| Show STARVED 8 BYRED RfD S 4 Soldiers Left Too i Action S IN N PACE OF PLENTY t Are Left to Rot on t the le Sidings S SS S of the As cl ted Press London Au Aug A G Hale rep representative representative in South Africa fric of the Daily Daib News is the latest war corre correspondent correspondent to attack the methods and the red tape of the British w war r office He S SLet SaYS sara Let ULet me tell you OU how our army in Africa Is treated by the people in the good city cIbo of London I pledge my word as aman and a jour journalist journalist that every written word is true I wm will add nothing nor detract from nor set down aught in malice If my mO statements are proven false then let tIle me be scourged with the tongue and pen of scorn from every decent Brit Britons Britons ons home and hearth forever after for he who lies about his country at such an hour as this Is of all traitors the vilest S Trouble of G General Rundle Bundle I deal now particularly particular with the themen themen men who are acting under the corn com command mand of Lieutenant General Rundle This good soldier Oud ud courteous gen tieman has to hold a frontage line from Win burg vIa almost to the borders of His whole front extending nearly miles Is threatened constantly by an active dashing determined enemy an enemy who knows the country far better than an English foxhunting squire knows the ground he hunts over season after season To hold this vast ast line intact Gen General General eral Rundle has to march from pOint to point as his scouts couts warn him of the of the tireless foe fot General Rundles task is a colossal one and an any sane man would think that gigantic efforts be made to keep him amply suPPlied with food for his soldiers But such is not the case S I I Soldiers Are Starving The men are absolutely starving Many of the infantrymen are so weak that they can barely stagger stagg r along un der the weight of their soldierly eQuip m nt They Ther are worn to shadows and move with weary wean listless footsteps People high up in authority may dEn deny o othis this but he who denies it sullies the truth This Thi is what the soldierS get to eat what the they o have been getting to eat for a long time past and what they theo are likely to get for a long time to come unless England rouses herself and bites to the bone in regard to the peo people people who are responsible for it One pound of raw flour which the soldiers have to cook after aha ahard d days march Is served out to each man every ery alter alternate lter nate day dayo The followIng day he eats one pound of biscuits In laths this country I there is no fuel excePt excepting ing a little ox dunS dung the sun If IC a soldier is lucky enough to pick up a little h hcan he I can go Lo fo the nearest water of which there is plenty mix his cake without yeast east or baking powder and make some sort of a wretched mouthful He gets one pound of raw fresh meat dail daily which nine times out of ten he cannot cook and there his su supplies plies end Supplies Lost on Sidings What has become of the rations of rum of sugar of tea of cocoa of gro gre groceries ceries generally Ask at the snug little railway sidings where tho thoe the e goods are forgotten Ask In the big stores in Cape Town Towi and other seaport towns town Ask In your own co country where countless thousands of pounds of stuff lie He rotting In the ware houses b un up anti anI tied down with red tape b e ask but dont stop a a a nn somebody high up r r Dont let some 1 0 wretched underling be made the scapegoat scapegoat goat of this criminal state of affairs for the taint of this shameful thin rests upon you upon every whose home privilege and prosperity is being safeguarded by these famish famishing famishing ing men meno The folk in authority will probably tell teU you that General and his splendid fellows are so isolated that food cannot be obtained for them themI I say saO this is false Famish Near Plenty Hale goes on to tell teil of a foraging trip he and a fellow correspondent made eighteen hours out of General Rundles camp without escort securing plenty of supplies and without show of mo He censures the tr n rt people for their Jack ack of activity and continues Our men on the field of war are famishing whilst f food is lying rotting on our wharves and In our which ought with ordinary ordinary nary management to be withIn easy reach of our fighting generals Britain asks of Rundle the fulfillment ofa of a task that would tax the ener and abil of the first general in Europe and with a stout heart he faces the work in front of it with men whose knees knock under them when wh they march with hands that hak when the they shoulder feat tremble not from wounds but from weakness from poverty of blood and muscle brought about by continual hunger S Are those men tit fit to storm kopje a Are they fit to tramp the whole nl ht t through to make a forced march to turn urn a position and then fathers fought next net da day h Urt I U no And you betth I shame ame if the empires flag be lowered pot theirs but do you do You stand in your musIc halls und and shout a chorUs of songs full I of sentiments of pride for your sol so diem diers full of praise for his patience his pluck and his devotion to dut duty and you let Jet him go hungry so hungry that I I have often seen him quarrel with a for a handful of raw on I the march |
