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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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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