The Washington times., 1915-10-05
DON'T WORK, GET PAID,
YET THEY'RE UNHAPPY
German Sailors Interned at
Hoboken Long For Bier
Halles Of Fatherland.

NEW YORK, Oct. 5.--A sailors lire.
according to advice given In verse and
song, IL the life for one to lead. but
the writer's Of such lines undoubtedly
must have had reference to only lie
on an ocean wave, II first-hand impress
sions CLEANED from a visit to Hoookeh'
where 5000 German sailors are leadihs
sailors lives ashore. are rightly formed
The vissitudes OF Germany's sailors
who have been at the New jersey slde
Of this port since wars beginning. more
than one year ago, caused the comand-
ers of their vessels to relinauish hopes
of leaving their piers. form chapter OF
ups-and downs TO which every one OF
them seemingly would like to write
finis.
There are eighteen large German
liners swinging idly at Hoboken piers.
Including the great Vaterland Of the
Hamburg American line, and the North
German LLOYD liner George Washing
ton. The 5000 Germans who compose
their crews have been experiencing the
strange life Of the landlubber. with its
comparative idleness. for longer
period than most of them ever spent
ashore since their sea days began
which. for Bremen and Hamburg liner
crews, means since a very early age.
Long For Fatheriand.
Cholera scares, frequent visits to
their quarters by health officers intent
on rescuing them from supposed un-
sanitary conditions. a wave of insanity
In their ranks. experiments with their
diet. a shortage Of that one-time River
street staple-real German beer-and
the closing down OF the seamen's fav-
orite dance hall, are some OF the vicissi-
fnlas 70 which thu ha pIaaa ON hQva
been subjected.
At first glance one scarcely could
imagine more pleasant existence
than that which the fortunes OF war
crews. Their homes are aboard their
ships. They receive pay. despite the
fact that their companies vessels are
idle. Their. days toil-caring, for the
time a-plenty in which to frequent
amusement resorts.
Along River street. from the terminal
Of the Hudson tubes to the grounds of
opposite the spacious yards of the Ham,
burg and Lloyd lines. are German beer
halls. Most Of these boast summer
gardens. There are the Cafe Julien.
Lloyd Hall. the Bremen Cafe. the Wal
dorf-Astoria Hotel (Hoboken style). and
other places. where the seamen have
loved to loiter over their favorite
there. the men remind one. comes a
yearnins for certain bier halles' and
''gartens'' OF Bremen and Hamburg.
that are rather attractive themselves.
Long For Ftherland.
-' Sitting in the beer gardens and gaz-
Ing out on the German shipyards.
fenced In by iron rails. broken at inter-
walls by low-roofed brick structures
and picketed by heavy-faced guards
lurking In the shadow Of the green
bushes that border part Of the fences
one can see the rounded tops Of the
liners smokestacks peering above the
houses on the piers. Probably It is be-
cause these stacks remind the Germans
OF their fatherland that they do not
sit as much in the gardens during day
light as they did when, the war
started.
1t was first learned that the crews
weren't exactly happy last June. when
Dr. Joseph Stack, health commissioner
OF Hoboken. announced that twelve in
sane men had been removed from the
German ships In the two previous
months.
DR.. Stack attributed this outbreak OF
insanity to lack OF proper food. Ninety
per cent of the sailors. he said. were
undernourished and anaemic. He wa.
fearful of an epidemic of beri-beri Sc
he and milk and food inspector from
Hoboken went aboard the Naterland
Barbarossa, George Washington. ant
President Lincoln and investigated con
ditions from stems to sterns Scientific
fingers were poked inquiringly into pud
dings and soups and the sailors die
was changed. Since then they have
been subsisting on heavy bean soup
thick vegetable soup. plenty Of vege
tables, potatoes cooked In their Jackets
fruit twice week. and raisins In thei