CIVILIAN RELIEF IN BELGIUM AND FRANCE During the occupation of Belgium, inhabitants found them selves in desperate straits from interruption of agriculture and the confiscation of stocks by the occupying forces. Belgium's essen tial food imports were cut off, and hordes of refugees fled before the advancing German armies. Herbert Hoover, an American en gineer, with the backing of the U.S. Government persuaded the Allied Govts. to open the blockade and to secure guarantees from Germany against interference and requisitioning of local food products. The Commission for Relief in Belgium (C.R.B.) estab lished by Herbert Hoover as a neutral organization in the midst of war, possessed recognized diplomatic rights and obligations, flew its own flag and issued its own passports.
Food had to be supplied to the 9,000,00o inhabitants of Bel gium and northern France. It had to be secured in disorganized markets; supplies had to pass across mine-strewn waters through the naval blockade, and be towed through 133m. of obstructed waterways, passing across the German military line. Relief ves sels, 2,313 in number, carried in the neighbourhood of 1oo,000 tons each month for nearly five years.
The commission formed a committee of Germans, Belgians and Americans which took over harvests of breadstuffs, insuring equi table distribution to the civil population. The world's charity was mobilized through nearly 2,00o committees. Within Belgium and northern France were set up nearly 1o,000 communal committees. Purchasing and shipping agencies were organized in the principal world markets and ports. Offices for governmental liaison were maintained at Brussels, London, Paris and Washington. Upon America's entry into the war the C.R.B. remained unchanged,
except for the necessary withdrawal of American directors from within the German lines. The Spanish-Dutch committee for the protection of the relief in Belgium and northern France took over diplomatic and other functions within the lines. The national committees, one Belgian and one French, administered distribu tion. These were the Belgian Comite National de Secours et d'Alimentation and the Comite d'Alimentation du Nord de la France under the leadership of Emile Francqui.
During the whole period the commission acquired goods well over $1,300,000,000 in value, including interchange of native products. More than 55,00o volunteers gave their services. Over 5,000,000 tons of supplies were imported. The Belgian Government granted monthly fixed subsidies to the commis sion from loans advanced by the United States, Great Britain and France. The actual financial resources of the commission amounted to $894,797,150, the expenditure of the benevolent side of the relief organization was $615,237,147 of this total. Of the total funds available to the commission, 47% came from the United States ($421,153,287) ; 23% from French Treasury loans ($204,862,854) ; 24% from British empire sources ($125,686, 364) ; and 16% from other sources. The total administrative ex penditure of the C.R.B. was kept down to less than one-half of one per cent. The average prices maintained for staple foods in the occupied territory during the entire period of the war were from 15 to 20% less than prices in the Allied countries at the same periods. The Belgian and French Governments in May 1919 took the responsibility of feeding their people.