File No. 817.48/21.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Managua, October 6, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the distribution of two car-loads of food supplies sent to Nicaragua by the American Red Cross.
[Page 1131]The first car consisting of flour, corn, beans, rice and potatoes to the value of one thousand dollars, left the Panama Canal Zone on August 9, 1912, in Charge of Major Smedley D. Butler, U. S. M. G, and was received in Managua on the 15th of that month.
The Legation requested a committee of Americans, including Messrs. Otto Schoenrich, A. R. Thompson, C. D. Ham, A. J. Lindberg, and J. A. Whitaker, to take Charge of the provisions under instructions to relieve all cases of distress irrespective of affiliation of the applicants; but as they were unable to attend to the matter on account of departure from the city or other reason, the Legation decided to do the work itself. Mr. Walter H. Hooper, an American missionary, and Padre J. A. Lezcano, a well known Nicaraguan priest, kindly offered to assist in investigating needy cases. Signed tickets good for five rations were then issued to the applicants, who presented them to Mr. William Gower, assistant paymaster of the United States Navy, at the railroad station where two-fifths of the carload were distributed, beginning with the flour and potatoes which deteriorate very rapidly in this climate.
The remaining three-fifths were taken to León where Lieutenant Colonel Charles G. Long, U. S. M. C., distributed them through the Hospital San Vicente and the Sisters of Charity, reserving a portion however to feed one hundred and twenty-five prisoners who had been sadly neglected during the hostilities in that town.
The second carload donated by the Heel Cross consisted of 10,000 lbs. of beans and 7,140 of cornmeal, these two staples being the principal articles of food for the poorer classes in Nicaragua, Having been despatched from the Canal Zone on September 7 the consignment reached Managua on the 14th of that month and was started the next morning to Granada under the personal Chargé of the clerk of the Legation, arriving there after being fired on at the Barranca on Sunday, September 22. The distribution was promptly begun from a central station even before the disarmament had taken place. Great assistance was rendered by Dr. Juan I. Urtecho, an elderly gentleman of wide reputation for impartial charity who has devoted many years of his professional life as a physician to gratuitous practice among the poor and who before the arrival of the Americans had fed at his own expense hundreds of famished people. Several of the Granada ladies kindly volunteered their services in placing the tickets with deserving families, and Private Baldwin, U. S. M. C, supplied the holders of the tickets with the number of rations thereon designated, nearly 8,000 in all being thus disposed of. A gratifying feature of the distribution of supplies was the small number of men who appeared in line, and even those few were maimed, sick or blind. The Red Cross and San Juan Hospitals, the French College for girls and the schools were given the first attention.
There was urgent need of help as many poor families had been forced for a long time to subsist on green mangoes, and some deaths had already resulted from starvation, but the timely arrival of supplies quickly relieved the situation. Children who crowded around the camp were fed by the enlisted men out of their own rations, and a carload of corn and flour donated by the American colony in Managua was distributed among the sufferers.
As soon as order was restored the farmers from the surrounding territory brought their products to market, and the railroad resumed [Page 1132] transportation of supplies which had been accumulating in Corinto, so that conditions at Granada and elsewhere should begin gradually to improve, although it will be some time before the people will cease to feel the depression caused by the failure of crops for two successive years and by the hardships suffered during the present disturbances.
The prompt and generous action of the American Red Cross has won expressions of deep appreciation from those who have been helped, and has created the kindliest feeling among all classes of people in Nicaragua.
The Department is respectfully requested to transmit to the association the accompanying packages of tickets and receipts for rations issued.
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