Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-07-30
Conditions in Poland
Beggar Description
Hundreds Are Starving; Hopes Of a United Poland Fade as One
Brother Fiphts Another.

the normal average In this ond other
stricken villages-l2 children a day
dying of starvation. At n point
he noted an old woman who had
crawled 16 kilometers to get 4 hand
tul Of black bread. These were mere
ly a few instances out Of 4 grca!
number which led him to the conclu
sion that the desolation in the wake
If the armies in Poland was greater
han that in Belgium, where he had
made a similar inspection.
The Polish student group here Is
llso receiving frequent mail adviccs
from their friends in the various
parts Of Poland. One of the last post
sd Of these student letters summed
Up recent adviccs which got through
IS follows:
Out of $4,000 square kilometers
N old Poland, $4,000 square kilome
ters have now been occupied by the
AustroAGerman armies. The depart
ments which have suffered most are:
Kallska, Piotrowska, Kielecka, Rad
)wska, Sowolska and Plocka; also
four districts of the government Of
L%onisynsky, ten districts Of Warsaw
which is q department half the size
Of Wales, in addition to the city Of
Warsaw; four districts Of Lubelskic.
and five in Chemistry. Out of $4,000,
300 inhabitants of this region, 9,O00,'
go have suffered. or $4,000 illages
$500, or about 20 per cent, are par
tally destroyed, and another 10.
villages are completely leveled to the
ground, not a trace Of them remain
ing beyond the heaps Of smoulderine
rubbish and ruin"
The %peasantry are pictured as NOV
ing about like great tribes Of gyp
sizes over the blackened fields, carry
ing and pushing their scant belong
lngs in small carts. Miss Alma-Tade
ma gives a graphic picture of this
wholesale dcsolatiOn: Industry Is at
a standstill; millions are out Of work;
the meadows and arabic lands are
furrOwed by deep trenches, riddled
with shell.holes; the same tracts have
been swept over and over by i'm
mense battle waves; nothing re
mains. The barns and ricks are burn
ed; the horses and cattle all stolen
or slain; ruin everywhere. The wo-
men and children have been driven
out into the open; they cover in the
woods; the manse, the manor house
the old castle in the park, all are dc
stroyed; there is no M TO help there
is nowhere to fly to, nothing to do
but to hide in ruins, in woods or in
hollovs, gnawing roots and the bark
of trees, while the children SILVER
an dstarve to DEATH"
And this ! from ono of tho best
informed Polish authorities in Eng
land, the energetic young woman Of
fetal of the Polish committee, the
bearer of one Of England's great
names, and the center into whicI
pours all this mass Of information
concerning the colossal tragedy o.
Poland.
There are many other enthusiastic
Polish workers here, notably Nine.
Stanislawa Bevan, the Polish wife of
the prominent English painter, Lob
ert Bevan, who is chairman Of the
looking after Polish refu
gees coming to London. Nine. Bev.
an, born in Poland has sacrificed her
jewels to aid in caring for her coun.
trymen. One of the rings she gave
for the cause Is significant of the
burning hope underlying the Polish
cause. 1t is an old family heirloom,
bearing date just after Poland was
torn into three parts and passed
around to Austria, Prussia and Rus
STA. What appear to be a seal on
top is in truth a miniature coffin,
cmblematic of Poland's burial. But
when a tiny spring is touched, the
coffin opens and a Polish knight in
the full regalia Of old Poland, rises
with sword aloft from his tomb, in
which Poland has slept since she was
dismenrbered.
The Anglo.Russian Entente creates
many political obstacles to getting
details of conditions in the eastern
field for publication, and even in tell.
ing the truth. For example, Cardinal
Bourne, archbishop of Westminster,
made a remarkable address recently
to a gathering of Poles and Polish ad.
herents. 1t was presumed that such
an address would be printed in all
its details, but when the text ap'
peared in the universe" is was with
frequent paranthetical phrases DE.
leted by the Censor" Even one OF
the appeals for relief of Polish vic.
tins has fallen under the ban and
had to be withdrawn. Thus England
is loyal to her Russian ally, and the
political status Of Poland is necessar'
lily viewed in London from the Anglo
Russian viewpoint. But the actual'
ties of the Polish people, the havoc
and distress agong them, stand out
in startling magnitude, notwithstand.
ing the veil which is kept SO tightly
drawn over the political status.