New Britain herald., 1916-10-10
MAUTHAUSEN JUMPS
 INTO THE LIMELIGHT
Becomes "Clearing House" in
 Austria for Italian Prisoners
Correspondence of the Asso. Press.)

From a picturesque though little known village on the upper Danube, Mauthausen, the clearing house Tn l Austria for Italian prisoners Of war.
 In its-orFF Shai5-Ozh l.
 It's peace-tine population of a few i hundred persons has grown to the 1 size of a small city, and each month 1 there pass through it, with a three 1 weeks stop for quarantine purposes, ] several thousand Italian soldiers ana 1 several hundred Italian officers.
 The town consists of group or 1 picturesque houses, a church or two 1 and an ancient palace that clings to ! the edge of the Danube. What may l Ie called the new city consists of ] acres upon arces of whlte-Washed | barracks, holding in all when full 42,- ! 600 soldiers
 There were only some eight or ten thousand Italian soldiers interned in the "city'' when the Associated Press I correspondent arrived to pay the camp Q visit. Two days earlier there had been 25,00O, but the greater part of them had been sent out along their way-to permanent camps in eastern Austria and Hungary.
 Daily there arrive at Mauthausen some 5000 bulky parcels or Hove gifts from relatives and friends in I+alv. The banking and bookkeeping depa rtme ent of the camp has to main tain a ledger with som ething over 41,OOO running bank accounts, the to- tai of which far exceeds a million crowns Each prisoner, wherever he may be- is permitted to possess ten crowns a week for canteen spending money All that he receives from home over that goes into his account. The actual handling of cash deVolves upon Austrian officers; the booklkeep- ing is done by Italian prisoners or war, who are thus in a position to know that the funds of their com patriots are honestly and accurately administered.
 So long as he stays in Mauthausen, which may be for hear if his con- duct is good the Italian soldier is offered the privileges of a school in W hch illiterates are taught to read and write and in which the better ed 1 ucated may take courses in German, 1 in English and in other useful sub- | jects If so inclined he may take up painting and wood carving and sculp- 1 ture He will be furnished the ma terials, his "product" will be sold at a price not under a minimum set by himself. and he will be gwen the bal ance between sales price and cost of materials Or he can enter either the stringed orchestra or the brass land
 | The correspondent saw an exhibi- | ton of one of the half dozen fire l panies, composed wholly of ltal- | ians who guarded the camp from a 1 possible conflagration, and who as a matter of fact have kept the fire loss, 1 T ,ctr fiNTo dnI to two barracks and no loss of life. | Fire prevention is further aided by | a high fire tower in the center of the i camp, on which two men constantly stand guard\ with a horn to warn of a blaze and a flag to indicate it's di i rection.
 The colonel of the camp led the correspondent through the wash room l huge barracks fitted with showers and heated in winter time, or equipped with rows of faucets for washing hands and faces-and throug the living barracks. The lat ter are large and roomy-and very clean-far better than any the cor
 respondent had seen in the course of visits to camps in other countries.
 The hospital section of the camp is one of the best in Austria, in cleanli- | ness oners boast that there never has been an epidemic of any character, that cplv such diseases as were brought bv the men have ever been encoun- tered. and that there have been a | large number of cures. Deaths occur 1 regularly, as in any large community,
 but now the cause is chiefly tubercu- 1osis of ancient standing among the
 prisoners
 Since the wounded as well as the
 well often come to Mauthausen the
 camp has met the need for artificial
 limbs by creating a little factory for
 manufacturing these grim implements,
 and up to date has turned out about
 150 and trained the war victims to
 use them
 The Young Mems Christian associa- | tion amusement hall, with it's tiny | stage has been equipped with scen-
 cry made by the prisoners and with
 Q drop curtain showing the Bay of
 Naples. Here, too, are the educa-
 tional classes, conducted by the intel ligent and gifted Italians.
 The English classes are conducted bv 'Tony'' Tenore, who told the cor respondent that brother in New York Crank Tenore of 300 Bridge
 street, Brooklyn, believed him to be
 dead because he had had no oppor.
 tunity to communicate with him. The
 Italian, who said he had lived two
 Jears in America, begged to be re.
 mem mbered to the brother.
 One of the chief aims of the au
 thorites is to give the men as mucf
 opportunity to work as possible, ant
 on the whole find them tractable anG
 willing. If the men do nothing the.
 receive six cents a day if privates
 twelve cents if corporals or sergeants
 and eighteen cents if higher non-com