Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-10-01
AUSTRIA'S MART FOR
PRISONERS OF WAR
Franz Joseph Sets Up Clearing
House for Love Letters to
Italian Soldiers.
BIG BANKING BUSINESS


From a picturesque though little
known village on the upper Danube,
Mauthausen has become the clearing
house" in Austria for Italian prison.
ers Of war.
Its peace-time population Of a few
hundred persons has grown to the
size Of small city and each month
there pass through it, with a three
weeks stop for quarantine purposes,
several thousand Italian soldiers and
several hundred Italian officers.
The town consists of group OF
picturesque houses, a church or two
and an ancient palace that clings to
the edge OF the Danube. What may
be called the new city consists OF
acres upon acres of white-washed bar
racks, holding when full 42.0OO SOL
diers.
There were only some 5000 or TO-
600 Italian soldiers interned in the
city" when The Associated Press
correspondent arrived to pay the
camp a visit. Two days earlier there
had been $4,000, but the greater part
Of them had been sent out along their
way--to permanent camps in eastern
Austria and Hungary.
Love and Money Sent.
Daily there arrive at Mauthausen
some 5000 bulky parcels or love
gifts from relatives and friends in
Italy. The banking and bookkeeping
department OF the camp has to main
tain ledger with something over Az
600 running bank accounts. the total
OF which far exceeds 100000 crowns.
Each prisoner, wherever he may be,
Is permitted to possess 10 crowns
week for canteen spending money.
All that he receives from home over
that goes into his account. The ac-
tual handling Of cash devolvcs upo,.
Austrian officers; the bookkeeping is
done by Italian prisoners Of war, who
are thus in position to know that
the funds Of their compatriots are
honestly and accurately administered
So long as he stays in Mauthausen
which may be for a year il his con
duct is good. the Italian soldier !.
offered the privilege Of school II
which illiterates are taught to reat
and write and in which the better edu
Gated may take courses in German, II
English and in other useful subjects
II 50 inclined, he may take up paint
ing and wood carving and sculpture
He will be furnished the materials
his product" will be sold at a pric,
not under minimum set by himsel
and he will be given the balance be
tween sales price and cost OF ma
teriais. Or he can enter either TIL,
stringcd orchestra or the brass band
Efficiency Everywhere.
The correspondent saw an exhibi
ton OF one OF the half dozen fir,
companies, composed wholly OF Ital
ians. who guarded the camp from ;
possible conflagration. and who as ;
matter Of fact have kept the fire loss
despite the wooden construction
down to two barracks and no loss o.
life. Fire prevention is further aide,
by q high fire tower in the center o
the camp on which two men constant
~ stand guard. with horn 10 war;
Of . blaze and flag to indicate it
direction.
The colonel Of the camp led tn
correspondent through the was
rooms-huge barracks fitted witt
showers and heated in winter time, o
equipped with rows OF faucets 70
washing hands and faces--an'
through the living barracks. The lat
ter are large and roomy--and yer,
clean---far better than any the CORE
spondent had seen in the course o
visits to camps In other countries.
The hospital section OF the cam
Is one OF the best in Austria, in clean
illness and equipment. 1t is the colo
nel's boast that there never has bee
an epidemic OF any character, tina
only such diseases as were brough
by the men have ever been cncoun
tered, and that there have been
large number Of cures. Deaths occu
regularly, as in any large communit,
but now the cause Is chiefly tuberct
losis of ancient standing among tn
prisoners.
Since the wounded as we'll as tn
well often come to Mauthausen tn
camp has met the need for artificis
limbs by creating a little factory 70
manufacturing these grim implement
and up TO date has turned out abot
$50 and trained the war victims to us
them.
The Youn., Mems Christian asse
citation amusement hall with its tin
stage has been equipped with seer
cry made by the prisoners and wit
a drop curtain showing the Bay {
Naples. Here, too, are the educ;
tional classes, conducted by the int
ligcnt and gifted Italians.
Message to America.
The English classes are conducte
by "Tony" Tenore, who told the co
respondent that a brother in Ne
York Drank Tenore Of 800 Birds
street, Brooklyn believed him to
dead because he had no opportunit
to communicate with him. The II
ian, who said he had lived two yea
in Ameica, begged to be remembers
10 the brother.
One OF the chief aims of the autho
tiles is to give the men as much O
portunity to work as possible and {
the whole find them tractable al
willing. If the men do nothing tn,
receive 6 cents day il privates,
cents II corporals or sergeants al
Is cents if higher non-commission,
officers. II they 60 out to work I
farms or in quarries or roads tn,
get a settled sum in addition.
Self-governmcnt, insofar as it
possible, has been introduced, and 4
common soldiers are commanded
their own non-coms and merely S
L..