Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

and then to the village committee of origin to note our changes, to check for errors and to recom- mend further changes; but lists could not be changed without central office consent. As the personal equation of committees and the interpretation of regulations varies considerably, the Volost committees had recommended dis- counting some and raising other village lists. We our. selves also had first hand knowledge of conditions and for months had inspectors busy looking after kitchens and reporting on conditions. I found that the quickest way to form a fair comparison as to conditions in villages was 266, FEEDING THE HUNGRY to have the committee take one to the three poorest families or homes in their village. Wuat Was AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION Why did we invoice the goods? There were various reasons. ‘The bales varied greatly both in size and con- tents. Some had a number of pairs of shoes in them, others had none. Some had nothing but blankets, others had a great variety. Bales or boxes containing one kind of goods, of course were not opened. We had about three carloads of uninvoiced clothing from former shipments. Finally, to be able to carry out the unit plan and dis- tribute more equitably it was necessary to know what we had. Even so, we repeatedly heard complaints of par- tiality, deception, and in a very few cases we dismissed employees. The Bolshevist press, too, was anything but friendly, as you shall see later. The Niebuhr flour mill was our warehouse. Here forty to fifty men and women sorted and counted goods, sewed sacks, and marked and stacked packages for two weeks. Of course the mill, like all the larger mills— most of which were Mennonite property—was idle, the weather was cold, and there was no fire in the warercom. Yet we had many applicants for work. But why employ so many people and cause expense? Employment was the best possible aid we could give adults. It made every dollar given go farther by bringing about an exchange of commodities, and it preserved the self-respect of those in need. Common labor, and all labor in part, was accepted in exchange for the payok—a certain quantity of food. And what was sent? Let me give you a few details: 25 tons of new dry goods; over 7000 pairs of footwear; 5372 men’s and women’s overcoats; 8824 adult under- wear; 4886 waists; 3936 skirts; 1169 shawls; 6896 men’s shirts; 35 fur coats; 36 straw hats; 20,310 girls’ and CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION IN RUSSIA 267 children’s dresses; 17,297 pieces of children’s underwear; 27,924 pieces for children under 5 years old. 1111 double and 1596 single blankets and comforters, etc.; 14,614 spools of thread; one swallow-tail dress suit. Yes, we had a place for that too, as you will see a little later. Expressed in our Unit values the grand total was 1,383,837. Knowing this and comparing it with the grand. total of the Units in the “Red Column” of the village “Statistical Lists” we could tell