File No. 855.48/116
The Chargé d’Affaires in the Netherlands (Langhorne) to the Secretary of State
The Hague, December 11, 1914.
[Received December 26.]
No. 177]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of a statement of the work done by the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which was sent to me by Captain J. F. Lucey, the Rotterdam manager, [Page 821] and which may be of interest in connection with other information the Department may have on the subject.
This commission, which is usually spoken of as the “American Relief Commission,” attracts great attention in official and business circles in Holland, and high praise of its organization and efficiency is expressed on all sides. The Dutch Government has manifested the greatest interest in the work of the commission, and in response to the many requests made by it, has gladly rendered au possible aid and assistance.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
Report by Captain J. F. Lucey on the work of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium
On our arrival we established temporary offices with the Furness Shipping & Agency Company, who placed their entire staff at our disposal and attended to all the details of our work. The managers, who were exceptionally courteous, personally devoted a large part of their time to our interests, and rendered us much valuable assistance in arranging the necessary details of transshipment with the Dutch Government. Acting on instructions from London to establish permanent offices of our own, we investigated the building at 98, Haringvliet, and, on Thursday, November 20, moved into our present well-equipped offices.
The head offices of the American Commission are in London, where the commission was first formed under the supervision of Ambassador Page. There are branch offices in New York, working directly or indirectly through the various committees which have been formed to assist in this great work throughout the whole of the United States.
Organization. We have a very complete organization which consists of: General office management; receiving and shipping department; accountants’ department; stock department; cost department; stenographers; porters; and messengers.
In several of our departments we are employing Belgian refugees who were in great need of employment. The Furness Company has put several of its most capable men at our disposal. We have stationed efficient agents on the frontier, at Hansweert, Terneuzen, Maastricht, and at Eysden. The frontier representatives have been active in establishing lines of communications and now we are in touch with all the great centers of Belgium, and with the heads of the German Government at Brussels. These latter have placed Government lines at our disposal, thus enabling us to maintain fairly good connections with our representatives.
Arrival of food supplies. The first ship, viz., the S. S. Coblenz , arrived on November 1. As it was important that the first shipment should proceed without delay, we were instructed by his excellency, the American Minister at The Hague, to place the delivery of this shipment in the hands of the Secretary of the Legation at The Hague, which we did. On Wednesday morning, November 4, three days after the arrival of the Coblenz , her cargo was delivered to the American Minister in Brussels. The next ship, the S. S. Jan Blockx , arrived on Monday noon, November 9. Discharging of her cargo began at once and continued throughout the night. On the following morning a special train of 41 cars, escorted by Captain Sunderland of the United States Army, started for Liége and Limburg. On Tuesday evening, approximately 30 hours after the arrival of the Jan Blockx in the port of Rotterdam, her cargo was delivered to the burgomaster at Liége. The next ocean-going steamer to arrive was the S. S. Tremorvah from Nova Scotia. Her cargo was in part clothes, which have been distributed to Belgian refugees in Holland in about 500 towns and villages; and in part food supplies, which have been sent to Louvain, Brussels, Maline, etc., and redistributed from these cities to the outlying districts.
The first American steamer, the S. S. Massapequa , in charge of Captain McCarthy, arrived at 9 o’clock, Saturday night, November 21, and was met by the following committee:
[Page 822]Col. S. Listoe, American Consul General at Rotterdam; E. B. Elderkin, chairman of the Nova Scotian delegation, which presented the cargo of the S. S. Tremorvah ; H. C. Crowell, representative of the Halifax Morning Chronicle; P. Douglass, P. C. Jongeneel, managers of Furness Shipping & Agency Company, Rotterdam; J. F. Lucey; and on Sunday morning by—Marshall Langhorne, Chargé d’Affaires of the American Legation at The Hague; Captain Gherardi, Naval Attaché to the American Embassy at Berlin, Captain, U. S. Army; Capt. A. H. Sunderland, attached to the American Legation at The Hague, Captain, U. S. Army; together with a number of gentlemen from the American Commission.
Means of transportation. Our first work was to obtain facilities for delivering the food supplies which were to arrive in Rotterdam for transshipment into Belgium. You will appreciate the fact that all communications had been discontinued, trains were not running, many canals were not open, nor did we know whether we would be permitted to use those canals which were open. We are glad to inform you that we have reestablished sufficient communications to enable us to deliver supplies into the central points of Belgium.
Belgian cooperation. We are affiliated in Belgium with the Comité National de Secours et d’Alimentation, which has headquarters at Brussels with subcommittees in each province. Stationed at each province are one or two Americans, who receive the goods in the name of the American Minister and see to it that they are delivered to the proper offices of the provincial societies. The provincial committees make their requisitions at the head office at Brussels, which is under the supervision of the American and Spanish Ministers.
German authorities. The German authorities and German diplomatic officials have given us every assistance possible and have been uniformly courteous in the reception and treatment of our representatives. We desire specially to thank the German Consul here for the active interest and cooperation he has given us in our work.
Dutch authorities. The Dutch authorities have been extremely courteous and have placed every facility of their Government at our disposal. They have made up special trains for us at very short notice. The Foreign Minister, Mr. Loudon, paid us the unusual compliment of attending in person to many details of our work.
The American Legation at Brussels have rendered us every possible assistance, and we cannot endorse too highly the splendid work which Mr. Whitlock has done. He has earned, through his untiring efforts in the interests of this work, the universal respect of the Belgian people and of the German authorities.
Financial. The minimum requirements of the Belgian people for the next eight months are estimated at 80,000 tons of foodstuffs per month, which require about $5,000,000 per month to cover. Inasmuch as the men at the head of this commission are accustomed to the organization and management of large businesses, we are hopeful of coping successfully with this gigantic undertaking.
Accountancy. The auditing of the books of the commission is in the hands of Messrs. Deloitte, Pelder, Griffiths & Company, of London, New York, and Paris.
General. You will note from the necessarily brief report which we have given you what an extremely difficult work we are undertaking. We believe it has no parallel in history. In addition to what is being accomplished in Belgium, a great deal has been carried out indirectly in Holland through the Netherlands National Committee, which has made distributions throughout many of the cities and provinces of Holland. By the continued perseverance and cooperation of the various governments interested, and by the splendid response to the appeal made to the American people, what at first seemed to be an impossible task is gradually being accomplished. Though there will be much privation and distress in Belgium, which it is quite beyond the scope of human possibility to deal with, there is every prospect that the greater part of the suffering of the Belgian people will be relieved.
Were it not for the splendid services rendered us by your Legation, we would have been unable to accomplish even the small amount of work we have done.
Yours [etc.]
J. F. Lucey