Evening star., 1915-04-02
Admits Being Well Treated.

which are said to be applied to French
prisoners in Germany
Admits Being Well Treated.
I'VE are wSI cared for. We do only
six hours light work day. are well
fed and are treated with consideration
by the French officers and soldiers"
said F. Rondholz of Constance.
twenty-year-old private of the 14ed
Regiment of Infantry, in signed
statement to the Associated Press. He
Ia a prisoner at Issoudan.
The 500 prisoners in the camp al
Tours are housed less comfortably
than those at Issoudan. but as well as
are the French soldiers. Recent ar
rivals in this camp are said to nave
been more depressed than those who
preceded them, but nothing can con-
vince them that the Germans are not
bound to win, and none of them seem
to believe anything that appears in the
prisoners newspaper, which is being
published in German for their benefit.
I'VE know all about that. We have
the same thing on the other side 1t is
the kommandatur who does all that,
What impresses them most is the
vast military body employed in han
ding the immense commissary stores
millions of shoes and shirts?" they
ask. They refuse to believe that there
are so many soldiers in France.
The pr1NateS naturally are QOclle.
and the officers are compelled to be so
after having given trouble at Mon
tauban. The officers seem depressed
and less naughty since the new year.
their hopes of being able to celebrate
Christmas at home having been disap-
pointed.
Only one attempt to escape has been
made at Issoudan, and only two light
penalties have been inflicted. AT Tours
the men are SO glad to earn cents
day that all of them work with a
VIII on highway repairs. in the stone
quarries or in handling the supplies iI
the military depot.
Hear of Hard Times at Home.
The news received by the prisoners
from home IL said to have changed In
tone in the last two months. The let
ters, It Is declared, talk of hard times
but still insist on victory for Ger
many in the end. officers at the camp
say that packages containing sausages
preserves. tobacco. condensed SOUP
cakes. soap and many other articles
came on an average OF one for each
man week for the first six months Of
the war. but that now they are arriv-
Ing only at the rate Of one package
for each man every two weeks. The
receipts Of money also are less fre
Quent Where previously they distrib-
uted 1000 francs each week, the off,
1000
The contrast between the soldier
prisoners and the interned German
civilians In the concentration camp at
Chateauroux is striking. Most OF the
their long contact with the French
people. Their faces cloud when the
question Would YOU like to be sent
back to Germany" is put to them.
Numerous races comprise the colony
OF 500 prisoners, who are housed with
modern comforts in new building of
the asylum in the department Of the
Indre. Germans are most numerous
among the mass. which includes Aus
trians. Poles. Alsatians and Czechs.
Single men and single women occupy
Heparate. light. airy dornitories. Fami-
lies are provided with little apartments.
where they can enjoy a semblance of
home life. Here eleven children have
been born since the colony was in
stalled. There have been only two
deaths. both from tuberculosis The
grateful to the French people. who.
their spokesman said. have done
everything they possibly could to make
us forget our trying situation.
When ] come into the Office said
the prefect, Il can tell by glance at
the ingenious card system on the walls
whether there Is any sickness and
where 1t Is: whether there have been
any infractions of the rules and where
or IL any one has a complaint to make"
This is the result of a democratic
form Of government accorded the pris-
oners. The camp dele CATION, which is
composed of representatives of Neach
nationality. preserves order and carries
out the regulation The prefect and
the commssary of police form a court
Of last resort, but arc seldom appealed
to.
Children in School.
The children OF the colony are re-
ceiving instruction in a school organ
'Eed on the premises by an Alsatian
schoolmistress. The two dozen little
school children showed every fndica-
zion of perfect happiness.
All the interned persons are permit
ted TO work at their trades or practice
the professions. They are given every
facility. A well known sculptor named
Defeyer has produced some Interesting
work inspired by present circum-
stances. Two other artists are work.
ing regularly: one Of them Is q mem.
Der of the staff of the German humor-
Gus newspaper Simplicissimus.
The Alsatians are permitted to circu-
late in tho town and some Of them
have found employment, but II 10 only
in rare cases that the Germans are
permitted to leave the inclosure The
Alsatian prisoners OF war are subject to
about the same regulations AS the 9TH
er prisoners, except that they are given
n quarter of a pound more meat daily
and have separate bedrooms.