Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-11-26

tore house and ran IL through the
machine Others were running the
steam engine or steadying the move
mcnt Of the long shafts leading TO the
thresher. This was typical Of the
threshing Of the wheat yield now go
ing ON AN over France. Germans be-
ing scattered through all the little
farming Centers doing the heavy work
of the machinee
Like Athletes on Field.
At Montefacon 100 Germans were
n the courtyard of substantial
building formerly used as convent.
Ii was their hour of leisure. and they
stood about i'm groups like athletes
ON big sporting field The French
mail wagon had just arrived bringing
the letters and packages coming
within ~ regulations. The soldiers
can send two letters month and a
postal caro- weekly, the letters being
of four pages, sixteen lines 10 the
page, dealing only with health condi-
tions and personal affairs but not of
the war There is the same facility
for incoming mail, ana the men were
eagerly awaiting the parcels and let
tiers.
German Poles were seen i'm large
numbers at one ot the village en-
equipments They We're not as sturdy
q set as The men from western and
southern Germany. irregular of build
and many small men. Some were well
along To recovery from wounds, but
still had bandagcd heads or arms one
Pole had the whole side of his jaw
slashed off by a saber stroke, but the
wound had healed and he stood among
his fellows with his narrow face ta-
pering down 10 an acute point. Two
young German Poles stepped forward
and showed the Polish spirit under
lying German domination, by reclt-
ing the evils Of German rule. They
spoke simply and earnestly. maintain
ing that the Poles Jared much worse
under German rule than they did
under Russia
Do all your companions mere share
this viow?' was asked OF the Polish
boys
Not ALL but a large number Of
them do. was the reply.
one OF the important Polish camps
visited was near ST. Ettiene. the heart
of the coal region of central France.
where the Polish Enthusiastically
serving in the German ranks--are
bringing un the stores Of anthracite
and hituminuus coal. Il is the chief
of France, for fuel and
industrial energy, now that the north
cru coal fields have changed hands,
An around We're the gaping mouths
of the coal pits, with the machinery
for raising, ana long lines of dump
cars carrying Off the coal ON impro-
yisCd sidctracks to the main line.
Prisoners Are Paid.
II was late iu the day when the
visit was made, and the Polish miners
had come to the surface and were
now crowding forward in hundreds
TO receive their pay
what. are German prisoners
paid ?' was asked.
yes, and they make good wages,
about one franc and sixty Centmes
a day (32 cents" was the reply
AS tho Polish miners pressed up
for their money they We're paid by
q typical French accountant, with a
big safe and rows Of tin money cases
beside him. The men had ON their
mining clothes. blackened and stain
ed, but through the Crime stood out
The fact that they We're German sol
1iers, most of them wearing the reds .
edged caps and some using old uni /
.OlnN Tor the WORK. A Polish ser :
seant called out their mpronounc-
able names and the men eagerly
Docketed their earnings.
occasionally some question is rails
I'D about this payment Of wages IL
German prisoners But the answer
is given that It is under the convcn-
ton regulating such matters. and
France is scrupulous about meeting
every obligation of that nature oven
though such wages could be wen en-
plOyed at home.
Although this trip under Official
escort covered several hundred miles
through towns, villages and great
stretches Of farm country. with Ger
man soldier-prisoncrs at every hand
In the fields the warehouses, the
hreshing centcrs and the coal mines.
showing how France has solved the I
problem of her many prisoners not /
lnly be restraining them under rea-
,onable living and sanitary conditions,
but also setting them to useful labor
In meeting the needs Of France from
agriculture and the mines