Arizona republican., 1915-11-25
LONDON TIMES TODAY PAINTS DARK PICTURE IF CONDITIONS
 OYER IN RUSSIAN POLAND

property, the memorandum asserts, was made matter of grace on a very inadequate basis and to be set tied after the war. The worst blow is described as having been the in ducing of skilled labor to go to Ger many under pressure, forty thou sand persons doing so.
 As a result of the foregoing meas ures, the memorandum says, hands of thousands of working class fami= lies are faced with starvation. Manu- lecturers are keeping many persons virtually on charity, 250,00O- persons in Lodz are living on $3O,00O to $45,- 900 per week.
 The article says the Germans have established a monopoly on coal, for which they charge exorbitant prices; inflated the currency, compelled local authorities to pay for repairs to roads and railways, which are used only for military purposes; confiscated government estates, denuded forests, placed incredibly high customs tariffs on the necessaries of life, compelled all persons to. carry expensive pass ports, from which alone they have gained s5,000,000 and levied high lines OH IOWuS dIlu pGISOllS TUT N1O- lation of laws.
 "The population" the memorandum concludes, tired out by the war and ruined by so many disasters, accepted them in an apathetic mood. There is the reflection, however, that one does not ruin economically a country in which one expects to stay"
 Many districts, the memorandum says. were threatened with famine as early as autumn of 1914. The indus trial regions and coal districts of Dombrova and Czentochowa were competely cut off from external food supplies, but local organizations were doing wonders in their attempts to save the population from starving.
 "The news of their distress the statement adds, spread throughout Europe and America, giving rise to the formation of relief committees. A committee was formed by Henryl1 Sienkiewicz, the author, in Switzer- land and the Rockefeller institute discussed philanthropic action. Even official circles in Berlin announced their adhesion to this philanthropic work, undertaken with American money and in the newspapers hu- manitarian proclamations appeared. signed by German officials, asking for contributions for Russian Poland, threatened by famine.
 "The Polish population of the oc- cupied districts accepted these meas ures with skepticism, clearly under
 standing that this was not a case for
 philanthropist; that there was nc need to have recourse to outside help to ward off famine; that Russian Poland by itself produces enough
 grain and other foodstuffs to feed it's population abundantly"
 Throughout the autumn of 1914
 says the writer, thousands of Ger man wagons carried off grain, pota- .
 toes and other foodstuffs which were taken into Germany. The Germans brought threshing machines and ever machines for digging potatoes in or der to provide themselves system atically with food. On their return in the winter. although there was plenty of food in the country. they forbade it being transported from one district to another on the pre- text of preventing speculations. Thousands of potatoes were rottine in. some districts, says the statement while across the borders the popula- tions were dying from epidemics due to starvation. The German agents of the company from Posen to which the German military had given the sole right to trade in food and other produce, made acquisitions on viii
 lages and manors until the country was bare of food, while the Berlin relief committee appealed to the German public, fed on Polish grain for contributions for the hungry Poles