http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf9779p02m No online items Register of the American Relief Administration European operational records Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 1998 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the American Relief 23001 1 Administration European operational records Title: American Relief Administration European operational records Date (inclusive): 1919-1923 Collection Number: 23001 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 853 manuscript boxes, 19 oversize boxes, 8 oversize folders, 1 microfilm reel(347.0 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, appeals, financial records, lists, and press summaries relating to American relief in Europe following World War I, and food and public health problems, economic conditions, and political and social developments, in Europe. American Relief Administration abbreviated throughout description as "ARA." Creator: Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 Creator: American Relief Administration Hoover Institution Library & Archives Access Microfilm use only except Boxes 849-864 and map case items. Memorabilia in Box 869 and Object Case Mixed Collection Box 7 is restricted; access copies are provided in Box 849. Materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], American Relief Administration European operational records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Alternative Form Available Also available on microfilm (980 reels). Historical Note (From Herbert Hoover, An American Epic,Volume III) "The name 'American Relief Administration' was known to hundreds of millions of people all over Europe... In order to retain the good will already created by this established organization and the continued full functioning of its staff, we decided, with this approval of the President, to set up a volunteer successor under the same name... On July 7, 1919, I sent a cable to our New York Office, requesting it to take the necessary steps to set up the new American Relief Administration... On July 12, they formed the new American Relief Administration, which was registered as a non-profit corporation, and elected the following officers: Herbert Hoover, Chairman; Directors: Alvin B. Barber, Julius H. Barnes, R. W. Boyden, Edward M Flesh, William A. Glasgow, John W. Hallowell, Howard Heinz, Vernon L. Kellogg, James A. Logan, Edgar Rickard, Alonzo E. Taylor, John B. White, and Theodore F. Whitemarsh ... As a second step in solution of major domestic food problems after the Peace, we had, with the President's approval, determined to continue the Food Administration Grain Corporation to carry out the guarantees... Since the new American Relief Administration would be its largest customer for the surplus arising from the guarantees, I secured the President's approval that it should act as the purchasing, transporting and accounting agency for the new organization... To carry out our relief work we had to assemble for Walter Brown a staff to administer the work in the various countries. I called for volunteers, and a sufficient number of our former staff agreed to make the sacrifice of further service... The task we had undertaken proved far greater than the single problem of children's relief in some twelve countries in Central and Eastern Europe which we had anticipated at the Peace. Originally, they had expected to end their labors with the harvest of 1920, but we were compelled to continue the children's relief in some countries until 1923. We were also compelled to find large amounts of relief for adults in these states and to undertake a huge relief for the great famine in Communist Russia... For an understanding of the financial resources of the new American Relief Administration, I give the amounts secured from various sources during its entire life. The final settlement of our accounts and our liquidation stretched over many years--in fact, until 1937... First, the official American relief agencies operating during the Armistice had on hand, at the moment Peace was signed, supplies in warehouses and cargoes en route amounting to 17,585 tons of food, medical supplies, and clothing valued at $6,625,051. The President authorized me to transfer these supplies to the American Relief Administration to complete their Register of the American Relief 23001 2 Administration European operational records distribution... Second, the residue from the National Security and Defense Fund transferred to the new American Relief Administration by the President amounted to $1,660,573... Third... I have described the system by which the Grain Corporation, in providing supplies to the different countries during the Armistice, added to prices at which supplies were sold a small margin to cover losses and other contingencies. We had contracted with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that any balance in this fund should be used for general European children's relief, in which they would participate. The amount paid over to the new American Relief Administration from its inception until the end totaled $25,109,989... Fourth, in our official governmental relief activities during the Armistice we had set up a system of monetary remittances for Americans desiring to aid friends and relatives in Europe as an added relief. The system proved very difficult to operate... The American Relief Administration inherited the warehouses which its predecessor had established in many countries in Europe. The new method was to sell "food drafts" to individuals through American banks; the drafts, in denominations of ten to fifty dollars, could be sent by the purchaser to friends in Europe, and the food designated could be obtained from our warehouses. We also devised a "bulk draft" system whereby other American charities could obtain supplies from our warehouses when and where they needed them. The latter procedure freed them from maintaining their own purchasing and transporting facilities. The total amount of all food drafts sold was $24,302,916... Fifth, in 1920, we organized the American Council for the Relief of European Children, which made a public appeal for funds and received a total of $29,556,071. The American Relief Administration received $15,669,899 of this total... Sixth, we undertook the relief of intellectuals in Central and Eastern Europe. For these purposes, we raised $2,556,251 outside their own contributions. These funds were partially duplicated by the purchase of food drafts... Seventh, we joined with the Young Men's and Young Women's Christians associations in the organization of the relief of students. Their contributions, outside our own funds, were $273,244... Eighth, in January 1920, it was evident that certain countries--Armenia, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland--could not get through the months of April, May, June, and July (prior to the harvest of 1920) without relief for adults... The Grain Corporation had earned a considerable profit from trading with Neutrals during the war... On March 30, 1920, with the support of President Wilson, I secured authorization for the Grain Corporation to sell flour to these countries from its profits, which amounted to $57,782,118... Ninth, on December 22, 1921, being aware that there still remained in the Grain Corporation treasury a part of its profits from trading with Neutrals, we secured authority from Congress to use this money for Russian relief. It amounted to $18,662,180... Tenth, on January 20, 1922, we secured authority from Congress for the War Department to furnish us surplus medical supplies for Russia and Armenia; this amounted to about $5,000,000... Although the American taxpayer was not called upon for taxes to pay for these appropriations from the Grain Corporation or the surplus medical supplies, all of which amounted to $81,444,298, these sums were, in reality, a gift... Eleventh, at the request of the Supreme Council, we undertook to battle the typhus epidemic which was sweeping westward from the old Russian trenches. For this purpose we had obtained anti-typhus equipment from the American, British, French, and German armies, the original cost of which was estimated by American Army officials at $60,000,000. It was not received until after the Peace. The American Army and the American State Department contributed the pay of their staff in this undertaking-amounting to at least $2,000,000... Twelfth, in our operations in Central and Eastern Europe, we undertook purchase, transportation, or organization for other agencies... Thirteenth, we took part in the relief of refugees going from Russia into Poland, Turkey, and Constantinople, for which we received a total contribution of $300,622... Fourteenth, we received gifts in supplies and/or in cash from many of the governments in whose countries we worked... The activities of the American Relief Administration extended from June 30, 1919, to the end of September, 1923. All of this involved chartering a multitude of ships and establishing financial contracts with forty governments and twelve private associations. Out of these transactions there arose a host of claims-amounts due us and claims