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painted, or stenciled on the fabric. Frequent additions to the flour sacks were
Belgian messages of gratitude to the Americans; embellishments of lace; the Belgian and American flags; the Belgian lion; the Gallic cock; the American eagle; symbols of peace, strength, and courage; the Belgian colors of red, yellow, and black; and the American colors of red, white, and blue. Artists, in particular, used the flour sacks as the canvas background for creating original oil paintings.
73:
had enough hard currency to buy passage home, even if any ships had been sailing; most voyages had been canceled. Hoover set up and organized an "American committee" to "get the busted Yankee home," making loans and cashing checks as needed. By
October 1914 the American Committee had sent some 120,000 Americans home, and in the end lost just $ 300 in unpaid debt. This episode brought Hoover and his organizational talents to the attention of the American ambassador,
1190:
146:, felt that Germany needed to either feed the Belgians themselves or deal with the resulting riots right behind their lines, and that international help to relieve that pressure was helping the Germans and thereby lengthening the war. At several points both sides tried to shut down the relief, and throughout the war there was a constant problem of German submarines sinking relief ships, especially at times when tensions with the U.S. were highest.
84:, Belgium suffered a food shortage. The tiny nation, at the time among the most urbanized countries in Europe, only grew enough food to meet 20â25% of its needs. Nonetheless, the German occupiers were requisitioning what was there to help feed their army. The civilian population, in addition to the demoralizing effect of being occupied by Germany, faced imminent starvation unless a large quantity of food was quickly brought in.
195:
The flour sacks were used by these various
Belgian groups to make new clothing, accessories, pillows, bags, and other functional items. Many women chose to embroider over the mill logo and the brand name of flour, but entirely original designs were sometimes created on the sacks and then embroidered,
191:
Separate from the trade schools of
Belgium, the professional schools specialized in training girls to sew, embroider, and make lace, and the sewing workrooms were large centers established in the major Belgian cities during the war to provide work for the thousands of unemployed. Girls and women made
187:
by
American mills. The movement of these bags throughout Belgium was carefully controlled by the CRB since cotton was in great demand for the manufacture of German ammunition and also because the CRB feared that the flour sacks would be taken out of Belgium, refilled with inferior flour, and resold
179:
Between 1914 and 1919, the CRB operated entirely with voluntary efforts and was able to feed close to 10 millions people in occupied
Belgium and northern France by raising the necessary money, obtaining voluntary contributions of food, shipping the food past the German submarine blockades and army
137:
The CRB had to operate in the face of resentment from both of the warring sides. The
Germans resented the presence of the Americans in the country and were bitter about the British blockade, which they saw as the reason for Belgium requiring foreign aid in the first place. Many influential British
72:
When the Great War broke out, Hoover was a mining engineer and financier living in London. When hostilities erupted, he found himself surrounded by tens of thousands of
American tourists trying to get home. Their paper securities and travelers' checks were not being recognized and very few of them
203:
The completed flour sacks were carefully controlled and distributed to shops and organizations in
Belgium, England, and the United States for the purpose of raising funds for food relief and to aid the prisoners of war. Many were also given as gifts to the member of the Commission for Relief in
87:
However, buying and transporting food to
Belgium was no simple matter, as American expatriate mining engineer Millard Shaler found out when he tried to do just that. Great Britain had imposed an economic blockade on Germany and its occupied countries. If Shaler brought food in, the British
199:
Differences appear in the designs and messages of the embroidered and painted flour sacks, due to the fact that Belgium is composed of two distinct groups of people: the Walloons or French speaking people in the south and the Flemish or Dutch speaking population in the north.
125:. This was necessary because CNSA employees, living under the German occupation, were legally required to obey the orders of German soldiers, whereas CRB people were not. The food imported by the CRB remained the property of the American ambassador to Belgium,
149:
In the end, the CRB bought and shipped 11.4 billion pounds (5.7 million tons) of food to 9.5 million civilian victims of the war. The committee chartered ships to carry the food to Belgian ports under
207:
Herbert Hoover was given several hundred of these flour sacks as gifts and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum has one of the largest collections of World War I flour sacks in the world.
99:
288:
DE SCHAEPDRIJVER Sophie, La Belgique et la PremiĂšre Guerre mondiale, Bruxelles, Archives et musĂ©e de la littĂ©rature, 2004 (Documents pour lâHistoire des Francophonies, 4), p. 111
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as relief flour. As a result, the empty flour sacks were carefully accounted for and distributed to professional schools, sewing workrooms, convents, and individual artists.
50:
472:
Bertrams, Kenneth (2015). "The domestic uses of BelgianâAmerican 'mutual understanding': the commission for relief in Belgium educational foundation, 1920â1940".
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The Commission for Relief in Belgium. Statistical review of relief operations. Five years, November 1, 1914, to August 31, 1919 and to final liquidation
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The CRB shipped 697,116,000 pounds of flour to Belgium and evidence indicates that sugar and grains were also sent. The flour was packaged in cotton
299:"Sperry Mills â American Indian â California â Versierde meelzakken in WO I / Sacs Ă farine dĂ©corĂ©s pendant la GG / Decorated Flour Sacks from WW I"
115:
The commission's task was to obtain foodstuffs from abroad and ship them into Belgium, where CRB monitors supervised distribution by members of the
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1000:
1225:
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Little, Branden. "Humanitarian relief in Europe and the analogue of war, 1914-1918," in Michael S. Neiberg, and Jennifer D. Keene, eds.
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77:, and several other key people in London, who came to him in late October with a request for his help with a much larger problem:
1005:
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337:"Versierde meelzakken in WO I / Sacs Ă farine dĂ©corĂ©s pendant la GG / Decorated Flour Sacks from WW I â Zakken vol herinneringen"
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Gay, George I. _Public Relations of the Commission for Relief in Belgium_, vol. 2 Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1929.
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den Hertog, Johan. "The Commission for Relief in Belgium and the Political Diplomatic History of the First World War,"
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Yanks Behind the Lines: How the Commission for Relief in Belgium Saved Millions from Starvation During World War I
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Notwithstanding the special CRB flags flown by ships and enormous banners covering them, there were losses: the
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45:) was an international, predominantly American, organization that arranged for the supply of food to
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Little, Branden. "The humanitarian mobilization of American cities for Belgian Relief, 1914â1918,"
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Seeking a solution to this dilemma, Shaler contacted ambassador Page, and Page contacted Hoover.
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famous Belgian lace, embroidered textiles and repaired and remade clothing in these workrooms.
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Nash, George H. "An American Epic": Herbert Hoover and Belgian Relief in World War I,"
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An American Epic: Vol. I: The Relief of Belgium and Northern France, 1914â1930
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terms arranged by Hoover in meetings with the British and German authorities.
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Its leading figure was chairman, and future President of the United States,
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Feeding Occupied France during World War I: Herbert Hoover and the Blockade
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Public Relations of the Commission for Relief in Belgium: Documents
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occupied areas, and controlling the food distribution in Belgium.
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after delivering a shipment was torpedoed by the German submarine
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War Bread: A Personal Narrative of the War and Relief in Belgium
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Finding common ground. New directions in First World War Studies
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Belgium out of gratitude for the aid given the Belgian people.
26:
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The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: Years of Adventure, 1874â1920
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Poster requesting clothing for occupied France and Belgium
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The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914â1917
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The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917
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Decorated Flour Sacks from WW I (annelienvankempen.nl)
323:(Kansas State Historical Society). (2014) 8#2 pp 2â3
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Birthplace and childhood home National Historic Site
588:
Europe Remembers Herbert Hoover, âNapoleon of Mercyâ
359:"The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum"
252:
The History of the Commission for Relief in Belgium
88:recognized, the Germans would just requisition it.
428:International Encyclopedia of the First World War
1207:
836:Presidential transition of Franklin D. Roosevelt
319:"Thank you, America: Flour Sacks from Belgium,"
458:(1988), 498pp, comprehensive scholarly history
1231:Humanitarian aid organizations of World War I
615:
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415:Jeansonne, Glen S. "Hoover goes to Belgium"
118:Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation
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1001:Presidential Library, Museum, and gravesite
132:
121:(CNSA), the Belgian organization headed by
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608:
497:. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
171:in April 1915 with the loss of 15 lives.
1119:1928 United States presidential election
471:
106:
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20:
1006:Hoover Institution Library and Archives
910:Belgian American Educational Foundation
396:Statistical review of relief operations
222:Belgian American Educational Foundation
25:The Committee for Relief in Belgium in
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590:, Hoover Institution, January 30, 2007
537:A Journal from Our Legation in Belgium
424:Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB)
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16:World War I hunger relief organization
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1226:Progressive Era in the United States
1099:Republican National Convention, 1920
655:United States Secretary of Commerce
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701:Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929
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254:. Privately published, circa 1917.
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522:(Stanford University Press, 1925)
451:(Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).
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1055:The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue
900:Commission for Relief in Belgium
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826:State of the Union Address, 1929
573:Commission for Relief in Belgium
474:Journal of Transatlantic Studies
80:In 1914, after being invaded by
35:Commission for Relief in Belgium
493:Druelle-Korn, Clotilde (2019).
917:American Relief Administration
646:President of the United States
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111:1917 poster for Belgian relief
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1221:Belgian relief in World War I
1047:Backstairs at the White House
575:(Hoover Presidential Library)
486:10.1080/14794012.2015.1088325
389:Herbert Hoover: A Public Life
237:
934:Commission for Polish Relief
782:U.S. occupation of Nicaragua
753:Federal Home Loan Bank Board
339:(in Dutch). 26 December 2023
301:(in Dutch). 31 December 2022
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1216:Hunger relief organizations
713:Reapportionment Act of 1929
437:46 (August 2014) pp 121â38.
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748:Federal Home Loan Bank Act
444:(Brill, 2010) pp. 139â158.
406:Diplomacy & Statecraft
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922:Russian Famine Relief Act
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718:Wall Street Crash of 1929
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270:. New York: Norton, 1988.
95:How the Commission worked
929:U.S. Food Administration
787:U.S. occupation of Haiti
566:(New York: Holt, 1916.)
408:(2010) 21#4 pp593â613,
133:Obstacles and challenges
1180:Franklin D. Roosevelt â
1078:English translation of
758:Federal Home Loan Banks
723:SmootâHawley Tariff Act
47:German-occupied Belgium
29:, France, a local group
975:Lou Henry Hoover House
465:(1989) 21#1 pp 75â86.
435:Les Cahiers bruxellois
217:Belgium in World War I
138:policymakers, notably
112:
104:
30:
1160:(great-granddaughter)
970:HooverâMinthorn House
905:University Foundation
841:Judicial appointments
814:Medicine Ball Cabinet
419:(2015) 65#1 pp 19â24.
227:University Foundation
110:
102:
24:
743:Mexican Repatriation
525:Gay, George I., ed.
250:Kittredge, Tracy B.
939:Finnish Relief Fund
890:Sons of Gwalia mine
794:London Naval Treaty
738:Revenue Act of 1932
733:Economy Act of 1932
562:Hunt, Edward Eyre.
447:Miller, Jeffrey B.
365:on 15 February 2013
1146:Herbert Hoover Jr.
1026:U.S. Postage stamp
1016:Hoover Institution
706:Federal Farm Board
113:
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1173:â Calvin Coolidge
1050:(1979 miniseries)
944:Hoover Commission
799:Hoover Moratorium
586:Nash, George H.,
559:(1951) pp 152â237
555:Hoover, Herbert.
545:Hoover, Herbert.
504:978-3-030-05562-2
454:Nash, George H.
422:Little, Branden.
398:(Stanford, 1925)
144:Winston Churchill
75:Walter Hines Page
1238:
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1073:Freedom Betrayed
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1058:(1996 film)
858:Hoover desk
777:Banana Wars
765:Hooverville
657:(1921â1928)
648:(1929â1933)
551:text search
321:Reflections
232:Oswald Chew
185:flour sacks
175:Flour sacks
53:during the
1210:Categories
960:Early life
819:Hooverball
770:Bonus Army
696:Hoover Dam
681:Transition
667:Presidency
343:21 January
305:21 January
238:References
1091:Elections
400:in Google
162:Rotterdam
158:Harpalyce
1194:Category
672:timeline
463:Prologue
410:abstract
369:16 April
211:See also
166:SM
809:Cabinet
549:(1959)
539:(1917)
82:Germany
68:Origins
1142:(wife)
1133:Family
989:Legacy
568:online
541:online
531:online
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467:online
426:, in:
325:online
1154:(son)
1148:(son)
1066:Books
27:Lille
1124:1932
1114:1940
1109:1932
1104:1928
953:Life
831:1930
653:3rd
643:31st
499:ISBN
371:2013
345:2024
307:2024
168:UB-4
142:and
49:and
33:The
482:doi
39:CRB
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478:13
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412:3.
259:^
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57:.
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623:e
616:t
609:v
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