Talleyrand or Metternich. If he were, the Belgians might not have
been fed, because he might have been suspected of being too much
of a diplomatist. When an Englishman, or a German, or a Hottentot,
or any other kind of a human being gets to know Whitlock, he
recognizes that here is an honest man with a big heart. When leading
Belgians came to him and said that winter would find Belgium without
bread, he turned from the land that has the least food to that which
has the most--his own land.

For Belgium is a great shop in the midst of a garden. Her towns are
so close together that they seem only suburbs of Brussels and
Antwerp. She has the densest population in Europe. She produces
only enough food to last her for two months of the year. The food for
the other ten months she buys with the products of her factories. In
1914-15 Belgium could not send out her products; so we were to help
feed her without pay, and England and France were to give money to
buy what food we did not give.

But with the British navy generously allowing food to pass the
blockade, the problem was far from solved. Ships laden with supplies
steaming to Rotterdam--this was a matter of easy organization. How
get the bread to the hungry mouths when the Germans were using
Belgian railroads for military purposes? Germany was not inclined to
allow a carload of wheat to keep a carload of soldiers from reaching
the front, or to let food for Belgians keep the men in the trenches from
getting theirs regularly. Horse and cart transport would be
cumbersome, and the Germans would not permit Belgian teamsters
to move about with such freedom. As likely as not they might be
spies.