain complications. The Germans had been able up to this time to secure a certain amount of labor from the Belgians. Now the Belgian could refuse to work for the German, and a great deal of tact was necessary to prevent trouble. As time went on the relief work of the commission was extended into the north of France, where a population of more than 2,000,000 was within the German zone. The work was handled in the same way, with the same guarantees from Germany.

In conclusion a word may be said of the effect of all this suffering upon the Belgian people, and let a Belgian speak, who knew his country well and had traveled it over, going on foot, as he says, or by tram, from town to town, from village to village: