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A. M., also in the chest, at first remains there, where an individual dressing is applied for him. At 7 P. M. he leaves on foot and walks in the darkness until midnight; then he stretches himself out on the ground in a bit of woods and sleeps, covered by the beautiful stars. At the first trace of dawn he begins to walk again, and reaches the relay of stretcher bearers. These take him at 5 A. M., and at 8 A. M. they place him in a vehicle which bears him to the ambulance of the first line. He remains there some hours, and is finally brought to us in an automobile; he reaches us at 10 P. M., or thirty-six hours after receiving his wound.

Quite recently, in an action where a surrounded company was delivered only at the end of four days, certain wounded, their dressings done only in the most summary manner, were obliged to remain all this time on the ground.

In general, we have kept our wounded the least time possible, so as to reserve the largest number of places in our hospital ready for emergency use. However, as far as major wounds are concerned, particularly those of the extremities, we have made it a point not to discharge them before the seventh or eighth day after the time of wounding, for it is during this first week that ordinarily the worst infectious accidents supervene if they are to occur. Likewise, we have kept at least two weeks the cases of trephining, of amputation, of serious wounds of the chest, of the abdomen, and of the joints.

III.

[Translated from España Médica, Madrid, for CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE.]

The following episode was overheard in the corridor of a hospital and was told by a Spaniard who enlisted in the French Army and was wounded:

"The good Lalane, the merriest comrade of the region, has made an ugly death. Toward evening we had repulsed an attack of the 'boches '; we had leaped out of the trench, which was turned upside down by the artillery; then we had regained our posts. Seventeen men were missing, and among these was Lalane.

When the cannonading and the fusillade had ceased we heard the usual tormenting cries of our wounded, fallen on the ground between our trench and that of the enemy. 'Help, mercy, mamma!' pleaded the poor wretches.

"Uselessly we tried to aid them. Our self-denial cost us two men, because the enemies made a terrible fire every time that we repeated the attempt.

"At the dawn of day the cries had stopped; only one of our men continued to shriek tremendously. We recognized the voice of Lalane, who was roaring with pain and with anger. The unfortunate man was the prey of delirium; he pretended that nasty rats were gnawing him and that he could not free himself from them. Two days and three nights the torture of our unfortunate friend lasted. They were two days and three nights during which we did not sleep in the trench. We were obsessed. Little Cazan cried like a baby.

"In the end there was silence, which said clearly that Lalane was dead. There was a sigh of relief for all. Poor devil!' I proposed by all means to go after the corpse of our friend as soon as a favorable chance presented itself, in order to prevent it from being torn up by a flock of ravens roosting in the grove near by. The chance did not keep us waiting long; the thickest sort of a morning fog permitted Cazan to betake himself to the spot and to tie a small rope to one of his feet; pulling and pulling, we succeeded in dragging him along up to the trench. A cry of horror leaped from our throats! The eyes, empty; the nose, the ears, the lips, gnawed; all the body stripped, torn asunder, devoured-the bones could be seen here and there. Of his clothes there remained intact only his leather belt and shoes. The unhappy man had a slight wound in the spine, which had paralyzed and immobilized him; hence he could not defend himself against the trench rats, which had devoured him alive!"

At this point the narrator was interrupted by the protests of his comrades, who wished to sleep. That night I slept badly; I dreamed of struggling with all the monsters of the Apocalypse.

A

A Darkened Church in the War Zone

An Irish Officer's Word Picture

Ta certain point at the front there is a village where the troops come from time to time to rest, and there the church each evening is crowded with the soldiers. Lights of a brilliant kind are not allowed in this village, as it is so near the line, and it is urgent at night to give no sign which might make the place a target for the long-range guns of the enemy. Therefore the church is never lighted in the evening, and it is by the flames of a few candles alone on the altar of Our Lady of Dolores that the rosary is recited.

It is a strange scene in this church at night. Entering it, all is dark save for the few fluttering candles on the altar before which the priest kneels to say the prayers. It is only when the men join in that one becomes aware that the church is really full, and it is solemn and appealing beyond words to describe when up from the darkness rise the great chords from hundreds of voices in the prayers. The darkness seems to add impressiveness to the prayers, and from the outside are heard the rumble and roar of the guns which, not so very far away, are dealing out death and agony to the comrades of the men who pray. Sometimes the church is momentarily illuminated by the flashes of the guns and the windows are lighted up as though by lightning.

The writer of these lines has seen many an impressive spectacle of large congregations at prayer in great and spacious churches in many lands, but nothing more truly touching, impressive, and moving has ever been witnessed than the darkened church behind the lines, thronged with troops fervently invoking the intercession of the Mother of God under almost the very shadow of the wings of the Angel of Death! In France and Belgium the Catholic troops are fortunate in having at hand so many churches of their own faith, and this makes it easier for the devoted chaplains

to get their flocks together. For so many days the battalions are in the trenches, and for so many days in the comparative safety of the camps in the little villages somewhere back from the firing line. The day and night before a battalion goes to the trenches the chaplains are busy in the churches, for the men throng to confession, and it is a wonderful and most faith-inspiring sight to see them in hundreds approaching the altar before marching off to danger, and in many cases to death itself.

When the turn in the trenches is over and the men resume their rosary in the darkened church in the evenings there are always some absent ones who were there the week before. For this very reason, perhaps, because of the comrades who will never kneel by their side again, the men pray all the more fervently and with ever-increasing earnestness say, "May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace!

While some of the chaplains attend the men who are resting in the back villages, others follow the men into the line, and there, in some ruined house close by or in a shelter or dugout in the trench itself, they are always at hand to minister to the suffering and the dying. Who can measure the consolation they bring, or who can describe the comfort and happiness of the soldier whose eyes, before they close forever, rest upon the face of the priest of his own faith? If the priest in peace is the ever-sought comforter of the afflicted and dying, how much more so is the priest in time of war and in the battle line! The writer has met at the front many chaplains, and the dominant feeling of one and all is thankfulness that they were able to go out with the men and share their lot.

Of all the actors in the great tragedy of the war none stand out more heroically than the chaplains, none fill a greater place in what has come to be called the theatre of war. No wonder so many of

them have received decorations, and no wonder the men highly value the presence and the consolation and the encouragement of the "padre," as the officers call the minister of religion. To the Catholic soldiers, however, the priest remains "father," and it is good to see them smile as he approaches and to hear the sound ring of the old faith in their voices as they reply to his salutation and address him always as "father." Mass has been said in the very trenches, and the writer has attended mass in many a ruined church and many a shellwrecked shelter. And ever and always the men are the same, devoted and earnest, and the more wretched their surroundings the more eager they are. Nothing is more noticeable than the

way the Catholic soldier holds by his beads. The writer has seen men who were killed in the line. Their little personal belongings are carefully collected by comrades and safely kept to be sent home, but the rosary when found in the pocket is often, usually indeed, reverently placed round the dead man's neck before he is wrapped in his blanket for burial. "I put his beads about his neck, Sir," is the report often given by the stretcher bearer to the chaplain or other officer, as a man is given to the grave. How many Catholic soldiers lie in their lonely graves today in the war zone with their beads about their necks! How very, very many! And so, indeed, one feels sure would they wish to be buried.

The Great Work of the Belgian Relief Commission

T

HE breaking off of diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany threatened to interrupt, if not entirely end, the valuable work of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium, which has become equally well known by its initials, "C. R. B." When the German invasion cut off the 80 per cent. of Belgium's food imported from over the seas, nearly ten million people, including those in the invaded part of France, were in danger of starving to death. Something had to be done to help the Belgians, and somebody had to do it.

The emergency produced the man, Herbert C. Hoover, an American mining engineer and business organizer resident in London, and the head of industrial undertakings employing 125,000 men. Mr. Hoover marshaled a small legion of fellow-Americans-business men, sanitary experts, doctors, social workers-who as unpaid volunteers set about the great task of feeding the people of Belgium and Northern France. Today the C. R. B., which Mr. Hoover and his colleagues have built up, is a great institution, rec

ognized by all Governments, receiving contributions from all parts of the earth, with its own ships in every great port, and in the eyes of the Belgians and French who receive their daily bread through its agency a monument of what Americans can do in social organization and business efficiency, for Americans have furnished the entire personnel of the commission from the beginning.

The initial negotiations with the various belligerent Governments in 1914 were conducted on behalf of the commission by the American Ambassadors and Ministers in London, Brussels, and Berlin. Mr. Hoover, early recognizing the possibility that the United States might become involved in the war, obtained the patronage of the Spanish and Dutch Ambassadors and Ministers in London, Berlin, and Brussels, and at every crisis which has threatened America in the war the commission has had the support of the Spanish and Dutch diplomats, who have been ready, if necessary, to find a new staff to replace the American personnel. The commission is a distinct organization from the Belgian National

Committee, through and with which it works in Belgium itself. Its functions are those of direction, supervision, and all matters that have to be dealt with outside Belgium. In the occupied territories it has the help of thousands of Belgian and French workers, many of them women.

The commission does not depend upon any one of its American members for leadership, since, as Mr. Hoover says, any one of them could at any time take charge and carry on the work. "Honnold, Poland, Gregory, Brown, Kellogg, Lucey, White, Hunsiker, Connet, Young, and many others who at various periods have given of their great ability and experience in administration could do it." At the same time it is admitted that the commission would never have been so successful if Belgium had not already had in existence a well-developed communal system. The base of the commission's organization is a committee in every commune, or municipality. The communal committees consist of representatives of the trade unions, the communal authorities, the medical profession, and the business or professional class. Through their knowledge of everybody in their communes and of local conditions the committees are able to estimate exactly the extent of the relief required.

"You can have no idea what a great blessing it has been in Belgium and Northern France to have the small and intimate divisions which exist under the communal system," says Mr. Hoover. "It is the whole unit of life and a political entity much more developed than in America. It has been not only the basis of our relief organization, but the salvation of the people." Altogether there are 4,000 communal committees, which are linked up in larger groups under district and provincial committees, which in turn come under the Belgian National Committee.

Up to date the commission has spent $250,000,000, most of which has been provided by the British and French Governments. The remainder has come from the Belgians and French themselves, and from contributions sent from all parts of

the world, including Madagascar, remote places in China, the Solomon Islands, Greenland, Liberia, and Tasmania. Tasmania, the smallest of the States of the Australian Commonwealth, has the honor of heading the per capita contributions, with $6.53 subscribed for every inhabitant.

66

When Mr. Hoover and his fellowAmericans began the work of saving Belgium from starvation, they made their first appeal to the people of the United States. They considered that they were working on behalf of America in the name of humanity, and they felt that they were in this way writing a page of true Americanism in Europe." But the American response to the appeal for contributions has thus far been sadly disappointing. It has amounted to only $9,000,000, less than 9 cents per capita, while Canada has contributed 28 cents, Australia $1.25, and New Zealand $1.98. The miners of Johannesburg, South Africa, gave 10 per cent. of their wages, which was added to by a similar amount from the owners of the mines.

During his stay in America in the early part of 1917, Mr. Hoover more than once expressed himself on the subject of his own country's niggardliness, pointing out at the same time that the chief profits made out of providing food for Belgium had gone into American pockets. Out of the $250,000,000 spent by the C. R. B., $150,000,000 had been used in the United States to purchase supplies, and on these orders America had made a war profit of at least $30,000,000. Yet in two years the American people had contributed only $9,000,000. On these facts Mr. Hoover based this indictment of his fellow-countrymen:

Thousands of contributions have come to us from devoted people all over the United States, but the truth is that, with the exception of a few large gifts, American contributions have been little rills of charity of the poor toward the poor. Everywhere abroad America has been getting the credit for keeping alight the lamp of humanity, but what are the facts? America's contributions have been pitifully inadequate, and, do not forget it, other peoples have begun to take stock of We have been getting all the credit. Have we deserved it? We lay claim to idealism, to devotion to duty, and to great benevolence; but now the acid test is being

us.

applied to us. This has a wider import than mere figures. Time and time again when the door to Belgium threatened to close we have defended its portals by the assertion that this was an American enterprise, that the sensibilities of the American people would be wounded beyond measure, would be outraged, if this work were interfered with. Our moral strength has been based upon this assertion. I believe it is true, but it is difficult in the face of the figures to carry conviction, and in the last six or eight months time and again we have felt our influence slip from under us.

The result of the war will be that America will be rich, prosperous, wealthy, and will have made untold millions out of the woe and swelter of Europe. The justification of any rich man in the community is his trusteeship to the community for his wealth. The justification of America to the world-community today is her trusteeship to the world-community for the property which she holds. There is growing up and there has grown up in Europe a note of bitterness which will seriously affect our whole relations with Europe for years to come. The only amelioration to this bitterness possible is for this country to properly assume its burden toward the helpless in Europe.

Speaking at Washington, D. C., on Feb. 17, Mr. Hoover said it made him feel ashamed when he heard Belgian children expressing their gratitude by singing "The Star-Spangled Banner," and he knew that the food they were eating had not been paid for by Americans.

The commission's requirements have grown to between $18,000,000 and $19,000,000 a month. Of this amount the Allied Governments are contributing $14,000,000, leaving between four and five million dollars a month to be raised by public charity. The Belgians resent bitterly the very suggestion of charity, and have continued to borrow heavily with British and French support. Nevertheless, they have had to leave 3,000,000 of their people, who are totally destitute, as well as 1,250,000 adolescent children, to depend upon the commission's efforts. Mr. Hoover's mission during his visit to America included a plan to get the United States to undertake the provision of $1,250,000 a month for the wants of the 1,250,000 adolescent children. The commission has had to cope with an alarming increase in tuberculosis and other diseases among adolescents, caused by the lower power of resistance consequent upon inadequate diet. A dol

lar a month for each one of these children is needed to stop the gradual degeneration of the youth of Belgium.

One of the first noteworthy results of Mr. Hoover's criticism was that the Rocky Mountain Club of New York, whose members are mostly men interested in mining enterprises, decided to turn over to the commission the $500,000 which they had raised for a new clubhouse costing $1,000,000, and voted that every one of their 1,200 members should go to work to get contributions. In other directions Mr. Hoover made his presence felt, and there was an improvement in American subscriptions to the funds of the commission.

The statement that the Germans have taken food intended for the Belgians was disposed of by Mr. Hoover in a speech in New York City on Feb. 13. "We are satisfied," he said, "that the German Army has never eaten one-tenth of 1 per cent. of the food provided. The Allied Governments never would have supplied us with $200,000,000 if we were supplying the German Army. If the Germans had absorbed any considerable quantity of this food, the population of Belgium would not be alive today."

When the break came between the United States and Germany, it was stated that the feeding of the people of Belgium and Northern France would go on, because the C. R. B. had become a unique international society, supported by contributions from both belligerents and neutrals, and represented by American citizens in the occupied territories. If America became involved in the war, the citizens of some other neutral country, such as Spain or Holland, would carry on the work.

Immunity from blockade measures for the commission's steamers was secured by Mr. Hoover after negotiation with Germany and Great Britain. At the outbreak of the war foodstuffs were not contraband, and the commission was free to transport its supplies in neutral ships to Holland. But sufficient neutral ships could not be obtained, and belligerent vessels had also to be chartered. The German Government agreed to consider immune from attack all ships flying the

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