The sun., 1916-12-27
TEXTILE WORKERS IN
GERMANY STARVING
Polish Medical Investigators
Find Many Suffering From
changer Swelling"

Descriptions cabied here OF the poverty
and disease stricken workers Of Ger
many have not been overdrawn, accord
Ing to accounts Of the effect Of unem-
ployment and lack Of food written by
Two Polish physicians. DR.. d. Budsynski
and DR.. n. Chelchowski. who have had
opportunity 10 study the situation among
textile workers there.
Their counts are published in the
December number OF the Annat d'Toieme
spertmenfdIe. an. reprinted in the
BrtttsI Journal Of Tropical Msdicinc.
Because OF the want Of proper food
among those In the textile industry,
whose working hours nave been cut
down 30 that they cannot earn enough to
buy the proper food, there has been an
outbreak OF hunger swelling among
them. There have been Enough cases to
startls the authorities. and . diet COM
posed too much Of potatoes and too
little OF meat has caused Il.
Thirty Thossand Are Idle.
Thirty thousand workers in the cotton
have been thrown out of m
ployment because OF Germany's lack Of
Nokt0i, " III frtltlt uOeS not 4tat0 The
percentage OF these who have been
victims OF the disease.
The cotton shortage is so great that
II threatens to Interfere seriously with
the munitions making. Some cotton
doubtless Is Obtained from Turkey, and
a little from America by way OF Hol.
land. II Is admitted that there In no
good substitute for cotton for manufac-
turing purposes. n that Germany needs
all the cotton she can get for her NUM-
tions making.
This Of course has caused much SUI
fering In the textile trade and the Ger
man Government has taken great pain.
to conceal the extent OF the misery Of
the workers. A member OF the ROYAL
Society or Arts has published some In
formation derived from a look at the
bread tickets issued to the operatives,
most OF whom are The great
Concordia Spinning Mills Of Bun1,au
have their operatives working for about
: cents an hour. or about 1850 for ST.,
hours. This was learned from details
written on the backs OF the bread tickets,
where IL also written a caution to the
workers to be economical In their use of
bread.
ssGerinG II saxsay Too.
~ UHI rUUu ~ COnHt0eT.
ably dearer than in Prussia and Ba-
varia. n there are reports that the
German mills are not operating the usual
SIX days a week. which cuts down greatly
the earnings Of the workers, who are
paid by the hour.
There IN scarcely any doubt that much
a and suffering exist. Approximately
half OF the regular textile trade OF tho
country has been ruined by the s.oppage
OF imports, and the high prices n mae
rails show h difficulties OF overseas
trade. Raw cotton In Brcmen costs elk
timcs AZ much "a In Liverpool.
The present results OF this dislocatIon
OF trade and food supply are narrated by
DR. B~udsynski and DIR. C~helchowski. who
say the outbreak OF hunger swell!ng'
startled the authorities. All the pa-
tients suffering from this malady were in
a state OF semi-starvation. none OF them
having eaten meat or fats for several
Dse to Potato Diet.
The cases occurred almost exclusively
among the unemployed factory opera
tives. The loss OF wages and a state of
complete penury end to produce a very
rise In the number. The diet
OF potatoes 10 believed to be the cause,
that Is, a diet OF potatoes without the ad-
dition OF meat and especially fat or but
ter. The symptoms are mainly swelling
OF the face and body. weakness and ner-
.vousness. becoming d~clirious In the worst
cases.
The swelling is not like that Of any
other disease. unless II be like dropsy, but
II is said TO differ from ordinary dropsy
in the following ways: Sometimes It is
confined to the lower limbs, but more Of