FEEDING BELGIUM
HOW THE LITTLE KINGDOM HAS
RESPONDED TO ITS OWN
NEEDS.
By the middle of August the Ameri
can Commission for Relief in Belgium
will have expended $65,000,000 in be
half of the people of that unfortunate
land.
Of this great amount America con
tributes $5,000,000; Belgium itself $55,
000,000, and the rest of the world $5.
000,000. In other words Belgium, beg
gared and despoiled, is paying 75 per
cent of the enormous total needed to
keep Its people from starvation.
When the American Commission
took charge of affairs in Belgium there
was no metallic money In the country.
Different communes were printing
paper money of their own, which had
no value outside Belgium.
Negotiations were opened with the
belligerent governments for permission
to set up a form of exchange whereby
persons or institutions abroad owing
money in Belgium should turn over to
the commision the amount due. The
commission undertook to pay their
debts for them in Belgium out of paper
money which It received from the sale
of foodstuffs. The belligerent nations
agreed to this after long negotiations,
and there was thus set up a form of
exchange. The commission is today
the only institution which is doing a
systematic hanking business across
enemy lines.
The communes hnve heen enabled In
this manner to procure money to pay
communal officers, to maintain the
schools and keep up municipal works,
thus enabling the Belgium* to carry on
the details of civil government and
saving the country from the danger of
anarchic conditions.
Before this machinery was set up
practically the whole population was
dependent on the world’s charity, pa
per money being of no avail. The in
itial appeal of the commission, there
fore, was made on behalf of the 7,
000,000 of people.
The commission estimated it would
cost about $3,000,000 a month to sup
port the destitute. Having a complete
monopoly of the importation of food
stuffs, and being thus enabled to fix
its own prices, the commission decided
to place the price of bread at such a
figure that It would show a small pro
fit. This profit has been turned over
toward the support of the destitute.
Furthermore, as some of the com
munes In Belgium still had resources,
or at least credit, the commission de
cided that a portion of the costs of feed
ing the impoverished should be im
posed upon the communes. By this
means the amount of benevolence
claimed from the outside world has
been reduced largely.
By its careful purchases of food
stuffs in the primary centers, by the
chartering of its ships and by the
elimination of middlemen and the sub
stitution of monopolistic and volun
tary effort, the commistsion has been
able to maintain the price of bread in
Belgium since November 1 at an aver
age figure of more than 10 per cent
under the price of bread in London.
Notwithstanding this fact, it is pro
bable the profit derived from the sale
of bread by September 1 will have
amounted to 60 per cent of as much
ns the benevolence of the entire world.
As the net result of these operations
ti e Belgians, although they faced fam
ine, have never had to meet it.
Of late the commission has extended
its work into northern Franco and
taken on an additional 2,000,000 per
sons. They are being handled in the
same manner as the Inhabitants of
Belgium.
WAR FARMING
The shortage in farm labor in Eng
land Is causing increasing unrest in
agricultural circles.
In some sections the scarcity of farm
hands is not as serious as the lack of
horses. The lack of male labor is be
ing filled so far as possible by the use
of female and child labor.
In the dairy and in the care of small
stock it is likely that male labor will
be almost entirely dispensed with.
Much of the lighter field work also i$
being done by women and in the mar
ket gardening districts they may be
seen In large numbers at such tasks as
weeding and setting plants. On some
of the smaller holdings they have even
undertaken the rougher work of plow
ing and cultivating.
Some of the agricultural colleges
have organized short courses of in
struction for women wh’o are willing
to enter farm work. The course of in
struction includes milking, dairy work,
livestock, poultry, preparation of land,
use of tools, planting and cultivation.
The course reviews elgh' hours’ work
daily for 14 days.
Wages throughout the farming dis
tricts have advanced sharply the aver
age Increase being about a dollar
weekly.
SEEING AMERICA
A LESSON IN ITS WONDERS BY
A NEWLY ARRIVED RUSSIAN
Some years ago a newly arrived
Russian—a business man who had)
I
come to settle in the United States—
sat at a table in New York with sev
ral Americans. When they asked him
of hia plans, he said that first and fore
most he intended going to see Horlcon.
Most of his hearers looked blank and
one asked what business Mr. Horicon
might be engaged in.
It was the shock of that Russian’s
life, comments a writer in Munaey’s
when he learned that not one of those
in the party had ever seen Lake
George—not one had ever wandered
over the sacred ground of Cooper,
"Cooper of the wood and wave.”
Then he told them how. as a boy, he
had surled up by the fire in the bleak
Russian winters and read translations
of the Leatherstocking Tales until he
knew more of the natural geography
of northers New York than any man
present. And he talked of it for an
hour, with shining eyes and vibrant
voice, as a Mohammedan might speak
of the home of the prophet. With his
eyes fixed on Lake George, he had
hastened past the immemorial civiliza
tion of the Mediterranean, straight to
the one place on earth that was to him
holy land—the land of Uncas and Lea
therstocking. And each year since
then he has gone back, as to a shrine.
STOIC RUSSIAN CAPTIVES
The only happy Russian prisoners 1
have seen are the wounded ones who
lie in German hospitals near the front,
free from vermin at last, and by their
beds a pot of ointment which will in
sure their continuance in that blissful
state, writes James O’Donnell Dennett
in the Chicago Tribune.
The Russian prisoners are swarthy
men in uniforms of a dirty grayish
brown—the least dressy color imag
inable—and they are clearing away
the debris of bombardment, mending
the roads, or peering out beneath the
bars of churchyard gates, speaking
the national word that Is forever on
Russian lips—"Nitchevo’’ (It doesn't
matter).
In the morning you see them at the
churchyard gates dickering with Po
lish wompn for bread and cigarettes,
their fur caps emphasizing the sug
gestion of hungry bears in their ap
pearance. They work with a good will
and they are not allowed to stagnate
for want of work.
Thousands of the Russian prisoners
who have been transported to Ger
many have been put to work on the
Elbe canal, which is being built at a
cost of $150,000,000. They aer well
paid.
I never saw a Russian prisoner give
a sign of resentment nor henrd one
utter a word that sounded like com
plaint. “Nitchevo” tells their whole
story and the Germans have caught It
up from them, applying it to many an
irksome situation that is most easily
borne by pretending that “It doesn’t
matter.”
Thus the sad men in dirty brown
have taught us a lesson in fortitude.
The plight of the wounded prisoners in
tiansit is often so bitter hard that
only a Russian could say “Nitchevo”
and mean it.
A sorrier mess I never saw than that
in which Russians had to dwell during
s me days at Lowicz before railway
cars could be spared for moving them
into Germany. The prison was the
abbey church and the floor of the abbey
churclt was a kind of morass of melt
ing snow, sodden straw and bloody
bandages.
The night tires had burned low and
around them lay the silent wounded,
one man in each group who had a good
leg or a sound arm occupying himself
in throwing snow and wet straw
around the edges of the Are when It
showed signs of spreading over the
floor.
“This Is very dangerous, said “lleber
Putz.” the Munich artist who was
painting with Icy fingers in one of the
side chapels. But what was to be
done? The wounded could not be al
lowed to perish for lack of fire and,
other than this huge church, there was
no housing for them in Lowicz.
Confessional boxes had been turned
on their sides and some of the wounded
were sleeping in them. Others lay
along the top of the flight of steps
leading up to the altars in the side
chapels.
GOOD-BY, OOLLAR
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Every dollar you send out of town
tlys away with a VALUE that right
fully belongs to YOUR community.
Spend It at home, with your home
merchant, where its value stays with
YOU and helps to build up YOUR In
terests. When you come to think of it
there are only two kinds of dollars—the
"Dollar with Wings” and the “Devel
opment Dollar.” The "Dollar with
Wings” goes to build up the Far Dis
tant City, the Big Metropolis, with its
vice and crime and low wages and
poverty. The “Development Dollar”
goes to build up the Home Town. It
helps build up a nation of real men and
women. Then, let us make the dollars
we spend "Development Dollars,” home
town builders, building for us and our
neighbors and our children, making
OUR community more prosperous,
more happy, more contenter by sub
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ORDER MINING EDITIONS
The forthcoming number of the Nome
Nugget Mining Edition Is progressing
nicely. It will undoubtedly be more
interesting than any previous editions
and will contain many subjects other
than mining—in fact a magazine de
picting the entire peninsula. An in
creased edition will be published this
year and there will probably be enough
for all, but to insure receiving your
copies it would be best to send in your
order at once, 50c per copy, or $5.00 a
dozen. Postage 5 cents per copy.
HOFFMAN HOUSE.
Special dinner served 8unday.
Meals at all hours.
Family dining room in connection.
Home made bread for sale.
MRS. GINNIVAN. Prop.
Chickens 50c per pounj; also some
nice fryers. Eggs 75c per dozen. Geo.
Prosser ahaiu Black 5.
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aamvwaanww^wvy//^
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ELITE HOTEL AND BATHS
Steam Heated. Electric Lighted. The best service assured guests.
The best hotel to stop at while in town.
STEAM AND SHOWER BATHS IN CONNECTION.
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COR. FRONT AND B STREETS. J. M. MONAHAN, Prop.
BARBER SHOP with 2 chairs and other fixtures for rent at the
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Scotch Whiskey, a specially Ol ' Curio, 20 years old, Wm. IV, Haig
Haig ***** Perfection Johnn e Walker, Mortach, Black and White,
Dewar’s Special, Seattle’s Best Beer. White and Gold. Smoke M. and
W. Cigars. The best in the market.
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