First Measures. November 1914

As soon as the preliminary diplomatic guarantees had been secured, the newly formed Commission for Relief in Belgium began to build its oversea organization.

On the 25th October 1914 Hoover sent Captain J. F. Lucey and M. K. Shaler to Rotterdam to arrange for the transshipment into Belgium of two cargoes then

loading in the Thames. Lucey, after making, with the co-operation of Dr. van Dyke, the American Minister, the necessary arrangements with the Dutch

Government,(17) energetically attacked the difficult matter of establishing an efficient system for the movement of supplies. Shaler crossed the frontier into Belgium where the struggles to organize the scattered local committees into a unified body were complicated by the general confusion, lack of communication, and German restrictions on civilian activities. The representatives of the first Belgian committee, M. van den Branden, Mr. W. Hulse, and later M. Hymans, whom the Germans had allowed to cross the Dutch frontier, could give Lucey neither definite information regarding the internal relief organization nor specific recommendations as to where to direct the first food shipments. Information from other sources was abundant but conflicting. Appeals, rumors, orders, suggestions came in showers from local committees, refugees, American consuls in Belgian cities, from the American Legation in Brussels and the Comité Central. Lucey's reports to Hoover, of which Document 24 is a sample, reflect the confusion of these first days and the impatience of an energetic executive entangled in official red tape and a maze of doubtful information. The first food shipment went promptly across the frontier, but serious difficulties beset the line of communication until the Comité National was completely organized and the C.R.B. had set up its own machinery in Belgium.

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DOCUMENT NO. 24 Letter,

LUCEY TO HOOVER, describing confused situation in Belgium as reported by local officials, refugees, and others

ROTTERDAM, 29 October 1914 H. C. Hoover, Esq.

Chairman American Commission for Relief in Belgium London

DEAR SIR:

GENERAL REPORT No. 4

Replying to your telegram of this morning, requesting that we advise you character and weekly amount of food supplies, we may say that we shall be unable to do this for a few days. We are sending Mr. Hymans of the Belgian Committee from here to get this information. We have details from Liège and vicinity, as per enclosed copy of statement made by the two deputies of Liège. We are also going to obtain for you all the details as to the number of relief stations and the people. As near as we can ascertain there are approximately four millions of people to be fed. Provisions must be provided whether the people have money or not. For instance, the deputies representing Liège have Frs. 500,000, but are unable to purchase any supplies without permission of the Dutch authorities, and this Government has

commandeered all of the flour and wheat in the country, and you can only purchase direct from the Government.

As advised you by wire, we are going to see the Prime Minister this afternoon and arrange to purchase 5,000 tons of flour, agreeing to replace this by shipment from America. We consider the statement of the deputies of Liège sufficiently urgent to send it on to you by telegram, and we are enclosing you confirmation of same herewith. We are keeping the original on file here, and shall be glad to forward same to you if you wish it.

We further attach translation of article appearing in the Dutch press. We thought it would be better to have a statement of this character, as it would immediately bring to us all people who had food supplies for sale as well as transportation facilities.

At the same time we enclose copy of letter received from the Belgian Vice Consul, who made a special call on behalf of Liège, subsequently introducing two deputies from the district. Enclosed also please find copy of memorandum dictated by the writer from Mr. Hymans and Mr. Branden.

We have asked all these gentlemen to give some more complete details and we have only obtained from them this written statement to protect our-selves.

We are convinced, as stated in our telegram, that we have all underestimated the desperate condition of the Belgian people. For instance, Namur had a population of 40,000 people, and we are authorized by two of the gentlemen from the Belgian

committee to state that there are only ten houses left. They advise that these people must have clothes and bedding as well as food. This office will gladly undertake to deliver all these supplies to the Belgian people.

The great and urgent necessity is for flour. If we could get about 25,000 tons of flour, we could relieve the immediate necessities. All of these gentlemen advise me that there is a great danger of revolution, particularly in the vicinity of Liège. The people are so hungry and so desperate that the sight of every German incites them, and in their desperate frame of mind, seeing their children and families without food or clothes, they are liable to attack the German soldiers at any moment, which would mean another terrible and useless sacrifice of the Belgian people. The

American Commission and the American people can avoid this, and I would urge you to resort to any measures to relieve these districts. Could you not obtain a fast cruiser from the American Government to deliver the first cargo of flour?

We are calling upon the Dutch Minister this afternoon, and if we obtain results we will wire you again this afternoon. We believe that if you could wire that flour is en route, the writer could go into the districts of Liège, Charleroi, Namur, and Dinant, or any member of our Commission could do so, accompanied by the Belgian officials, and satisfy the people and restrain them from resorting to any violence until we can deliver the flour.

We are afraid there will be keen disappointment in Brussels upon return of Mr.

Hymans, as he came here anticipating that the 10,000 tons of food supplies would be here, Mr. Francqui having made this report to the Comité at Brussels, and they in turn have distributed this information to the various districts. We again repeat:

the necessity of the Belgian people is very great; they are in a desperate frame of mind, and if we are to accomplish anything we must act, and act at once.

If there is any statement which you wish to publish in the Dutch press, please forward same and we will have it attended to.

Yours faithfully, (Signed) J. F. LUCEY

The American Commission for Relief in Belgium .

DOCUMENT NO. 25 Letter,

FRANCQUI TO HOOVER, describing food, financial, and other difficulties in Belgium

BRUSSELS, 26 October 1914

MY DEAR HOOVER:

On returning here I found the situation much more grave than at my departure.

Liège, Namur, Charleroi are absolutely without flour. At Brussels we can scarcely finish the week, and we shall be under the necessity of distributing only 100 grams of flour per inhabitant.

All this shows you the gravity of the situation and the urgency there is, consequently, that there should be sent to Rotterdam as much foodstuffs as possible.

As agreed between us, Mr. van den Branden, delegate of the American committee in Brussels, is leaving today for Rotterdam. This gentleman speaks English very well and he will go to Holland to place himself at the disposal of Captain Lucey.

Mr. Hulse, an American engineer whom you know, is leaving at the same time as Mr. van den Branden to install the latter at Rotterdam and inform us in Brussels as to all things necessary as regards the organization of our revictualing work.

At the time of their departure I wired you as follows:

Whitlock entirely in accord regarding your telegram. He is cabling to Washington to centralize all funds and to confide them to you through U.S. Embassy, London.

Monthly needs Belgian population, minimum 60,000 grains, 15,000 maize, 3,000 tons rice and dried peas. Have still flour for four days.

Telegraph at once to Hulse care Consulate of U.S. at Rotterdam:

First, if 10,000 tons purchased London during my stay are or will be sent.

Second, what other quantities of foodstuffs you have purchased and when you hope they will arrive in Rotterdam.

Third, say if you have ordered grain in America; if not, do so at once.

Believe it would be good for Page inform English Government that working capital of hundred thousand pounds altogether insufficient. It would be good not to

mention to Foreign Office the hundred thousand pounds that I received from

Belgian Minister, and that I transferred to you. Tell also Carton de Wiart make new effort with Government to obtain help in money in same proportions as English Government. Send immediately Lucey to organize general depot at Rotterdam with Hulse. Good wishes.

This telegram is, I believe, very clear in itself. As I told you at the opening of this letter we have in the country only a few thousand sacks of wheat. After that there is nothing, either in the country or in the warehouses. It is therefore necessary that our

population should be completely revictualed from the exterior if we do not wish to die of hunger.

In normal times there are in Belgium nearly 8,000,000 people to feed. Therefore, in mentioning 60,000 tons of wheat as being indispensable for the country you will see that I estimate less than 300 grams of wheat per inhabitant and per diem, which gives a little less than 200 grams of flour per person. This quantity is evidently insufficient, but account must be taken of the 15,000 tons of maize which I have also asked for. With this maize we will make flour which we will mix with the wheaten flour, which will thus bring up the daily ration per person to nearly 300 grams.

In my telegram I asked you several questions relative to all the orders which you have placed, whether in London or America.

As regards the orders in London, I of course only refer to the 10,000 tons which you ordered during my stay in London. It is for us of the highest importance that we should know if Mr. Page and yourself have succeeded in persuading Sir Edward Grey that it is indispensable to allow you to dispatch these supplies at once.

As regards American orders, I thought it well to ask you if you had placed these orders. It is, in fact, necessary to have three or four weeks before we can hope to receive the first consignments, and, by reason of the precarious situation in which we are placed, no time should be lost.

Another question which it is also important to settle at once is that of money. The purchase abroad of 60,000 tons of wheat, 15,000 tons of maize, and 3,000 tons of rice and dried peas, will necessitate the immobilization of £800,000 to £1,000,000.

This supply for one month will always be maintained in our warehouses or in transit, and its value, i.e., £800,000 to £l,000,000, will, in fact, be a revolving fund which is indispensable for the proper operating of our relief organization.

Now, we have in all and for all the £100,000 which the British Government has placed at the disposal of our Ambassador, as well as the £100,000 which I obtained from the Belgian Government and which I had transferred to your credit. There is therefore lacking £600,000 to £800,000.

It was after having made this little calculation that I thought well of notifying you by cable that it would be a good thing to tell the British Government that the

£100,000 which they gave us were absolutely insufficient.

I also asked you in my telegram to speak of all this to Mr. Carton de Wiart, who, I believe, knows the French Ambassador in London, in order that he should remind the latter of the promise which he had made to Baron Lambert, to cause his

government to intervene in this question of revictualing the Belgian populations, who have been already so much tried.

There is, lastly, another point which we have not succeeded in solving here. It is as to how we are going to transfer to London, in order to enable you to make new purchases, the money which we shall receive here against part of the supplies which we import into Belgium, thanks to yourselves.

The German Government forbids us---all banks and individuals---to export the smallest coin into no matter what country with which they are at war.

On the other hand, by reason of the complete stoppage of business, it is impossible to buy exchange here, either on Holland or America, or on any other neutral

country.

We shall perhaps find in the banks assets of £500,000 to £600,000 in America, in Holland, in Spain, and in Italy, but that will hardly enable us to live more than several weeks.

For my part, I do not see any possibility of solving this problem except by effecting a loan in London, it being understood that we should deposit with the Banque Nationale de Belgique at Brussels all the money which we may receive here in payment for supplies imported.

I am notifying the Belgian Government of this special situation by a letter of which you will find copy attached.

If you wish to write me, do so by the intermediary of Captain Lucey or of the American Consulate at Rotterdam, who will then send your mail by one or other of the men who bring the correspondence of the Minister of the United States here.

You might leave your letters open, in order that Mr. Hulse or any other of your compatriots at Rotterdam may acquaint themselves with their contents and thus arrive at a knowledge of ourdesiderata.

On the other hand, I believe that you will do well to communicate what I write you to Mr. Carton de Wiart, who is, as you know, the brother of our Minister of Justice, and who can---I do not doubt---second your efforts by intervening with the Belgian Government.

By all that I have written you will see that the mission which your good heart has caused you to accept is very complicated. I was able, during my short stay in London, to see how high were your sentiments of humanity and for this reason it is with the greatest confidence that I face with yourself the very difficult task which we have undertaken.

On returning to Brussels, I found a letter from my son who, after many difficulties, succeeded in reaching one of my friends in Holland, with whom he is today

staying. Thanks a thousand times, my dear Hoover, for all that you have done in helping me to find him again.

Your very grateful (Signed) E. FRANCQUI [Translation]

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Immediately after the conferences in London with Hoover on the 18th and 19th October Francqui had returned to Brussels to expand the organization of the Brussels Comité Central to embrace all of Belgium. The scheme of organization covered the whole country by means of committees and subcommittees. Belgium was divided into ten areas more or less corresponding to the provincial divisions and eleven provincial committees were established, an extra committee having jurisdiction over the city of Brussels apart from the province of Brabant in which this city is situated. Under each provincial committee were grouped regional committees and, finally, under these, communal committees. The provincial committees had considerable autonomy, but on each was a representative of the Comité National whose headquarters were in Brussels.

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DOCUMENT NO. 26 Letter,

HOOVER TO FRANCQUI, outlining the relation of the C.R.B. Rotterdam office to the offices in London and Brussels, the methods of accounting, and the relief campaign inaugurated in America

LONDON, 14 November 1914 Emile Francqui, Esq., Brussels

MY DEAR FRANCQUI:

It seems desirable that we should get a little more system in the relations of this office and the Rotterdam office with the head committee in Brussels.

It is our feeling that it is entirely impossible to conduct the Rotterdam office from Brussels as communications are so slow between these two points whereas we are in hourly communication, in other words, that the Rotterdam office should be a

branch of the London Commission. We are consigning all food to this Rotterdam office, and we desire to have in the Rotterdam office an accountant, experienced in English accounts, if possible selected by your committee. We propose that the books should be subject to monthly audit by Messrs. Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths and Company. We also need at the Rotterdam office a representative of the Brussels committee who should be a substantial business man, who will remain there at all times and put himself generally at the disposal of the head of this office, whom we should select. I should suggest that all cheques on the Rotterdam

accounts should be signed jointly by the accountant and the head of our

organization at Rotterdam. This Rotterdam office is practically a warehousing and forwarding business, and it is their duty to forward foodstuffs sent to them to any portion of Belgium that is designated to them. This allocation as to where

foodstuffs have to be sent must absolutely rest with you in Brussels; but we would suggest to you that as the stuff is consigned to the American Minister at the various points in Belgium it would serve as a matter of protection as well as one of system, if when these allocation orders are made out Mr. Whitlock should be asked to put his "O.K." on them, as obviously the shipments cannot go forward except in his name. This approval signed on these allocation orders would be the final court of appeal so far as our Rotterdam office is concerned, that when they have complied with these allocation orders their duty has been done. I do not know whether this will be placing an unnecessarily large amount of detail on Mr. Whitlock, but I feel that in view of the political situation and the clearness with which this will define matters so far as our end of the business is concerned it is a labor which he will be willing to undertake.

It will be the endeavor of the Rotterdam office to send information to Brussels as to the materials which they have in hand and what they expect to receive at given dates, and, so far as we can anticipate it, something as to the character of the contents of the cargoes, in order that these allocations may be made out and the arrangements for the delivery and transportation into Belgium can be greatly expedited if the Rotterdam office has the allocations in hand in anticipation of the arrival of the foodstuffs.

We realize the great difficulties you must have to contend with in communications between various points of the provinces and Brussels, and we have the feeling that if a corps of our Americans can be recruited (in which we are now actively

engaged) so that some of these gentlemen may be established as guardians at different centers, these communications will thereby be facilitated, as they can possibly move more freely through the country than your own countrymen.

We are receiving people here from Belgium pressing us to do special services for special towns, and the Rotterdam office is simply flooded with them. It is therefore necessary that all of the communes should be advised that all allocations of the foodstuffs which we handle will be made only on orders signed as above (if you agree that this is the proper system). Large consignments will now be arriving with