friend of my countrymen. He stood between us and the Germans as a
vigilant sentry of the civilized world, and was able to tell when
he returned to America all the sufferings and all the courage of
the Belgian population.

I remember traveling in America some ten years ago, and being
asked, while I was reading a Belgian paper, where this paper came
from and when I answered "It came from Belgium, the next question
was: "Belgium? It is a province of France, isn't it?" Now I
do not think that any person in America, nor in any other part of
the world, will not know where Belgium is.

The American Commission for Relief has to be credited with putting
in closer contact the suffering population of my country with all
persons the world over who were eager to assist it. It especially
brought the sufferings of our people nearer to the heart of the
American population. Every one knows that. But what every one does
not know is the silent and effective work performed in Belgium by
Mr. Brand Whitlock, the American Minister. He was the real man at
the right place and at the right hour. No one could have better
than he, with his deep humanitarian feeling, been able to understand
the moral side of the sufferings of the Belgians under the German
occupation. No one could better than he find, at the very moment
when they were needed, the words appropriate to meet the circumstances,
and to convey to the people of this stricken country the feelings
which Mr. Whitlock knew were beating in the hearts of all Americans.

When the German authorities forbade the display of the Belgian Flag,
and the Tri-Color so dear to our hearts had to be hauled down, the
American Flag everywhere took its place. Washington's birthday and