Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 201, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1917 — GERMANY AT END OF HER RESOURCES [ARTICLE]

GERMANY AT END OF HER RESOURCES

Escaped Prisoners Say There Is Insufficient Food for Soldiers and Civilians. r STARVE IN PRISON CAMPS Boy* of Seventeen In Trenches, Declare Refugee* Who Recently Reached This Country—Mothers Are Vainly Protesting. M* ■ New York. —Germany is reaching the end of her resources, according to Max Tannenbaum and Jasob Schurek. who arrived here after escaping Into Holland from German prison camps. The homes of the people have been stripped of old men and boys for the Bring line, aged men and women are at work and metals of all kinds are disappearing, the escaped prisoners Bay. The two men met each other in Holland and succeeded in reaching this country by stowing away on a steamship. Tannenbaum spent more than two years in mines and internment camps after he was forcefully taken into Germany from Russia. He days that the German people are coming to Ibok upon victory as a lost hope and are so tired of war that thousandsNjre wondering if it is worth while. The call to arms has reached seven-teen-year-old .boys, and mothers are vainly protesting. The enthusiasm of the earlier days of the war is lacking. The people are thin to the point of emaciation, because of scanty rations. To be fat is almost a crime, and to eat more than the government allotment Is sometimes punishable by death. The people are becoming less and less stirred by optimistic government announcements. Was Smuggled Across Border. , • Tannenbaum, a Russian Jew, whs allowed no freedom in Germany. He bribed a woman to smuggle him across the Dutch border. In Holland he could obtain no authority to leave that country, although he had left his wife des; titute in Russia. He met Schurek at the Russian consulate, and after unsuccessfully trying to secure steamship passage the pair boldly walked aboard a liner. They were unchallenged and reached this city by way of Halifax. Their entrance into this country was unknown to immigration officials, but they announced their presence, and after an investigation they were allowed to remain. To own a cat or dog in Germany brings a fine of SSOO. Gold has disappeared and very little nickel.is in evi■dence. Paper money is used entirely, •and it Is put into circulation by the various sections of the country. The Krupps issue their own money, which is redeemed for food. Tannenbaum was thrown into prison for standing outside a railroad station waiting for a train. He was ordered to scrub his cell every morning with •a cup of salt and a pall of water. For food he received an ounce of bread, cereal coffee, bread crumbs and soup made of potato peelings. Prisoners Beaten Frequently. In a camp where Tannebaum spent three months with French and Belgian prisoners wooden benches were the beds, and rotten bread, with potatopeel soup, was the food. The men were frequently examined by doctors, and often were marched naked on snow-covered ground for ice water baths. They were beaten on the slightest provocation. An epidemic of cholera and typhoid broke out, and when It was over the survivors were vaccinated. The German soldiers and doctors deserted the camp during the epidemic, and prisoners were left to care for the sick. Finally the cqmp was investigated by a government which ordered better food. The food allowance for the German people was as follows: For one person, one week, three pounds of bread, 30 /grams of butter, one egg, 250 grams of meat, 50 grams of sugar. 20 grams of soup, one flake of fat. The people are hungry all the time. They can have potatoes and vegetables only when there is plenty. A special permit is required for se—Curing clothes, and ai(lcles~oT apparelcan only be obtained after authorities have determined they are really needed. The soldiers fare little better, receiving poor clothes, and food enough only when there is an abundance. The soldiers receive three pounds of bread every four days when there is enough

to go around. There is practically no milk andvery little real coffee. It is drunk black. - The people discount the effectiveness of the United States in the war, these men who have just returned from Germany believe. They admit that this country has food and munitions, but they are taught that the American soldiers Ao not amount to much.