WAR CAUSES DESTITUTION

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13274, 1 September 1916, Page 7

WAR CAUSES DESTITUTION

SUFFERERS INCREASE. <j( (.mjitio: ,s j\ tiih east. Stories of conditions existing in the Eastern war zone, now the scene of fierce lif^htinii', are told by noneoinbatants in reports received by the -loint Distribution Committee of Funds for the .lewisli War Sufferers, of which Felix Warburg is chairman. A report l ecei\ed from the Jewish Committee for Relief of the Victims of War in Petrograd, and made public recently, shows that up to February sth 709,18k rubles had been distributed through the ;U)2 agencies of Russia and Southern Liberia. The Galician Jews were helped to the extent of 283,400 rubles, "I which 100,000 were for medical and sanitary assistance. I here are now registered with the committee 185,590 Jewish refugees, 25,000 more than were on the register last November. The provinces of the interior—or as the report describes it, "in the rear" have a total of 7 5,078 refugees. The cost of the food ration supplied is 20 kopeks per head a day. A typical food ration is the one supplied by the committee of Astrakhan, which consists of a quarter of a pound of kosher meat, one and a-quarter pounds of bread, tea, two lumps of sugar, a quarter of a pound of potatoes, and one-eighth of a pound of cereal. The housing problem is a serious one. Another report received is from Hilfscomite fur Polen, which manages the lolief money from the United States in the territories occupied by Germany. It shows that up to May it has expended 2,480,595 marks, distributed among 252 cities and districts in Poland. It conducts various kitchens and has also to assist hospitals because of the spread of epidemics. 1 he report says that the Jewish communities as well as all charitable institutions in "occupied territories" are becoming exhausted and that the few remaining families are unable to contribute, as credit is exhausted. Small traders and merchants are rapidly falling into the condition of absolute penury. The mortality rate is also growing through the lack of sanitarv arrangements. In Warsaw the monthly rate was, when the report was made, more than 35 a thousand.