THE BRITISH RED CROSS 



Collections in Canada for the British Red Cross Fund, so far as can be ascertained, 

 are as follows: — 



Ontario $1,493,992.00 



Nova Scotia 65,636. 24 



New Brunswick 15,000. 00 



Prince Edward Island 12,475.00 



Quebec 218,805. 17 



Manitoba 15,615.00 



Saskatchewan 14,819.07 



Alberta 7,094.63 



British Columbia 14,106.45 



Yukon 465.00 



Of the amount contributed by Ontario, the City of Toronto's share was 

 $542,607.00. 



BELGIAN RELIEF FUND 



Secretary-Treasurer of Fund for Canada: Mons. Hector Prud'homme, 59 St. Peter 

 Street, Montreal, P.Q. 



Object — To relieve destitute Belgians behind the German lines in Belgium. 

 Total subscriptions in Canada for Belgian Relief 

 received by the Central Executive Committee to 

 January 18, 1916, cash and goods $2,192,948.93 



BELGIAN RELIEF WORK 



When the war began, Belgium was the most densely populated and highly indus- 

 tralized state in Europe. Three-quarters of her 7,000,000 people supported themselves 

 by commerce. Her exports and imports were nearly three times as great per capita 

 as those of France and Germany. Her principal industries were dependent almost 

 entirely on imported raw material and her principal markets lay outside her borders. 



The immediate result of German aggression was that millions of Belgians were 

 reduced to the verge of starvation. That they were saved from such a fate was due 

 primarily to a group of Americans in Brussels, headed by Brand Whitlock, the American 

 Minister. 



The outcome of their efforts was the organization of a commission for the relief of 

 Belgium. The Commission was a voluntary organization with a membership of something 

 less than one hundred, chiefly Americans. With Herbert C. Hoover at its head, the 

 work has been a marvel of efficiency and economy. 



The undertaking involved the handling of huge sums of money and colossal ship- 

 ments of clothes and provisions. Not only had enormous quantities of wheat, flour, 

 bacon, rice, maize, etc., to be purchased and transported to Europe, but after it had 

 been landed in Holland (through which country it had to go) it was necessary to prepare 

 it for distribution, and finally to distribute it systematically among the people. 



In the thirteen months prior to December, 1915, one million tons of food and clothing 

 were delivered in Belgium and northern France. Some idea of what this means may be 

 realized from the statement that it would take about 20,000 miles of ten-ton capacity 

 freight cars to transport this amount of merchandise. 



To date, $60,000,000 has been expended by the Commission, at a cost of less than 

 half of one per cent., which constitutes a record for work of this kind. As by far the 

 greater portion of the labour involved in distribution has been given gratuitously, 

 the half of one per cent, may be said to represent the cost of conveyance, milling, and 

 incidental business expenses. 



223 



