Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

wagon a half-mile or more to the warehouses, which were never near the tracks, except in larger places like Alexan- drowsk. In the old days in Russia that part of the task would have been easy. But in the spring of 1922, it was a big undertaking. In the Molotschna there was one horse for every twelve persons; it took about three of those horses—half-starved as they were—to pull the load one well-fed horse could have handled. During those first spring months the roads were almost impassable. But by dint of effort and sacrifice on the part of the people, by using the horses they had, some oxen and many of their milk cows, they managed to get the food to the villages, ORGANIZING FEEDING OPERATIONS 263 many of which were as far as thirty miles from the rail- way. c. Personnel. The shortage of American personnel, especially at first, also made the work more difficult. It ALM: UKRAINE ; Tota} Amount of Grain Harvested Statistics in Puds. of 10,663,000 Mennonite Colonies 4.450900 (944. 1920. 4923 1922 “Total number Of e =, clessiatines Oessiatines sowed \n 137.923 settiements 139,338 88945 8% 73N42 45.478 114. {929 91. 19a Number of Horses Number of Cows. 16,524. ES) pe 23, 46% IS 747. 1920 {921 $922 {944 1920 A. M. R. Statistics of Mennonite Settlements was hard to get from place to place, and there were so many places where the presence of an American was 214 FEEDING THE HUNGRY needed, not only to encourage the local people in their work, but to act as a buffer between them and the local authorities who wanted to assert themselves. The Men- nonites, partly because of their Dutch-German ancestry, had been under suspicion during the world war, and even more so during the revolutions, so that they had to act very cautiously. The government officials knew that the Americans were to be given free course in their work, and they were much more willing to cooperate when an Amer- ican was about. Tue BEGINNING OF FEEDING OPERATIONS The Americans first met the local Mennonite organi- zation in Alexandrowsk on Feb. 24, 1922, to locate the neediest settlements and to make plans for getting started. Chortitza, Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld Volosts seemed to every one the logical places to begin. On the afternoon of the 24th, the Americans went to Chortitza and began the work of organizing there. On March 3, committees were appointed in Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld. In the meantime office and warehouse arrangements had to be made, almost over night. There was no time to lose if the A.M.R. was to accomplish its one great purpose— keeping as many of the people as possible alive until the new crop would be harvested. A suitable building was secured for office and living quarters, and an idle flour- mill, formerly owned by a wealthy Mennonite, for the warehouse. On March 3, the supplies that had been brought directly from America by way of Constantinople, were unloade