CLOTHES FOR EUROPE
SIR, Most of your readers will welcome, as we certainly do, the news that food parcels may now be sent to the hungry people of Europe. But the people of Europe are cold as well as hungry ; and we are concerned lest, in the easing of one hardship, another should be forgotten. It was stated in the House of Commons only a week ago that, in the British zone of Germany alone, the minimum requirements of children's boots amounted to 6,250,000 pairs, against which permits for the purchase of only 1,770,000 pairs had been given out—i.e., one pair for every four children. We happened to receive, only a few weeks earlier, a report from cur Aachen team which told of how the number of garments available for new-born babies worked out at one to every four—the same proportion as cited more generally in the House. And reports from other teams in Germany and the other stricken countries of Central Europe confirm the remark of a worker in Vienna who had been struck by the number of children in that city suffering from sores on the feet through lack of footwear: "I believe that clothing will be the most crying need this winter."
We appeal to all who sleep under a roof, who have enough to eat, and enough clothes to keep them warm and dry, to give every garment and every pair of shoes they can spare. Better still, organise a clothing drive and let us supply you with the necessary sacks and leaflets. Lastly, if you have no clothes to send us, send money ; we need every penny you can give if we are to meet the costs of transport and distribution. Parcels should be sent to Friends Relief Service, 163 Highgate Road, London, N.W. 5, and money to Friends Relief Service, Friends House,
Friends Relief Service. General Secretary.
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