Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-22
WA RSAW SEEMS
To TAKE LITTLE
INTEREST IN WAR
Aspect of City Close to Battle
Line Amazing to Strangers
Allegiance of People Is
Divided,
tAs.ocInied rress correspoudence.l

ASSOCIATED Press CorresDondence)
Warsa ", Feb. 26.-The city of War
saw, which is nearer to the actual
fighting zone than any other city Of
its size in Europe, and which has
lived for months under the continued
menace of German occupation, wears
the astonishing aspect Of disinterest-
ed observer, for whom the fortunes of
war have but casual interest This is
the capital Of the country whose sons
almost equally divided are fighting half
on the Russian and half on the Aus
tro-German side.
Warsaw is within thirty miles of
that fierce, persistent and apparent
| ~ untiring German offensive, against
which a larger part of the entire Rus
sian army has been massed, and is
subject TO all the ills which follow
| in the wake Of battle, such as dearth
Of provisions ana fuel, congestion and
disease. The best farms and estates
of Poland have been turned into vast
burial grounds, her people are home
| less and starving, and every day seems
| to darken the prospect Of that regen-
Grafton of the Polish people into an
Independent nation, which is the
dream OF every Pole, whether he is
a Russian, n German or an Austrian
subject. From the accumulated fifth
Of the trenches, from the thousands
of shallow graves where Russian,
German and Polish soldiers have been
hastily buried, cholera, typhus and
Typhoid are said to be spreading, and
, in the opinion of military doctors,
when the softening of the ground and
melting of the streams begins in early
spring, disease will run like fire
through Poland.
Refugees Bring Cholera.
over a hundred thousand refugees,
who have thrown themselves upon the
mercy Of the various committees of
Polish relief in Warsaw, have brought
into the city five cases Of cholera.
The cases have ben promptly isolated,
and all who have been subjected to
the contagion have been deported into
the country, Warsaw is at present
suffering from q dearth of coal, since
the supply from southern Poland in
the Chenstokovau region has been cut
Off by the German invasion
one, then, is entitled to a feeling
of amazement at the undiminished
spirits and the apparently normal life
which exists in this city which, one
reasons, ought to be trembling on the
verge of catastrophe. The streets are
gay with laughter and song, the cafes
are filled until late at night, and the
opera and ballet are playing to full
houses. 1t is curious indeed, to see
these audiences giving way to the i'm
stage, while real trouble awaits them
beyond the door of the theater. on
the former German advance upon
Warsaw which approached within
seven miles of the city, one theater
continued its performance without in
terruption, while the booming Of the
enemy's guns could be distinctly heard
over the voices of the actors.
Club life goes on as usual. An
American correspondent was in the
rooms of one Of the best known War
saw clubs on the occasion of recent
aeroplane raid. -Four men We're play
ing auction bridge. Two bombs were
dropped, one within two hundred
yards of the club. Two of the men
strolled carelessly to the window and
watched the two German Taubes vol
plane recklessly from an altitude of
about 5000 feet to a distance of APP
proXimately 1000, drop a bomb apiece
and circle upward and westward, with
two Russian aeroplanes in close pur-
suit. Russian shrapnel was directed
at the two German aeroplanes from
battery on the outskirts of the city,
but the speed of the aerOplanes was
so great that the gray bursts of smoke
fell harmlessly in the rear. The other
two men in the bridge game were
more interested in their hands. These
aeroplane raids have indeed become
such commonplace occurrences that
instead Of hurrying indoors, as the
residents of the city used to do when
the appearance of the German Taubes
was an alarming novelty, the streets
are now crowded with mildly inter
ested spectators. who if they have no
other business on hand, make it
point to be on the streets on clear
afternoons at o'clock, at which time
the German aeroplanes appear,
weather permitting, with unerring
regularity.
Before we have tea says a timid
looking Polish woman, Tets plan to
go out and see the aeroplane raid
One might almost think that 1t was
a sporting event of the season, which
II had become fashionable to attend
Meanwhile the wounded are
brought back from the trenches, and
a continuous line Of soldiers, infan-
try, mounted infantry, cavalry and
long provision trains file through the
city to their place in the firing line.
But the endless activity, the countless
episodes any one of which would
in ordinary times provoke anxiety and
alarm, seem only to act as a stimu-
liant upon the, overweight nerves Of
this remarkable capital. one soon
learns that the nervous laughter
which one hears everywhere in War
saw is not far from a sob and the APP
parent unconcern only the pitiful
bravery of a nation that has learned
not to cry when it is hurt.
CDHOTI0M I'M DAFT