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Show !HT IIGOl NEEDED W iTIIIS Munitions of Secondary Importance, Im-portance, According to Red Cross Director. ROME, Thursday, Dec. 20. "One of the very greatest services that could be rendered ren-dered to Italy now would be the sending over of large quantities of wheat, and also cornmeal," said Earnest P. Bieknell, director general of civilian relief of the Red Cross, who has just completed an extensive ex-tensive investigation of Italy's refugee problem. "Italy's wheat shortage is known in the United States, but it is not known how entirely her population, both soldiers and civilians, depends on bread as the. principal prin-cipal food. I visited every section of Italy and everywhere was told t ha t the first need was bread, with war munitions second. Also, it must be understood that wheat, and not white flour, is required, since the Italians are accustomed to baking bak-ing whole wheat bread, except in certain parts of the north, whore cornmeal is used. "The refugee problem will remain acute all this .winter. It now is a question of helping to obtain work to make them self-supporting and to see that the family fam-ily life is not destroyed. Venice offers the first example of all Europe of a scientific scien-tific haivJling of refugees by removing families slowly, but entirely, and taking along their working tools. Thus, the manufacture of Venetian lace now is being be-ing carried on at Rimini as it was in Venice, and the same condition applies to the tobacco and leather factories. "It was due partly to the efforts of American Consul Carroll at Venice that the refugee movement to the new homes was successful. The Red Cross also contributed con-tributed to this result by establishing a hospital at Rimini." |