A Call for Local Relief as War Rages in Europe
A Kennewick correspondent appeals to the farming community to donate to the Commission for the Relief of Belgium, noting that local prosperity is built on the suffering of war.
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The great war has now passed its 31st month, and it is well that we ask ourselves what it has meant to us—not as a nation, but to you and to me. In this farming community, there is scarcely a soul who has not benefited financially by this war which is meaning death to thousands daily. The visit of Herbert C. Hoover, chairman of the Commission for the Relief of Belgium, has brought before us a picture of privation and starvation beyond belief. Hoover tells of children waiting hours in a long line for their daily ration of bread, and those who have not lost weight are denied food so that those who are losing may be saved. One dollar a month will supply enough extra bread to keep one child from starvation. We farmers in the west haven't much to give, but quick charity is double charity. The grange has started a community fund; those who will give are asked to leave the money at the Finley store, at the Courier-Reporter office, or with secretary J. R. Ayers or master A. S. Goes.
“We farmers in the west haven't much to give, but it all helps, so let us see if we, as a community, can't send in a hundred dollars or two, remembering that quick charity is double charity.”
This piece highlights the historical connection between local agriculture and global conflict, reflecting how Kennewick farmers participated in the 'food as weapon' geopolitics of the Great War. It captures a moment where rural residents grappled with their own sudden wealth compared to the humanitarian crises occurring abroad.
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