So far as possible, we
would endeavor to provide increased means of transportation;
but we would consider it essential in any such scheme of
relief that control of transportation in Russia, so far as
was necessary in the distribution of relief supplies, should
be placed wholly under such a commission as is described in
your letter and should to the necessary extent be freed from
any governmental or private control whatsoever.
The real human element in the situation, even supposing all
these difficulties to be surmounted, is the problem of
distribution, the problem of seeing that the food reaches
the starving, the medicines the sick, the clothing the
naked. Subject to the supervision of such a commission, this
is a problem which should be solely under the control of the
people of Russia themselves so far as it is humanly possible
to put it under their control. It is not a question of class
or of race or of politics but a question of human beings in
need, and these human beings in each locality should be
given, as under the regime of the Belgian relief commission,
the fullest opportunity to advise the commission upon the
methods and the personnel by which their community is to be
relieved. Under no other circumstances could it be believed
that the purpose of this relief was humanitarian and not
political, and still more important, under no other
conditions could it be certain that the hungry would be fed.
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