THE COMMISSION
FOR RELIEF IN BELGIUM

APPENDIX I

THE ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE C.R.B.

The administrative structure of the C.R.B. was determined in both scope and detail by the nature of the problem of relief in Belgium and Northern France. That problem, as an earlier chapter has shown, was, briefly, the provisioning of a population of over 9,000,000, deprived of their means of income, cut off from the source of their supplies, and concentrated in a territory of 20,000 square miles occupied by the forces of an enemy power. Immediately after the invasion voluntary relief committees, caring first for refugees and homeless, sprang up, especially in the cities. These independent and widely separated committees soon secured the small stocks of food still remaining in the country. Their efforts could, however, but postpone the crisis, for famine threatened the whole population, rich and poor, unless importation of over 100,000 tons each month was assured. Into this emergency came the Commission for Relief in Belgium, to which the belligerents granted permission, under stringent conditions, to penetrate the blockade and distribute relief. By this means a way was found through neutral Holland for the passage of supplies from the west to the Belgians and French within the German lines. The relief organization by no means came into the field full grown, but its growth, in the emergency, was rapid. The summary of its administrative structure as outlined here takes it at its full development.

.

1. Relief Organizations

Three collaborating organizations were responsible for the control and administration of relief in the occupied regions of Belgium and Northern France. These organizations were:

The Commission for Relief in Belgium (C.R.B.), directed by Americans and under the patronage of the American Ambassadors and Ministers in London, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin, and Paris, and the Spanish Ambassador and Minister, respectively, in London and Brussels, and the Netherlands Minister at Havre, had full responsibility for all the phases of collection of finance and transportation of relief outside the occupied territory. Through its representatives on the Belgian and French committees it was responsible for the strict fulfillment of the guarantees and stipulations of the belligerent governments in respect to relief distribution within the occupied territories.

The Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (Comité National), under the patronage of the Spanish and American Ministers in Brussels, was composed principally of Belgians, but it included in its membership American representatives of the C.R.B. This Belgian central committee through its provincial, regional, and communal subcommittees was responsible for the distribution of relief throughout out Belgium.

The Comité d'Alimentation du Nord de la France (Comité Français), a French committee with headquarters in Brussels, included in its membership representatives of the C.R.B. and the Comité National. In Northern France, district, regional, and communal committees were responsible for the distribution of relief and over these the C.R.B. exercised control through its representatives in the field.

Aside from these three principal organizations there were three others of later origin engaged in administration:

The Comité Hispano-Néerlandais pour la Protection du Ravitaillement en Belgique et dans le Nord de la France, established in 1917, was composed of neutral Dutch and Spanish citizens under the patronage of the Spanish Ambassador in London, the Spanish Consul-General in London, the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Spanish and Netherlands Ministers in Brussels, and the Netherlands Minister at Havre. Upon America's entry into the war, C.R.B. representatives in Belgium and Northern France were withdrawn, and Spanish and Dutch representatives of the committee, which was organized for this purpose, performed the duties of the Americans in Belgium in respect to belligerent guarantees and negotiations with the Germans.

The Comité Général de Ravitaillement des Régions Libérées, a French committee with headquarters at Lille, was organized after the Armistice to replace the Comité Français in the administration of relief in Northern France, pending the assumption of these responsibilities by the French Government.

The Comité d'Assistance des Régions Libérées avec le Concours de la C.R.B. organized in 1919 with French and American membership to continue the charitable work in Northern France after the dissolution of the Comité Général de Ravitaillement des Régions Libérées.

Ranged under the three principal committees, the C.R.B., Comité National and Comité Français, were a number of emergency bodies. Nearly 2,000 committees, scattered throughout the world, were engaged under the leadership of the C.R.B. in the collection of contributions for relief in money and kind. Within Belgium and Northern France, under the three principal committees in co-operation, there were nearly 5,000 separate committees dealing with food supplies, and an almost equal number dispensing charity.

The following table shows the approximate membership of the relief organization:

Administration

 
1. The Commission for Relief in Belgium. American personnel and supervising staff. Average membership

55

Appeal Committees

 
1. The Commission for Relief in Belgium  
2. State, city, and special committees in the United States, Hawaii,and Philippine Islands. Approximate membership

50,000

3. Associated committees in the British Empire, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, etc.; in Argentine, in Holland, in Italy, and elsewhere. Approximate membership

26,500

Distributing Committees

 
1. Belgium. The Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation and its subsidiary provincial, regional, and communal committees. Approximate membership

40,000

2. Northern France. The Comité d'Alimentation du Nord de la France (after 1918 the Comité Général de Ravitaillement des Régions Libérées) and its subsidiary district, regional, and communal committees. Approximate membership

15,000

Total approximate membership of relief organization

131,555

.

2. Organization outside the Occupied Territories

The fundamental functions of relief administration outside the German lines were the mobilization of finances, i.e. charity and government subventions, and the purchase and transportation of supplies. These were the responsibilities solely of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. To discharge these responsibilities the C.R.B. established its central office in London, with main branch offices in New York and in Rotterdam. For the collection of funds and gifts in kind it promoted the establishment of allied and associated committees in the centers of population throughout the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Holland, Italy, Spain, Argentine, Hawaii, Philippine Islands, and elsewhere. In the management of purchase and transportation of supplies the C.R.B. set up business offices or secured agency representatives in the principal purchasing centers and ports of the world, and it maintained large technical staffs in New York and in Rotterdam. These offices and committees all over the world, engaged in the diversified operations of assembling relief, communicated by cable or post direct, or through New York, to the central office of the C.R.B. in London. By especially privileged telegraph and courier service the London office maintained rapid communication through the belligerent lines with the Brussels office of the C.R.B.

.

3. Organization within Belgium and Northern France

The admirable organizing and administrative abilities of the Belgians and French promptly created a structure for relief distribution which rapidly developed into an efficient country-wide system, despite the presence of an occupying army. The fundamental policy was decentralization based on the normal political administrative divisions of Belgium and France. Thus under the Comité National and Comité Français came provincial and district committees, and under these, regional committees, and finally, communal committees. These communal committees, headed by the burgomasters in Belgium and maires in Northern France, included both communal officials and volunteers. The provincial committees in Belgium were composed of representatives of all sections of the province and two local delegates of the Comité National. The district committees in Northern France were of similar character, but their contact with the Comité Français in Brussels was obtained through representatives of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, two or more of whom collaborated with each provincial and district committee. In local matters the provincial and district committees had wide autonomy. Questions affecting the country as a whole were, in Belgium, decided at regular meetings of delegates, from the provincial committees, with the executives of the Comité National and the C.R.B. Due to restrictions on movement of civilians in Northern France the district committees of that area were represented in Brussels by American C.R.B. delegates. In addition to a central Brussels office the C.R.B. set up offices in each of the eleven provinces of Belgium and in the six districts of Northern France. The following table shows the administrative divisions, with the area and population and the number of communes and warehouses in each:

BELGIUM

  Provincial Committees Regional Warehouses Communes Area Sq. Miles Population October, 1917

1.

Antwerp

3

168

1,093

1,004,854

2.

Brabant

23

344

1,148

722,632

3.

Brussels

1

18

120

786,211

4.

East Flanders

26

316

1,600

1,206,456

5.

S. West Flanders (N)

6

56

365

224227

6.

West Flanders (S)

4

67

424

272:43 1

7.

Hainaut

9

446

1,437

1,248,911

8.

Liege

6

344

1,117

907,733

9.

Limbourg

14

210

931

285,741

10.

Luxembourg

21

234

1,706

249,945

11.

Namur

21

395

1,414

380, 53

  Totals

134

2,598

11,355

7,289,994

NORTHERN FRANCE

  District Committees Regional Warehouses Communes Area Sq.Miles Population October, 1917
1. Lille 6 107 345 560,002
2. Valenciennes 6 339 890 493,775
3. St. Quentin 21 511 1,652 291,977
4. Vervins 30 431 1,758 187,204
5. Charleville 21 339 1,847 152,000
6. Longwy 22 406 1,608 109,548
  Totals 106 2,133 8,100 1,794,506

BELGIUM AND NORTHERN FRANCE

  Provincial and District Committees Regional Warehouses Communes Area Sq. Miles Population October 1917
Totals 17 240 4,731 19,455 9,084,500

.

4. Volunteer Service

Because of the universal sympathy for Belgium it was possible for the C.R.B. to rely in a large measure on volunteer service and to secure the active participation, in the various departments of its work, of persons of wide experience and special training. The executive work was carried on by volunteers of broad experience in commercial and public affairs, and most of the department heads and many assistants were volunteers, paid men being employed only in specialized branches for which no experienced volunteer service was available. This policy of volunteer service extended far beyond the personnel of the relief organization. Governments, commercial firms, banks, transportation companies, gave invaluable advice and special services. Most of the firms engaged in commercial operations on behalf of the C.R.B. either returned their fees or made no charges. In the United States, Canada, and the Argentine the C.R.B. secured concessions in rates in rail transportation and a large amount of free transport in addition to general favors in extra facilities in handling and delivery of goods. Banks gave their exchange services and paid the full rate of interest on deposits; insurance was facilitated by the British Government; and the firms which placed insurance subscribed the equivalent of their fees. In Holland the C.R.B. was exempted from harbor dues, and the Netherlands Government granted free telegraphic service as well as free rail transport to Belgium. The German military authorities in Belgium abolished customs and canal dues on all C.R.B. imports and reduced railway rates one-half. The measure of the value of these free services and concessions was not only the minimum administrative costs(#490) of the organization but the low price at which foodstuffs were delivered to the consumer in Belgium and Northern France.

.

5. Operating Divisions

The two principal forms of activity of the relief organization were the provisioning of the entire population of Belgium and Northern France, and the care of the destitute. The two distinct divisions of the organization responsible for these operations were the Provisioning Department and the Benevolent Department, and this separation existed not only in the C.R.B., but in the co-operating bodies and in subcommittees wherever their activities extended to more than one function.

The Provisioning Department purchased, transported, and distributed relief supplies for the entire 9,000,000 population. All these goods were sold through the 4,731 communal stores established for this purpose. In the sale of these goods a small charge above actual cost was applied, and the surplus so raised created a reserve against losses and destruction of goods and became a source of support to the Benevolent Department.

The Benevolent Department was the agency through which the charity of the world was mobilized and distributed. Charitable funds as collected were applied, through the Provisioning Department, to the purchase of supplies, and these, with gifts in kind, were resold to the people. The entire receipts due to these transactions were turned over to the distributing side of the Benevolent Department. With these sums supplemented by the advances from the Provisioning Department out of its reserve, the Benevolent Department supplied the needy with means to purchase at the communal stores or made the purchases for them. Thus the poor became customers of the Provisioning Department as well as those who had their own resources.

.

6. Financial Methods

To understand the financial methods one must bear in mind that purchases of foodstuffs outside the occupied territories were necessarily made with gold, and that these foodstuffs when resold were paid for in local paper currency issue, all metal money and gold reserves having disappeared, and most of the Pre-war currency having been supplanted by local banking issues which were obviously not convertible into gold. Moreover, the export of these notes to Allied countries, and, in fact, of any form of securities, was prohibited by the German authorities. If there had been no economic or legal restrictions on exchange, the Provisioning Department, with a moderate working capital, would have revolved on itself. As it stood, however, it could only revolve in so far as the local currency could be interpreted into gold. With a view to solving this problem to some extent and to effecting other beneficial results, the C.R.B. obtained some slight relaxation of restrictions imposed by the belligerent governments, so that persons or institutions abroad who wished to make payments in Belgium could hand to the C.R.B. gold values abroad, and the organization undertook to make payments of corresponding sums in Belgium. These payments at a fixed rate of exchange were made in paper currency received from the sale of foodstuffs. In this form of commercial exchange no actual money or securities of any kind passed over the frontier, as the foodstuffs imported served as the implement of exchange.

The financial methods as applied in Belgium differed from those in Northern France for a number of reasons. The following represent the operations in Belgium:

Foodstuffs were acquired with gold abroad by:

a) Purchases with gift money, or gifts received in kind.

b) Purchases with gold from commercial exchange.

c) Purchases with governmental subsidies.

The foodstuffs were sold in Belgium for local currency, and provided:

a) Subsidies to the benevolent committees and benevolent institutions.

b) Liquidation of exchange described above.

c) Advances to savings and loan institutions, etc.

The expense of caring for the destitute was then partially covered by gifts from the public of money and food from abroad and partially by the surplus of the Provisioning Department. The amount available from these sources was by no means sufficient, and the Provisioning Department supplied out of its resources in local currency the additional amounts as required. These additional advances to the Benevolent Department were debited against the government subsidies. In the later stages when the amount of gifts became small proportionally to the total cost of relief, the Benevolent Department's requirements were largely provided through government subsidies.

In Northern France economic life was so disorganized and the restriction of the occupying army so rigid that the administration of relief consisted in placing a ration adapted to local needs in the hands of every man, woman, and child. The C.R.B. made no general appeal for charitable funds(#491) for the people of Northern France. All the inhabitants were considered as destitute, and rich and poor alike were dependent on provisions imported by the C.R.B. through the use of subsidies granted by the French Government. The C.R.B. charged the whole of the imported foodstuffs to the district committees, at fixed prices. The district committees, in turn, sold the foodstuffs to the communal committees at a small advance sufficient to cover the cost of local redistribution. The communes, in turn, resold the foodstuffs, without profit, to the population. Since the normal currency had disappeared each communal government printed its own notes of from 20 centimes up to 50 francs. This currency was put into circulation by the communes in payment for communal services, in loans to individuals against property, and in benevolence to the destitute. Under the latter two classes sufficient advances were made to enable the population to live. Communal committees, in accepting this local currency in payment for the ration of foodstuffs, became possessed of local communal currency representing the value of the foodstuffs issued. The committee then surrendered these notes to the communal authorities against obligation of the commune to pay an equivalent sum after the war. The district committees accepted these communal obligations, and in turn handed them to the C.R.B. against deliveries of food. In the hands of the C.R.B. these obligations, guaranteed by the individual members of the district committees, represented a form of acknowledgment for provisions purchased with government subsidies. The final liquidation of the pledged obligations of the communes, as well as the communal loans to individuals, both involving wide benevolent complications, became a matter for after-war consideration of the French Government.

As stated above, the C.R.B. fixed the price at which foodstuffs were debited to the district committees, at a rate slightly above the cost. The margin thus secured was a reserve against losses in transportation, by destruction, or deterioration, and a protection against fluctuations in exchange and food prices. As this reserve accumulated the Commission made rebates to the districts, which devoted the sums rebated to benevolent purposes. At the termination of relief operations the balance of reserve was employed for benevolence in Northern France in the same manner.

.

7. Sources of Funds

Funds secured by the C.R.B. for financing the provisioning and benevolent sides of the relief enterprise fall into four classifications according to their origin:

a) Government subsidies
b) Commercial exchange
c) World charity
d) Operating surplus

Government subsidies advanced to the C.R.B. by the United States, British, and French Governments in the form of loans to Belgium and to France reached the total of $700,540,443.38. The following tables segregate this total according to source and application:

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

Period

French Francs

Sterling

Florins

Dollars

Total Equivalent Dollars

"First Year"
Nov., 1914-Oct., 1915

227,500,000

7,100,000

......

.........

$ 75,586,648

"Second Year"
Nov., 1915-Oct., 1916

307,500,000

6,500,000

......

.........

101,985,364

"Third Year"
Nov., 1916-Oct., 1917

376,250,000

5,250,000

......

70,000,000

161,442,048

"Fourth Year"
Nov., 1917-Oct., 1918

........

......

......

180,000,000

180,000,000

"Fifth Year"
Nov., 1918-Aug., 1919

........

......

......

136,632,260

136,632,260

European Advances Credits, etc .

........

8,689,876

5,750,000

.........

44,894,123

Totals

911,250,000

27,539,876

5,750,000

$386,632,260

$700,540,443

NOTE: Dollar subsidies from U.S. Treasury began with the month of June, 1917. at which date monthly subsidies from British and French treasuries ceased. European expenditures of the Commission from June, 1917, onward were liquidated through credits established through the British Treasury and periodic cash advances by both British and French treasuries.

ANALYSIS OF GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

Monthly Advances as Loans to Belgium and France For Belgian Account For French Account Total Subsidies
From United States Treasury

$259,632,260

$127,000,000

$386,632,260

From British Treasury

94,181,411

14,863,918

109,045,329

From French Treasury

94,181,411

110,681,443

204,862,854

Totals

$447,995,082

$252,545,361

$700,540,443

Under the classification of Commercial Exchange the C.R.B secured a total of $6,328,328.50 represented by more than 100,000 remittances by individuals and institutions all over the world to friends in Belgium.

World charity in cash and gifts in kind amounted to a total of $52,290,835.51 as shown below:

Summary of World Charity (#492)

I. Cash donations

$20,490,322

II. Value of gifts in kind

31,800,513

Total world charity

$52,290,835

Analysis according to Country of Origin

From the United States

$34,521,027

66.0%

From the British Empire

16,641,035

31.8%

From general sources

1,128,773

2.2%

 

$52,290,835

100.0%

These moneys derived from these three sources constituted the basic capital of the Commission and were applied to the purchase and transportation of relief goods, for the general support of the relief organization, for remittances, and for support of the destitute. Through the financial methods previously described additional sums became available for the support of the destitute. These sums were the operating surplus and profits of the Provisioning Department and were derived in a large measure through the original sale of goods to the Comité National and the Comité Français. The margin on secondary sales by the Comité National to its subcommittees also contributed a substantial sum, as did incidental operations of the Provisioning Department outside the occupied territories. As will be seen, the level of prices to those who could pay, in the occupied territories, was the lowest in Europe during the war, yet the surplus and profits of the Provisioning Department amounted to $135,637,543.21. In this figure are reflected the voluntary service of members of the C.R.B. and the concessions and special privileges granted to the relief by individuals and by railways, steamships, telegraph, insurance, and brokerage companies all over the world. The following table shows the amount and origin of these funds:

I. Operation Surplus of Provisioning Department
Includes surplus on sales within Belgium and France and profits of the C.R.B. outside the occupied territories

$111,704,000

II. Profits earned inside Belgium
Profits transferred to the C.R.B. by the Comité National..

23,933,543

Total

$135,637,543

Funds secured from the four sources described above and disbursed by the Commission amounted to $894,797,150.40.(#493) From the first moment of its existence the officers of the Commission realized their responsibility in the stewardship of this great enterprise. At once, therefore, they placed the actual record of accounting as well as auditing of every department in the hands of an internationally known firm of accountants. Furthermore, complete statistical commodity records were maintained paralleling and expanding the accounting in all phases.

.

8. Foodstuff Purchases and Gifts

Excluding the native products of Belgium and Northern France which were controlled by the relief organization, the C.R.B. transported to the occupied territories over five million tons of relief supplies from 1914 to 1919. The program of importations of over 100,000 tons each month consisted chiefly of bread grains, cereals, and fats, which, for reasons of economy, were purchased in large quantities in primary markets. At certain times, however, some of the centers of production were inaccessible because of war conditions, and after 1917 the C.R.B. was forced to conform to the Allied policy which concentrated shipping, in the service of supplies, in the Atlantic. The following table shows the country of origin of imported relief supplies, including purchases as well as gifts:

 

Metric Tons

 
United States

3,116,271

60.2%

Canada

1,000,666

19.4%

Argentine

418,046

8.1%

United Kingdom

198,047

3.8%

Other countries

441,401

8.5%

Total

5,174,431

100.0%,

The amount of imports(#494) each year and the costs were:

 

Metric Tons

Total Cost

First

983,808

$ 68,9249221

Second

1,300,322

116,055,602

Third

724,175

115,297,780

Fourth

1,091,178

244,781,219

Fifth

1,074,948

261,150,491

Warehousing, insurance of Stocks

........

1,481,628

Totals

5,174,431

$807,690,941

In addition to the quantities shown above, the C.R.B. purchased over 200,000 metric tons of supplies which never reached Belgium and Northern France. Cargoes damaged or sunk accounted for 114,000 metric tons; and 95,000 metric tons of relief supplies in warehouses in England and France, at the outbreak of the unrestricted submarine warfare, were sold by the C.R.B. on government orders to avoid complete loss by deterioration.(#495)

Imports included large amounts of food and clothing donated in response to the appeals of the various relief committees. In the early days many of these gifts in kind, which originated in North America, were turned over to the C.R.B. in shipload lots, but for the most part committees throughout the United States and Canada collected small parcels. The C.R.B. freely undertook the transportation of these gifts in food and clothing from all inland points, thus further increasing the labors of the transportation departments of its main branches.

After the first year of operation, the administrative burden of distributing innumerable classes of gift foods forced the C.R.B. to ask that gifts in kind be limited to the staples which comprised its program, eliminating the so-called luxuries, such as tinned foods. Appeal committees and the public throughout the world co-operated wholeheartedly in this policy, with the result that their support became mainly financial, except in the fourth and fifth years when the immensely valuable contribution of used clothing was made.

GIFTS IN KIND
(Metric tons)

Year

Food

Clothing

Total

Value

First

91,296

2,077

93,373

$ 9,047,807

Second

12,893

356

13,249

1,015,816

Third

4,598

66

4,664

460,941

Fourth

124

2,341

2,465

1,031,592

Fifth

135

7,569

7,704

20,210,644

Totals

109,046

12,409

121,455

$31,766,800

As all supplies imported into Belgium and Northern France were issued in quantity below the normal human demand, it was obvious that the introduction of inferior articles would inflict peculiar hardship. The ordinary safeguard of quality, namely, the inability of the retail merchant to dispose of inferior goods, did not exist, and it was essential to employ every means to maintain the very highest quality obtainable. Merchants throughout the world co-operated in furnishing only first-class products, and the result was a remarkable freedom from complaint. As additional safeguards the New York and Rotterdam offices each maintained a staff of inspectors, and every shipment underwent closest scrutiny.

.

9. Oversea Shipping

The ships of the C.R.B. always enjoyed the promise of immunity but since to reach Rotterdam they had to pass through the Allied blockade and through seas where the naval conflict, largely under water, was most intense, this immunity was never secured without compliance with restrictions laid down by both belligerents. The first charters were neutral steamers, but the C.R.B. at an early date obtained German guarantees of immunity to any vessel carrying relief for Belgium and flying the C.R.B. flag. At the outset charters were readily obtained at a price, but it was not long before the C.R.B. found itself competing with Allied and neutral governments who were pressed for ships to transport supplies for civilian and military needs. The food program of the C.R.B. was 110,000 tons each month, representing over 133,000 dead weight ships tonnage. Since the average round trip occupied over two months for each vessel, the C.R.B. required a continuously operating fleet of almost 290,000 dead weight tons or 58 steamers of 5,000 tons. The vessels it actually secured were smaller than this, and for long periods the C.R.B. was managing a fleet numbering between 60 and 70 vessels. The following table indicates the shipping accomplishments of the C.R.B. during the five years of relief:

Loaded Voyages

Year

Overseas

Cross- Channel

Net Cargo (Metric tons)

First

150

344

983,808

Second

240

485

1,300,322

Third

144

226

724,175

Fourth

223

128

1,091,178

Fifth

236

137

1,074,948

Totals

993

1,320

5,174,431

The C.R.B. adopted the usual commercial practice regarding insurance of vessels and cargoes, marine risks being placed with Lloyd's and with New York underwriters, and war risk with the British war risk bureaus. In 1917 however, at the request of the Belgian and French Governments, the C.R.B. carried its own insurance setting up an insurance reserve for this purpose.

In a marine transportation operation of this magnitude losses were bound to occur even in normal times; in time of war the hazards were much more numerous. Actually C.R.B. vessels to the number of 52 met with accidents as shown in the following summary:

Vessels torpedoed 17
Vessels mined 14
Vessels torpedoed or mined 3
Vessels fired on by submarine 3
Collisions and miscellaneous accidents 15
Total accidents 52
Vessels lost 38
Vessels or cargoes damaged 14
Cargo lost 114,000 tons

.

10. Port Operations

The purchase of food in the primary markets of the world, trans- shipment by rail to loading ports, and loading on C.R.B. ships for overseas demanded extensive organization. The New York office Of the C.R.B. was responsible for goods assembled in the United States and Canada, from which over 60 per cent of relief provisions came. The London office handled cargoes from the Argentine, India, and elsewhere and was responsible also for the purchase and transshipment of provisions from the United Kingdom.

The continuous stream of cargoes dispatched from many ports by these two C.R.B. offices converged at the port of Rotterdam. This neutral port, with its excellent harbor, modern cargo handling, and warehouse facilities and direct canal and rail connection with Belgium and Northern France was the C.R.B. transshipment port for most of the relief period. Twenty or thirty deep-water relief cargoes were unloaded each month in addition to many smaller cross-channel boats. The C.R.B. Rotterdam office was a busy organization with a variety of duties which included the management of grain elevators and other discharging equipment, renting of warehouses, chartering of lighters and tugs and arranging rail shipment for the interior, and the purchase of Holland produce. There was no relaxation of careful business methods. On the arrival of the oversea carrier, lighters were immediately brought alongside and discharge commenced under the supervision of Dutch customs and C.R.B. inspectors.

After the Armistice the C.R.B. used the French port of Dunkirk for a short time, but as soon as possible after the German evacuation the Belgian port of Antwerp became the C.R.B.'s principal transshipment port. The quantities of relief provisions passing through these three ports and Lille are given below:

  Metric Tons
Rotterdam, November, 1914, to August, 1919

4,686,359

Dunkirk, December, 1918, to April, 1919

15,826

Antwerp, January, 1919, to August, 1919

462,502

Lille, November, 1918, to May, 1919

9,744

Total relief supplies

5,174,431

.

11. Transshipment of Relief Supplies

Belgium and, in fact, Northern France are traversed by a network of canals, railways, and tram lines and, as can be seen on the accompanying map, this network is readily accessible from the C.R.B.'s base port of Rotterdam. At the outset of relief the canals in many places had been blocked, locks blown up, bridges dropped into canals, ships and lighters sunk, and railway bridges and track demolished. Lighters and rolling stock remaining in Belgium were requisitioned by the Germans. It required months to put the transportation in shape to handle the great quantities of relief supplies crossing the frontier into Belgium. Some main canals never came into service.

Fig. 24. Map of Belgium and Northern France showing Geographic Divisions and Distribution System during Relief Period

By far the greater portion of relief the C.R.B. transshipped in lighters through the canal system. Some few centers were inaccessible, and to these rail shipments were necessary. Three main canal arteries lead from Holland into Belgium. The first from Terneuzen to Ghent carried 1,200-ton lighters. The second artery follows the Zeeland waters and the Scheldt to Antwerp, Brussels, and Louvain and the third from Rotterdam via Dordrecht into Limbourg and beyond. Canals and railways led to milling centers and to regional warehouses from whence subsidiary canals and tram lines distributed goods in smaller quantities to communal stores throughout the entire relief area. In order to handle the inland waterway transportation the relief organization created a ship-owning department which at the height of its development owned or leased on long-time charter 80 per cent of its requirements, i.e. a fleet of 495 lighters and 36 tugs. Transshipment of provisions from ports during the five years required 14,000 lighter loads of 400 tons to 1,200 tons and over 8,000 train shipments comprising 30,000 truck loads. Aside from the importation of oversea supplies, the relief organization was responsible for the movement of native crops and local produce throughout the interior and in addition handled the transport of coal from mines to the relief flour mills and delivered bunker coal to Rotterdam for C.R.B. ships.

As far as relief importations were concerned the C.R.B. Brussels office directed the shipments from transshipment ports except in case of goods for Belgian and French refugees or other purposes outside the occupied areas. The following table shows the distribution of goods from C.R.B. transshipment ports:

SHIPMENTS OF RELIEF SUPPLIES
(Metric tons)

Port

Belgium

Northern France

Other Destinations

Total

Rotterdam

3,517,467

1,031,727

137,165

4,686,359

Antwerp

376,774

34,983

50,745

462,502

Dunkirk

......

15,826

......

15,826

Lille

700

9,044

......

9,744

Totals

3,894,941

1,091,680

187,910

5,174,431

.

12. Delivery to the Consumer

The first interior destinations for imports were the central and regional warehouses, some 200 in number, and the flour mills. From these allocations were made to the 4,731 communal stores presided over by communal committees. Until the Germans withdrew in October 1918 the relief organization maintained an elaborate statistical stock control not only to insure equitable distribution but as a constant check against leakages. Imports and local produce together were never more than sufficient, and all supplies were therefore jealously guarded by the civilian inhabitants for their own consumption. The following figures summarize the food consumption on in the communes for the four years of German occupation and include both C.R.B. importations and native wheat flour and produce controlled and distributed by the relief organization:

FOOD SUPPLIES CONSUMED IN FOUR YEARS
NOVEMBER, 1914-OCTOBER, 1918
(Metric tons)

 

Belgium

Northern France

Flour

2,387,548

398,671

Maize

266,756

20,822

Rice

144,658

69,006

Beans and peas

79,890

32,969

Bacon and meat

59,432

51,369

Lard

88,929

50,638

Milk

9,809

33,242

Sugar  

24,983

Coffee

7,324

20,845

Soap

....

14,175

Sundries

104,413

51,102

Bread was rationed in both Belgium and Northern France as were all other food commodities in the latter region. Belgian rural districts were largely self-supporting except for bread, and therefore other relief imports were reserved for and rationed only in the Belgian cities. The initial control of bread-rationing began with the relief flour mills. Since over 65 per cent of C.R.B. imports were breadstuffs in the form of wheat and maize, it was obviously necessary for the relief organization to exercise complete control over mills and milling. Milling rates were fixed and the percentage of mixture of native flour and maize flour strictly controlled. The milling of wheat for the first year was 82 per cent and the second year 82 per cent and 90 per cent, while during a large part of the third and fourth years, the milling was 97 per cent owing to the very restricted supply of wheat.(#496)

The milled flour was allocated according to requirements throughout the country, and shipments were made from the mills to the regional depots and to the communes on a pro rata basis. All the milling for Northern France was done in Belgium whence shipments were made to French centers of distribution.

The method of detailed distribution of breadstuffs varied in the different provinces and districts. Originally, the communal committees issued the flour from their communal warehouses to accredited bakers, who were required to submit lists of customers for approval to the communal committee, which then issued supplies on a ration per capita of baker's customers. The allowance of flour was usually at the rate of 250 grams per customer, and from this amount the baker in turn normally produced 335 grams of bread, a differential being made to the baker between the charge made to him for the flour and price at which he sold the bread sufficient to cover he necessary cost of the other ingredients and of labor.(#497) Each individual or family received a bread card, which had to be produced to procure bread on the delivery days, usually every third day.

Whereas bread was distributed to the population on a two- or three-day ration, the other commodities were issued on a weekly ration. In Belgium these other commodities, such as rice, peas and beans, bacon and lard, were chiefly intended for the destitute and for those least able to pay the high prices prevailing for such native foodstuffs as were available. The control was as rigid as for flour and bread, in order that no one might receive more than his share. An individual received a ration card entitling him to these commodities only after determination of his position and need. The prices at which imported and rationed foodstuffs were sold to the consumer varied directly with the cost to the Commission. There were three stages in the transaction: (a) cost price to the Commission, (b) selling price by the Commission to the Comité National, and (c) retail prices to the consumer. The margin between successive prices, as has been mentioned, was established to create a reserve against losses or deterioration and to build up a fund for benevolent expenditure. Prices in Belgium were not controlled in the sense of being subsidized---as, for instance, bread was in England ---but were varied from time to time to meet changing cost conditions, and thus the general trend of prices necessarily followed that of world prices.

The price of bread was fixed periodically according to the cost of ingredients. The cost of imported wheat and flour, of native flour, and imported maize and rice, were all factors in the bread prices.

As wheat became scarce milling rates were increased, and considerable quantities of both maize and rice flour were mixed with the wheat flour, producing a cheaper bread. The loaf was generally cheaper in Northern France than in Belgium, owing to higher milling in the flour and a greater percentage of flour substitute in the form of maize resulting in a black but nourishing bread. Taken over the four years the Belgian paid less than 41/2 cents per pound of bread, which was considerably the lowest average price of unsubsidized war-bread in the world.

Fig. 25. Bread prices: Belgium, Northern France and Other Countries

.

13. The Care of the Destitute

Second only to the procurement of food for the entire population was the task of insuring just distribution to rich and poor alike. The organization structure of the Benevolent Department, whose duty this was, paralleled that of the Provisioning Department, and, as with the latter, the communal committees were the principal agencies. These communal charity committees, side by side with the communal committees concerned with provisioning, were responsible for the general problem of destitution. Supplementing their efforts there were a great number of special committees created to care for particular phases of distress not reached by the communal committee . Both groups of committees were controlled by the central organization through subvention and inspection. In addition to this committee organization for the care of the destitute, public services and state institutions supported by funds of the Benevolent Department performed similar functions. Some of this support was for economic and financial relief carried out with government subsidies. Although these advances were to be liquidated after the war, yet during the occupation they had a benevolent aspect.

The committee organization as outlined above applied to both Belgium and Northern France, but in the latter country the obligations of individual beneficiaries to repay the French Government were left for settlement after the war. In Belgium the system employed was much more complex, as it required that the degree of dependency of beneficiaries be determined from day to day, and except in the case of economic relief in which the Belgian Government was interested, the relief organization left little for subsequent settlement.

Services maintained by the Benevolent Department out of public charity included: breadlines, canteens, clothing for the destitute, provision of temporary shelters, all of which were administered by the communal charity committees. From the same source of funds special committees provided assistance to children, refugees, laceworkers, foreigners, young mothers, persons dispossessed, and many others. From funds drawn against government subsidies the public services and institutions paid separation allowances, pensions, supplementary allowances to the destitute, advances to loan societies and savings banks, and advances to educational institutions.

The principal benevolent outlay was for the support of canteens, soup kitchens, and cheap restaurants, of which one or more were established in every commune supplying meals, free or at nominal cost, directly to the people. Next in amount were cash advances to individuals and to classes, and subsidies to institutions whereby additional. numbers were enabled to purchase their requirements from the communal stores. To furnish assistance of a different character the relief organization established and maintained central and subsidiary factories and workrooms for renovating great quantities of clothing and making new garments for free distribution, or at nominal cost.

Of the special benevolent activities the care of children was perhaps the most important, and the organization for this purpose reached a high degree of excellence. Not only were supplementary meals served in all schools, but the younger children, babies, and nursing mothers were supplied with milk through canteens established in every commune.

The co-operating organizations expended over $615,000,000 on their programs of benevolence in Belgium and Northern France. As the years of German occupation passed, the people became more dependent on soup kitchens and canteens for their food, and charitable expenditures of the central committees increased. The peak of distress was reached in 1918, as the annual expenditures(#498) in Belgium of the Comité National show:

GENERAL BENEVOLENT EXPENDITURE THROUGH THE COMITÉ NATIONAL, BELGIUM, 1914 TO 1919

  Annual Disbursement Average Monthly Expenditure during Year
1914- 2 months

$ 1,169,135

$ 584,568

1915-12 months

63,262,118

5,273,510

1916-12 months

76,711,991

6,392,665

1917-12 months

100,196,325

8,349,694

1918-12 months

181,572,040

15,131,033

1919- 8 months

86,963,515

10,857,939

Total

$509,875,124

 

.

14. Accounts and Statistics

I. FUNDS RECEIVED BY THE C.R.B.

U.S. Treasury. Subsidies

$386,632,260.44

American Charity

34,521,026.99

Total American Sources

$421,153,287.43

British Treasury. Subsidies

$109,045,328. 73

British Empire Charity

16,641,034.85

Total British Empire Sources

125,686,363.58

French Treasury. Subsidies

204,862,854.21

General Charity

1,128,773.67

Remittances. Commercial Exchange

6,328,328.30

Operating Surplus

135,637,543.21

Grand Total Funds Received by the C.R.B

$894,797,150.40

II. OPERATING ACCOUNT. PROVISIONING DEPARTMENT

A. PROVISIONS SECURED

Value of Provisions. 5,174,431 metric tons

$642,451,917.81

Transport Expense

165,239,023.32

Charges on 20,000,000 Rations (British War Office)

4,377,650.26

Total Provisions

$812,068,591.39

......  
Overhead and Administration. 0.43 per cent

3,908,892. 74

Total Charges

$815,977,484.13

Surplus on Sales (including profits on transactions en tirely outside Belgium and France) Available for Benevolence

111,704,000.95

Total Operations. Provisioning Department

$927,681,485.08

B. PROVISIONS DISTRIBUTED

Belgian Account

   
To Occupied Belgium

3,894,941 tons

$639,692,817.25

To Belgian Refugees in Holland and Havre

1,239 tons

1,363,876.44

Total Belgian Account

3,896,180 tons

$641,066,693.69

Northern France Account

   
To Invaded Northern France

1,091,580 tons

$220,203,521.62

To French Refugees in Holland

299 tons

80,028.90

Total French Account

1,091,879 tons

$220,283,550.52

Other Destinations

   
To German Government (1919)

134,980 tons

$ 44,3509810.47

To U.S. Grain Corporation and American Relief Administration

5,086 tons

4,486,570.10

To Dutch Government (returned)

16,903 tons

........

Miscellaneous Sales and Transshipment Losses

1,601 tons

2,429.77

Bunker Coal and Damaged Goods (sales credited to provisions)

27,802 tons

........

Total Other Destinations

186,372 tons

$ 48,839,810.34

20,000,000 Rations (British War Office)  

$ 4,377,650.26

Sundry Credit Balances

   
Foodstuffs Sunk En Route (114,000 tons)  

$ 7,634,673.21

Foodstuffs Sold En Route (95,096 tons)  

2,913,076.27

Sundry Operations  

686,601.21

Interest and Exchange  

1,889,429.58

Total Sundry Credit Balances  

$ 13,123,780.27

Total Operations Provisioning Department  

$927,681,485.08

III. BENEVOLENT ACCOUNT. BENEVOLENT DEPARTMENT

A. FUNDS AVAILABLE

World Charity

$ 52,290,83

Provisioning Department Surplus (C.R.B.)

111,704,000.95

Provisioning Department Surplus (Comité National)

23,933,542.26

Benevolent Account of C.R.B .

$187,928,378.72

State Aid (derived from Government Subsidies and dispensed in charity, and financial and economic relief)

427,308,768. 75

Grand Total Benevolent Account

$615,237,147.47

B. FUNDS DISBURSED(#499)

Belgium

 
General Benevolent Program (during relief period)

$524,620,818.05

Gifts to Belgian Universities and Educational tions(#500)

33,766,039.629.62

Northern France

 
General Benevolent Program

54,782,601.85

Northern Relief

 
Clothing (distributed by the American Relief Administration in Poland and Czechoslovakia)

2,067,687.95

Grand Total Benevolent Account

$615,237,147.47

IV. COMMODITIES IMPORTED BY THE C.R.B. OCTOBER 1914-AUGUST 1919

(Metric tons)

PROVISIONS SECURED

PROVISIONS DISTRIBUTED

Commodity Purchased Donated Total To Occupied Belgium To Belgian Refugees Holland Havre To Invaded France To French Refugees To Other Destinations Total
Wheat, Barley, Rye

2,895,339

27,852

2,923,191

2,397,456

....

466,027

150

59,558

2,923,191

Flour

380,110

47,994

428,104

335,608

....

75,788

25

16,683

428,104

Bacon

151,035

683

151,718

75,438

54

51,067

12

25,147

151,718

Lard

226,340

....

226,340

148,709

3

72,372

8

5,248

226,340

Maize

438,234

139550

451,784

404,431

....

42,834

 

4,519

451,784

Rice

337,249

2,426

339,675

215,411

....

102,030

14

22,220

339,675

Beans, Peas

188,881

3,618

192,499

122,105

....

49,312

17

21,065

192,499

Yeast Materials

11,662

....

11,662

10,920

....

691

 

51

11,662

Butter, Cheese

6,803

....

6,803

3,632

....

3,165

 

6

6,803

Cocoa

13,131

....

13,131

5,882

....

6,988

 

261

13,131

Coffee

41,975

....

41,975

11,911

....

29,994

4

66

41,975

Fish

21,964

....

21,964

16,777

....

6,186

1

....

21,964

Meat

37,708

....

37,708

18,313

....

13,941

9

5,445

37,708

Milk

81,677

....

81,677

26,890

279

53,731

21

756

81,677

Soap

39,140

....

39,140

14,490

....

24,621

18

11

39,140

Sugar

51,244

....

51,244

1,517

....

49,505

2

220

51,244

Sundry Foodstuffs

79,619

12,123

91,742

65,018

....

25,973

751

 

91,742

Clothing

11,360

12,409

23,769

15,870

284

6,630

18

958

23,769

Miscellaneous

37,851

800

38,651

3,005

619

11,716

 

23,311

38,651

Benzine, Oil, Grease

1,654

....

1,654

1,558

....

....

96

 

1,654

Totals

5,052,976

121,455

5,174,431

3,894,941

1,239

1,091,580

299

186,372

5,174,431

 


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