The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-07-06
STARVING IN POLAND
Conditions There as Found by the
Associated Press.

regions suffering from the war Po-
land not only is the worse sufferer,
but will require more time to recover.
The case of the Belgians is plainly
not so bad as the case of the Poland
ers. In comparison the Belgians had
an easy time in escaping the horrors
of war by fight to England and
France, but with the Polanders it has
| been a case of facing gun, no mat
ter in which direction they turn. In
the case of Belgium the sweep Of war
was swift and final, while with the
Polanders it has been, and still is, a
matter OF being swept in one direct
ion and then the other
The area and population affected
In Poland are more than ten times
those OF Belgium, considering both
the kingdom of Poland in Russia and
| Gaiicia, Austrian Poland, equally de
yastated by the war. While at least
/, three large committees are at work
| in the relief of the conditions in Po-
| land, they have been handicapped by
The fact that the war has been waged
actively there ever since the Euro
pean conflict began, and that it is
even more fierce today.
OF the eleven provinces or govern
ments of the kingdom of Poland only
one, the province Of Siedloe, has es-
capped invasion, The devastated ter
ritory amounts to more than 10000
square miles, in which 200 cities and
towns and 5000 villages have been
partially or entirely destroyed Five
Thousand villages have been razed to
the ground.
Railroad tracks for distance of
| 200 miles have been torn up. The
| soil has been rendered unfit for till
ing by innumerable trenches and big
holes bored into it by heavy proiec-
tiles. The agricultural production of
| this part of Poland. representing
0O,OOO.OOO year, has been stopped
in It's entirety for lack of funds, seeds
farmhands and cattle.
An agricultural population of T.
| 900 900 people is starving. The people
hide themselves in forests or under
the ruins OF their former dwellings,
having as food only roots, bark, rind,
and decaying carcases of horses
killed on the battleIields.
The fate of cities and industrial re-
gions is no better Some of them
suffered depopulation, some were
flooded by n tremendous wave of
refugees who had deserted the fight
ing zone Eighty per cent, of this
class of refugees are Jews. The City
of Kalisz capital of the province of
the same name, which before the war
had population of nearly 10000
numbers now 10000 inhabitants
Warsaw the capital of the kingdom,
twice as large as Brussels, harbors
over 100000 refugees.
The city of LODI 100000 inhabi-
tantsl, the centre of the great Polish
textile industry, twice captured by
the Russian and German armies,
looks like u cemetery. Important in
dustriaI centers like Chenstohova,
Sosnoviec and the coal basin of Dom
hrova have shared the same fate. The
industrial output of the kingdom OF
Poland, valued at $400,0O0.000 year
has been annihilated. Three millions
of people who had earned their daily
bread in factories and mines are
starving The coal mines, though
not in the lighting zone, have been
flooded by the Germans for strategi-
cal reasons and all the costly ma
chinery destroyed.
The total of material losses is 500,
100000. On all sides there is hung.
cr, disease and ruin. Out of Il total
of ,500,000 horses in this part Of Po-
land 100000 have been requisitioned
by both fighting armies. Not less
than 100000 cattle have been confs-
Gated for the same purpose. Milk is
rare and the mortality among infants
shows a terrific increase. Sanitary
conditions are worse than deplorable.
Insufficient nourishment, a fatal con
gestion of population in certain cit
les reputed to be safe from i'm
mediate war dangers-(in some tenn
porary asylums in Warsaw sixty peo-
pie sleep in rooms 40 by 80 feet)-
and lack of medical help aggravate
daily the evil conditions. In the
country they are still worse, the
proximity of shallow graves injecting
the air and the water of wells with
poisonous germs.
The conditions in Galicia austrian
Poland) may he still worse. Galicia
has an area of $1,000 square miles
and a population of over 100000,
All of her territory, except Cracow
and its immediate vicinity has suf-
fered. Many places were subjected
| to invasion as many as seven times.
| A hundred cities and towns and
i 5000 villages suffered cruelty; $500