Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

government officials, and particularly Red news- papers cultivated an attitude of suspicion about our handling of clothing. Thus when the shipment arrived they fre- quently prejudiced the minds of the populace. Under pre- vailing conditions it was no wonder that there were some suspicions, before the general public as well as the officials understood our earnest aim to be true and fair in all our dealings; but when they saw how it was done without fa- voritism they were pleased.” There were innumerable obstacles and delays. At times it seemed the task could not be carried through. We were human. ‘The labor union interfered. Some sta- tistics were wrong. Mails were delayed. Bad weather set in. The private packages were a bone of contention. There was a car shortage; the Government, too, had its difficulties; and even when loaded, cars stood on the tracks for days—because some railroad chief was on a trip, and his assistant refused to sign the way bills. We would not resort to bribes as is the general practice there. But once the railroad had released the goods to our local commit- tees then the clothes were soon doing service for thousands of appreciative people, as many letters attest and we were CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION IN RUSSIA 271 personally assured. I shall quote from just one such letter at the close. The readers have been initiated enough into the method of handling the clothing problem so that probably the simplest way to explain the manner of final distribu- tion will be to quote some of the instructions we gave our village committees. Preparing Clothing for Distribution. 1. As hertofore the clothing will be distributed without discrimination among Mennonites and non-Men- nonites in proportion to population............ Clothes for men and for women must be kept apart throughout. 2. Sort the goods of each kind into four sizes thus: Ages 0—4; 5—9; 10—14; and 15—up. Where prac- tical more divisions may be made. 3. Each article is then marked thus: Serial Number aa ; Size........(Large, Medium, Small) and under a line, Values e< (Giving there the “Unit” value as indicated on the A.M.R. Unit List). The tag will then read some- thing like this: 34L which means, Article No. 34, Large, worth 12 Units. 4. The goods are now to be laid out in the “Store” according to serial numbers, and in such a way that only the committee members and its employees, but not the populace, can handle them. (We had such a “Store” in every one of the more than 100 villages.) The maxi- mum of Units that may be given one person is 50 for those over 14 years old; 40 for those from 5 to 14 incl.; and 30 for those under 5 years old. Distribution. 1. In larger villages it may be advisable to have women come first. 2. To avoid disorder let those who are entitled to clothes draw lots to determine who shall be served first. oun FEEDING THE HUNGRY But remember, no one dare select his clothes—they mus