Mgr. Carroll-Abbing: About the clothing situation--I wonder if
anything could be done for some of the institutions in Rome if we
do find the clothing. The situation in some of them is very bad
indeed. Many of the children coming to school from outside Rome
are without clothing. They are usually the children coming from
former battle areas.
Brig. Parkinson: All the clothing distribution is settled up to date?
Mr. Silber: Until Ing. Vicentini can tell us what is unallocated.
We cannot tell what will be left until Naples, Foggia and Rome are
commpleted. We can then determine the next allocation. We know
there will be some left.
Ing. Vicentini: After distribution to Sicily and Calabria, we will
have about 16,000 bales. We have 28,000 bales.
Mr. Silber: You have 28,000 bales left after distribution to
Frosinone and Littoria.
Brig. Parkinson: That is a good balance. These bales do not always
contain children clothing, do they?
Ing. Vicentini: Only a few have children's clothing; the most part
contain clothing for women. Ther is also a quanity of cloth in
Italy now, amounting to about 25,000 meters, that we can buy from
the military. That is not free.
Col. McSweeney: May I ask Mgr. Carroll-Abbing--would it be better
to distribute the unmade materials to the institutions than to the
people?
Mgr. Carroll-Abbing: Yes. It would be more practical.
Mr. Silber: Is it you intention that ENDSI buy this material and
distibute it free? There is a matter of policy involved.
Mgr. Carroll-Abbing: It is a question for the Government.
Ing. Vicentini: We are making clothing for the children from the
American material.
Brig. Parkinson: A great danger arises here as in the case of the
American Red Cross in the early days. We are getting some clothing
from other sources and the question came up of whether it should be
paid for. Mr. Jefferson of the Red Cross did not want to be mixed
up in any way with any clothing that was sold. The Red Cross has
always distributed on a free basis, and if it got home that relief
clothing was being sold I think the reaction would be bad. My own
feeling is tht if ENDSI is distributing on a free basis, that
danger will be avoided.
Ing. Galeazzi: We were mentioning the material from America.
Mr. Silber: There are only 8,000 meters of that now here. We have
made no special allocation for any group.
Ing. Galeazzi: Couldn't it be allocated for the special purpose of
supplying clothing to the children in schools and instituions that
Mgr. Carroll-Abbing mentioned?
r. Silber: It could if this council decided to recommend suc