ra ary) \ ~~ (Vise q Lwin © World’s Student Christian Federation. European Student Relief Series No. 6. RELIEF AND ONE UNDERGRADUATE. ‘But Undergraduates can do so little,” is the damping axiom offered to the relief campaigner, a hundred times a day! It is an article of our faith, that the undergraduate both can and does give liberally; as evidence of our faith we can offer abundant and visible proof in the currency of many nations, but where money fails him, the undergraduate has other gifts to bring, e.g., resource and perseverance in raising supplies in kind. Holland has provided an inspiring instance of successful effort of this kind on the part of one undergraduate. Our Dutch secretary writes, October, 1920 :— ‘“In the spring of 1920 the call from the Federation to help the starving students in Vienna reached the office of the Student Christian Movement of the Netherlands. Its officers had their hands full with the work of their own movement, and the movement itself had a very large and increasing deficit to face. Yet they were eager to help, so they looked for someone willing to spend time on this job. A law student, P., of Leiden University was at once thought of, and as soon as approached to do the work of raising the necessary money and food, he immediately promised to try. It was obviously impossible quickly to raise a sufficient amount from the student body itself; for, first, there had just been several relief collections in the universities; and, second, a great number of the students themselves come from the middle classes, so hard hit by the economic consequences of the war. If the needed amount of relief was to be secured in a short time it must be done outside the universities. So it was decided that P. should spend a few weeks getting introductions and visiting merchants. The first introduction he got from a member of the student movement to her father, a shipowner in Rotterdam, who received him well, and not only gave him a gift, but also introductions to a number of his colleagues. One day and a half spent in Rotterdam gave a net result of £150. Experience soon taught that, if a man got interested and gave something himself, he was also willing to give introductions to others; also, that if you want to get something worth while from a firm, it is absolutely necessary to see personally the chief director. It is no use seeing subordinates, for then you never get more than a pound or two. ‘Therefore, if your introduction ts not sufficient to get yourself’ admitted, get more and better introductions until you are inside. In one place it was necessary to return several times before a five minutes interview was granted, but the net result was one thousand guilders (£100). When the visits to Rotterdam had yielded money enough to make sure that the movement could afford to forward a certain amount of gifts in kind to Vienna, careful attention was given to the list of articles which the appeal had mentioned as especially needed in Vienna, i.e., cocoa, sugar, flour, soap, clothing. For each of these articles introductions were sought to several different factories or firms. Cocoa came first. A good introduction to a well-known factory yielded six hundred pounds. At the next factory another introduc- tion, coupled with the fact that the colleague had given so much, brought in another five hundred. The third factory could not help doing the same thing. Cocoa without sugar is a poor thing. So P. made his next dash for sugar. Fortunately Holland is a sugar producing country. Also, he was lucky enough to get very good introductions to the biggest company. The difficulty always encountered was that every firm said: ‘ We have already given to the ‘‘ Save the Children Fund,’’ to the “‘ Labourers’ Fund,’’ etc.’ : only by insisting that they had not yet given for the students, could one get anything. This particular company, however, was difficult to get at, and few collectors had succeeded in seeing its chief directors. So here was comparatively fresh ground, and, apparently, P. arrived at a good moment. The result was a gift of twenty thousand pounds of sugar ! The next item was soap. A little strategy landed him in the room of the director of one of the factories which were doing a large business. ‘ Yes, I quite understand, but I have already given to so many relief committees for Vienna... . . Well, I expect students must wash themselves too.’ Some telephoning with his colleague in another room. ‘ Will you be satisfied with five thousand parcels of half-a-pound each?’ A rather staggered look and a joyful assent. Over a ton of soap seemed sufficient to clean the whole of Vienna University for some time! Several introductions to cloth merchants were also gathered. The first visit yielded a hundred yards of cloth, enough for over thirty suits, on condition that the suits were made in Holland and sent ready made to Vienna. The next problem was to find a tailor who would do the job gratis. Passing one of the largest shops of ready-made suits, P. thought this shop could do it as well as another. He entered the shop and asked to see the director. ‘Ah, you mean Mr. So-and-So? His office is round the corner.’ Round the corner, of course, now the name of the director was discovered, he did not ask to see ‘the director’ but to see ‘ Mr. So-and-So.’ This gentle- man seemed very sympathetic, but as his shop was only a branch of the concern he had not authority to grant the request, but offered an introduction to the chief director. With such a good introduction, P. felt it a pity merely to ask for the making of thirty suits; better ask for more cloth. Result—five hundred yards more. And another tailor made the original thirty suits. Next, someone thought of fish, and so Scheveningen and Katwyk were visited. On enquiry, it was found that all the shopowners formed one union, so he and one of his friends went to see the chairman of the union, who agreed to propose a motion at the next meeting that each member should give one or two barrels of herrings, so that from both places a railway truck of fish could be sent to Vienna students. This plan succeeded splendidly. Potatoes seemed good to send. These could be got near home, for the farmers of Gramsbergen, the village where P.’s father is doctor, had a lot of potatoes. The ministers and sessions of the churches (Holland is mostly Presbyterian) were taken into confidence, and on Sunday, after the service, the situation was explained to the congregations and each farmer asked to give one or two sacks of potatoes. The whole village, rich and poor, responded heartily to this call, and two railway trucks with potatoes went from this village to Vienna. This was indeed a real community gift., for even the poorest farmer contributed his share. In much the same way as these first articles, flour, beans, oil, candles, and other useful things were gathered in. When the scheme started, the aim was to get one railway truck- ful of food for Vienna students, but when things went so successfully one truck did not seem satisfactory. The result was that, after two weeks’ hard work, P. had a little train of five railway trucks, one with sugar, one with fish, two with potatoes, and one with all kinds of other good things, including 15 cases of soap, 10 of cocoa, 3 bales and 63 cases of flour and cereals, 220 kilo of pulse foods, 8 crates and 5 cases of cheese, 16 cases of condensed milk; also bales of cloth, and lard and oil. So, just before Whitsuntide, the trucks were attached to one of the Red Cross trains which regularly went from Rotterdam to Vienna. The transport cost some two thousand guilders, but sufficient money was gathered to pay for this also, through the efforts of other undergraduates in the Dutch universities. Our most recent effort was to raise 5 tons of lamp oil from one firm. Of course, besides these exertions of P.’s, there were also collec- tions in the different universities for Vienna, which under the leader- ship of local committees yielded handsome sums, but my task here is only to describe what one undergraduate did.”’ Those Dutch supplies proved invaluable in Vienna, and were used not only for our breakfast scheme, but also for pro- visioning our woodcutting and convalescent camps. But large ~as the amount raised may seem in itself, and it equalled a money gift of nearly £3,000, it quickly disappeared. To supply even our scanty breakfast of cocoa and bread to 5,000 students in Austria, we require half a ton of flour alone daily. If the scheme is to be carried on throughout the academic year, there are WANTED, 150 tons of Flour, 2,680 cases of Condensed Milk, 15 tons of Cocoa. These quantities refer merely to our breakfast scheme, and take no account of supplies we are giving to Student Mensas and Hostels, or food for special cases. To clothe 3,000 Austrian Students who are in urgent need this winter, WANTED, 10,500 metres of Cloth, 6,000 ig ,7 dining, ONOU Pe mewn LC, 3,000 pairs of Boots or Shoes, 6,000 Shirts, 6,000 pairs of Stockings or Socks. We could begin a similar work on a large scale in Poland, Hungary and other lands to-morrow if we had the means. Who will help us to raise supplies in kind? In addition to com- modities already mentioned, we are in urgent need of :— 1. Food, sugar, fats, rice, invalid foods, cod liver oil, meat extracts, desiccated eggs, etc. 2. Clothing, both new and second-hand, of every descrip- tion for both men and women, especially woollen goods and underwear, socks, stockings, footwear, repair accessories and large quantities of sewing materials. All kinds of toilet articles. are needed, toilet and laundry soap, washing powders, starch, tooth brushes, tooth paste, shaving soap, and medical skin creams. 3. Fuel, especially for heating study rooms, oil stoves and fireless cookers, candles, electric bulbs and lamp oil. 4. Books and other student supplies, including paper, pencils and ink. For hints on how to raise such supplies, study this article. For information on where and how to dispatch such goods, apply to the The Executive Secretary, Conrad Hoffman, 3 rue Général Dufour, Geneva, Switzerland. Cable Address: Flemgo, Geneva. November, 1920. WORLD'S STUDENT CHRISTIAN FEDERATION EUROPEAN STUDENT RELIEF. JOHN R. MOTT, CONRAD HOFFMANN, RUTH ROUSE, Chairman, Executive Secretary, Publicity Secretary, 347, Madison Avenue, 3 rue General Dufour, 28, Lancaster Road, New York City. Geneva, Switzerland. Wimbledon, London, S.W. 19.