OCR Text |
Show GERMANY AT END OF HER RESOURCES Escaped Prisoners Say There Is Insufficient Food for Soldiers Sol-diers and Civilians. STARVE IN PRISON CAfaPS Boys of Seventeen in Trenches, Declare De-clare Refugees Who Recently Reached This Country Mothers Moth-ers Are Vainly Protesting. New York. Germany is reaching the end of her resources, according to Max Tannenbaum and Jacob 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 firing line, aged men and women are at work and metals of all kinds are disappearing, the escaped prisoners say. The two men met each other in Holland Hol-land and succeeded in reaching this country by stowing away on a steamship. steam-ship. Tannenbaum spent more than two years in mines and internment camps after he was forcefully taken into Germany from Russia. He says that the German people are coming to look upon victory as a lost hope and are so tired of war that thousands are wondering if it is worth while. The call to arms has reached seventeen-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. an-nouncements. Was Smuggled Across Border. Tannenbaum, a Russian Jew, was 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, coun-try, although he had left his wife destitute des-titute in Russia. He met Schurek at the Russian consulate, and after unsuccessfully un-successfully trying to secure steamship steam-ship passage the pair bqldly walked aboard a liner. They were unchal-' lenged and reached this city by way of Halifax. Theii) 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 $500. Gold has disappeared disap-peared and very little nickel is in evidence. 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 pail of water. For food he received an ounce of bread, cereal coffee, KVi crumbs and soup made of pots.lo 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 potato-peel potato-peel 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 slight-ewt slight-ewt provocation. An epidemic of cholera chol-era and typhoid broke out, and when It was over the survivors were vaccina vacci-na ted. The German soldiers and doctors deserted de-serted the camp during the epidemic, and prisoners were left to care for the sick. Finally the camp was investigated investi-gated by a government commission, 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, 2f0 grams of meat, 00 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 securing se-curing clothes, and articles of apparel can only be obtained after authorities have determined they are really needed. need-ed. The soldiers fare little better, receiving re-ceiving poor clothes, and food enough only when there is an abundance. The ioldiers receive three pounds of bread every four days when there is enough to go around. There is practically no milk and very 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 Ger-many believe. They admit that this country has food and munitions, but they are taught that the American soldiers sol-diers do not amount to much. |