New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-07
.RESERVIST ARMY
CAMPED IN CITY
More than 10000 Germans
Here Awaiting Chance
TO Cross Ocean.

More than thirty thousand German
and Austrian reservists are III New
York awaiting transportation 10 Joiil
the colors of their Fatherland. ruiiy
another twenty thousand volunteers
are ouartered in towns in the vicinity
of New York. -, -.
At their piers in Hoboken twelve OF
the fastest and largest boats OF the
North German Lloyd and the Hamburg
American lines have been prepared 10
receive large numbers of passengers.
The officials of consulates and steam
shin lines insist there is nothing 10
the story that this formidable army
will be transported across the ocean 10
ioin the forces of the Kaiser. But the
men are unanimous in the belief that
they will go before the war is over
They are prepared to go at any mo-
ment. So are the ships.
"Sure, we'll go as soon as our snlps
can pass through the English Channel,
is the way they express 1t, calling at
tention TO their belief that the German
high see feet is somewhere In the
North Sea, getting ready 10 engage the
English fleet which holds the Channel.
When asked how they intended to es-
cane the English cruisers which have
been patrolling the Atlantic shipping
lanes, they pointed out that Admiral
Won Specs Pacific squadron is on ITS
way to the Atlantic, where the German
cruiser Karlsruhe is reported 10 be.
This German fleet, the reservlsts say,
will act as convoy for the transports.
To guard against frauds, impositions
and spying in transporting so large
number of men to the seat of war an
efficient checking system, it is said, has
been inaugurated by the consulates and
the steamship compnies. Every re-
servist upon reporting TO the con-
sulates and establishing his identity by
means of documents receives card
bearing number, which, when checked
before embarking on the transports,
must tally with that on list in the
possession of the steamship companies.
This list contains complete identliica-
ton data of every reservist who is en-
titled TO passage.
Most of the men are kept in what
might be called concentration camps, in
the form Of lodging and boarding
houses, scattered throughout New York,
Hoboken, Newark and Paterson, so that
they are within easy reach when
wanted.
Ocean travellers, familiar with the
boats of the German lines which are
now tied up in Hoboken, would scarcely
recognize them, were they to view their
interiors. Their costly decorations,
paintings and appointments have been
removed, and they have been fitted up
as transports.
That all of the ships are well pro-
visioned and coaled lid are kept under
constant steam pressure is admitted by
the companies, which assert, however,
that this is done in order to feed the
crews and to maintain an even tenn
perature in the boats to protect their
expensive decorations although they
have apparently disappeared-from the
injurious effects of dampness and cold.
1t is common gossip among the men
along River ST., in Hoboken, that most
of the German boats had obtained their
clearance papers from the federal au-
thorities.
In the mean time. the reservists con-
tinue watchfully waiting for the chance
TO get away to the Fatherland. By con-
certed philanthropic action among the
various German and Austrian societies
in this and other cities, the suffering
to which many of these men were sub
jected when they came here pennless
from other cities has been alleviated.