Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

were selling for ten or fifteen pounds of barley flour, a ten horse-power naphtha motor for ten bushels of barley, and other things in pro- portion. Rye flour was a luxury. Barley, millet, oil-cake (sunflower seed residue) tasted very good if one only had them! Leaves, bark, corn-stalks, ‘kurai” (a small thistle that grows on the steppes) were ground into flour. These more harmful substitutes were resorted to much less, how- 208 FEEDING THE HUNGRY ever, by the Mennonites than by the Russians. Cats, dogs, crows, gophers, even dead horses and cattle were eaten. It is impossible to give a really adequate picture of conditions that existed. PLAN OF OPERATION a. Special purpose of the A.M.R. As the A.M.R. faced this situation, a three-fold purpose and obligation crystallized; First, that of carrying out the wishes and conveying and interpreting the spirit of the donors in America; second, that of saving the lives of our people in Russia, giving them the moral support and encouragement they needed, and raising their sunken hopes; and, third, that of fulfilling our pledge to the Russian government— to relieve the needy in the territory in which we worked, regardless of their race or creed, and, as far as possible, creating a spirit of good-will on the part of the govern- ment and the Russian people in general. In deciding on a plan of work, all of these points had to be taken into consideration. b. Possible plans of work. A number of plans sug- gested themselves. One that would have enabled us to work entirely independently was to bring our own supplies directly from America and distribute them to our liking, subject only to the conditions of our agreement with the government. Some of the difficulties involved were the lack of the necessary organization and experience this plan demanded, and the lack of time to carry it out. It was apparent from the outset that many phases of relief work could be more economically carried out by cooperation between the various agencies planning to do relief work in Russia. The war itself, and relief work during and after the war, had taught that lesson thor- oughly. So it was not hard to decide to use all of the available avenues for simplifying and speeding up the ORGANIZING FEEDING OPERATIONS 209 work which must be done at once if at all. The American Relief Administration had made provision in its program for just such codperating organizations as the A.M.R. which might take advantage of their shipping facilities and draw on their food supply. One of the three plans was known as “Bulk Sales.” This plan provided for the outright sale of food in bulk to the amount of $500 or more to be delivered at the nearest A.R.A. warehouse, and to be distributed according to the wishes of the organization that bought it. The one particular stipulation was that one-fourth of the food was retained by the A.R.A. to be used in their regular child feeding program. Th