Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1915-03-30
FEEDING 100000
PRIS0NERSFO FOUND
VERY EXPENSIVE
IS An INCREASING PROBLEM WHICH
GERMAN GOVERNMENT FINDS
. ITSELF WORKING ON.
IN EVERY AVAILABLE WAY MEN ARE
BEING PUT TO WORK, FARMS,
ROADS, AND so ON.

Correspondence of the Associated Press
Berlin. March a.-Ilow 10 take care
Of the hordes IF prisoners Of war cap
tured hy the German armies-food alone
COSTS for each man 40 pfcnniniS tl5
c-nts) u days an increasing problem
with which the authorities are wrestling
IL is estimated that the list Of prison
crs. including those captured in Field
Marshal won Iiindcnteg's latest victory
in East Prnsia. now exceeds ,OOun men.
This involves an expense for the mere
feeding Of the captiycs Of about Sl50.0O0
u day.
In every available way the men are
being put to work-on farms. on the
roads, in iron works and coal mines. and
in clearing and retaining vast areas Of
Of marsh and moor land. principally IN
the eastern part of the empire.
: Experience thus far has convinced the
Germans that the Russians are far more
available for this manual labor than the
English or the French. none of the latter
Of whom lend themselves easily To the
hard work which the Russian peasants
seemed accustomed.
One Of the most important piece of
work on which the Russians are being
employed in very large numbers j. the
reclamation of ncarl, 1000 hectares Of
u~nfruitful. waste land along the leba
River from L%auenbure Ia the Seba Sea,
adjacent Ia the Bav of Danzie.
Plans 10 accomplish this date back as
far as the time Of Frederick the Great.
but up To the present have never progress
sed further than the partial straightcn-
ing 'of the river bed. At the time Of the
outbreak If war some 90 hectares had
been reclaimed by u force Of 200 men.
who stopped work when the fighting
started.
Already :,.WM Russians. in two camps.
are ut work draining the land and insii
tutiDg improvements that include irri
CATION. blowing and planting Of mead
ows. Through these prisoners and 9th
ers who will be- added Ia the ranks IL IL
expected that the work So long delayed
will .yc finished in record time.
Thousands Of the soldiers captured in
the recent Hindcnbcrg victory were put
AT work NJ once clearing the roads of
snow and mud. aud. 80 great was the
number employed that within a short
time the highways were pasSable every
where in the rear of the German army.
Th German authorities likewise are
rapidly making coal miners ont of the
Russian prisoners. aud by this means
are restoring the mines in upper SilcS'a.
Poscn and other districts to their normal
productivity. The prisoners are alro H.
ing utilized in iron works and stone qua
ries. They are only nut Ia work in such
places. bowcyer. whcr they do NOT ON
pete with free labor.
There are already a large number al
prisoners in the Ignite mines near Bit
terfcld. and thousands are ~ work con
Structing new chanssceS. principally III
the east. Others are busy on road re-.
pair work.
In the west of GERMANY where the
French and English prisoners are IN
preiominence various plans are under
way already for using the men in aeri-
cultural pursuits - that crops may be-
planted. cared for aud harvested al The
earliest possible time.