Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-07-02
DEVASTATION AND SUFFER-
ing IN POLAND REACHES
CONDITION UNDERSTANDABLE

in certain cities reputeQ 10 ue Sale
from immediate war dangers-dn some
temporary asylums in Warsaw sixty
people sleep in rooms Of 4Ox3O)-and
lack Of medical help aggravate daily
the evil conditions. In the country
they are still worse, the proximity of
shallow graves Injecting the air and
the water of wells with poisonous
germs. Especially in the provinces Of
LubEn and Suvalki the graves Of fall
| en- soldiers have very frequently been
dug in the immediate neighborhood Of
human dwellings.
| The conditions in Galicia austrian
Poland) may be still worse.
Embracing 81 counties, Galicia has
an area Of $4,000 square miles and a
population of over 100000. All Of
her territory. excepted Cracow and it's
immediate vicinity has suffered. The
country extending from the Russian
frontier. from Podvolocziska up West
to Bochnia, for a distance of $50 miles
has been destroyed by fire and can
non. The wave came from the East,
was repulsed and returned again.
Many places were subjected to these
invasions as many as seven times. A
hundred cities and towns and 5000 viii
lagos suffered cruelty: $500 villages
have virtually disappeared from sight.
Eight hundred thousand horses and
100000 cattle have been taken away
by the armies. as we'll as almost all
provisions like corn, potatoes and fpd-
der.
The total agricultural production Of
Galicia valued at s2O0,OO0,OO0 yearly
and the industrial output Of some
500. 100000 per annum have been des-
troyed. The loss, will be greatly in
creased if the reports that the with
drawing Russian army has set fire to
, the Carpathian oil wells prove true.
Cities like Tarnopol, Tarnow, Brody.
Nisko. Stryj. Kolomea, Stanislavov
and Przemysl, are but heaps of ruins.
Gloomy looking smokestacks rising out
Of piles of bricks are the only Witness
es Of the fact that human beings had
once resided there.
| Cracow, the ancient capital Of the
Polish kings GOO 900 inhabitants) and
an architectural jewel among the cities
| of medieval Europe, was not i'm
mediately touched by the war; but its
inhabitants were ordered to leave and
had to fly to Austrian Silesia, Vienna
| or Bohemia. Over a million Galicians
are actually living as refugees in varl-
Gus parts Of Austria-H Hungary and are
suffering there severely. =:
| In the counties Of Przemysl,
Rzeszow, and Jaroslav, people are dy-
ing from hunger by the hundreds. The
counties of Cieszanov and Dovromil in
Eastern Galicia and those Of Lancut,
Przeworsk. Nisko. Tarnobrzeg Jas1o,
and Krosno in Western Galicia are so
thoroughly devastated that they look
] as If they had been destroyed by some
terrific earthquake. No human dwell
ings. no roads. no cultivated fields.
Among heaps of ruins dogs are running
wild with hunger and flocks of crows
and ravens in search of food are dig
ging out with their beaks the shallow
graves Of Russian and Teutonic SOL
diers. Frequently these are the
graves of Polish brothers that killed
one another, having been forced into
the two opposed armies by the invad-
ers.
Out of total area of Galicia only
per cent. has been untouched by the
war, % per cent. has been partially
and 70 per cent. totally ruined, tran$
formed into vast cemetery.
i Conditions prevailing among profee-
sional men is particularly distressing,
Men possessing college and university
education and degrees, officials, teadh-
ers. writer's, ETC., have no means what
ever to earn their daily bread. FIX
PEELED fron1< administrative positions
they held undd one government and
} replaced by of1iyers imported byf the
: invader; removed dnnpl Positions in
closed scientific ii buttons Or in
trades that are now Beless, these men
, are simply facing starvation. On the
4 streets of Warsaw and Lvov Lem
j berg) one meets we'll dressed and in
telligent looking men who are selling
newspapers, unloading coal or trucks,
doing all kinds Of mental or manual
work to earn a few cents for a meal.
/" 1t Is obvious that they must
exert themselves to the utmost to per-
, form tasks that are beyond their nor
NAL physical strength.
/ A lawyer in Warsaw recently re-
ceived letter from his brother. q
practising physician in LODI. In nor
NAL times letter from Lodz reaches
l Warsaw in six hours. But now,
. LODI being occupied by the Germans,
, no correspondence is allowed to be
sent to the "enemy's'' country. Thus
the letter in question was taken by the
Doctors friend who was just leaving
for Copenhagen, and mailed from there
> to Warsaw It reached the Polish
| capital in thirteen days. Here are a
few excerpts from this correspond
? ence:
1.-THE economic conditions in LODI
are daily growing worse. They gen.
tlemen from Mr.. Rockefeller's COM
mittee arrived here via Berlin. They
organized a few free stations to dis
tribute food products but the thus in
, creased delivery was Of little advan-
, tage to our population who in their
great majority have no means to ac-
J ouire food imported from Germany.
Seventy five per cent Of the inhabi-
tants Of Lodz eat potatoes only. /
mean Is per cent. Of those who cap
.. buy potatoes. for there are many who
cannot afford even that. Meat
I People Say To Us
ri cannot eat this or that food, it does
not agree with me-" Our advice to
.. al of them is to take q