Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-18
GERMANY STOPS
BREAD SHIPMENT
TO HER PRISONERS
Order Is Aimed to Strike
Terror to Allies; Disease De-
. velops From Lack of Bread

Geneva, Switzerland. Feb. IS
Correspondence of the Associated
Press BY official order, Germany
has stopped the shipment of bread to
prisoners of war in Germany, unless
each package of bread is addressed to
an individual prisoner. This order
has caused CONSERVATION to those In
charge of the bread supply to prison
ers, as they say it is practically inn
possible to send individual packages |
except to a few. and that the great |
bulk Of prisoners will have their bread |
supply cut off. They declare. too that |
back of this order is a sinister move TO
strike such terror among the allies
on the starving condition of their prls- /
oners, that they will be willing to lis |
ten to peace.
The International Red Cross organi- |
zation has its headquarters here, ad-
ministering its affairs for the whole |
world at this central point. Gustave /
Adoe, a distinguished Swiss citizen, is ,
at the head, and Max Dollfus. an Alsa- |
tion of strong French sentiment, is
head of the bureau for prisoners of
war AS such Mr.. Dollfus was made !
director of the bread supply furnished |
French prisoners of war in Germany, |
and it was he who told the Associated |
Press of the order of December. %, |
and the grave effect it would have.
Bread is the very element of a |
can cut off anything else and he can
stand 1t, but he must have bread. Now
we have built up a vast organization |
by which bread has been poured into |
Germany to meet this primary want |
y small part of 1t has gone in indi- |
Nidual packages. but the great bulk /
has been without individual names, as
1t is impossible to designate each one
of about 100000 prisoners in a daily |
bread supply. And vet this order of /.
l)1raT1 of tI,;,
addressed in an individual package, /
direct to the prisoner. So that the |
great bulk of this supply is stopped.
tuberculosis Result
L have had many opportunities to
see the serious effect of short bread
rations to prisoners added Mr.. DOLL I
Ius. The prisoners returning to
france nave been conveyed by me to
Lyons and other points in central
France. and L have personally wit F.
messed their condition and heard their /
reports: For example, in one party of
4OO prisoners which l conveyed, 250 |
mad developed tuberculosis from be- /
ing famished condition from a lack /
OF bread-they were literally ema-
ciated skeletons stricken with fatal
disease. And this was typical Of the
result of short bread rations
The German ration to prisoners
Mr.. Dollfus went on, "is one small
loaf about four inches in diameter I'm
the morning. This is intended for the /.
day, but the famished men eat it at
once, and that ends their bread sup
ply for the day, only a soup being
given at noon. That is the reason we
nave been pouring in this bread sup
ply, largely in bulk, but to individuals /
so far as they could be traced It |
mas proved a life-saver to thousands |
ana 7a yet by this order of the 27th, the
bread supply in bulk is cut off.
This can mean only another praa+
tragedy, said Mr.. Dollfus, and I /
am convinced there must be a pur-
pose behind such a move-a purpose |
20 force the allies to consider terms |
2 OF peace. rather than see their own 7
people dying of starvation And We /
expect, also, that if the bulk supply |
IS cut OFF, this will soon be followed
ny cutting off the individual packages |
on the ground that it is too great an !
Undertaking to distribute these indf- |
Nidual daily supplies And SO we are |
faced with the present stoppage of the |
bulk supply and the probable stoppage
oil the remaining individual supply.
am seeking as best as possible TO
meet this condition, by organizing n
complete service of individual nactl
ages: put 1t will be a work recurring
nlucn help from private sources-in
Whlch nope America will help as il
ulu IN beIGlum-and will be supported
by the allied governments as far ne
possible. But it is a strange fact that
lne Hague Convention designed for
lhe betterment of the world. stands i'm
tle way or government helping its
own prisoners. One provision of the
iiaSue agreement is that the country
holdlnS prisoners shall he chargod
with feeding them, and that the conn
Try from which the prisoners come
shall have no control of the matter
Ihat provision, made in peace times
mas mad an unfortunate effect in ac,
iuai war times and France and Enr-
Iald are thus prohibited by the HapiIe
agreement from officially seeking fo
I'm, ton.roI the bread or food supply of
rneIr prisoners in Germany. There
Iore' we must organize it without di-
rect government support but with +ba
expectation that the allied goItor, s,,o
ments will give 1t semiofficial recoeni
uon without encroaching on the TTas,ro
agreement " Ii"sue
Taking about 500, 900 French nris-
ohers as basis, perhaps half of them
Can oe reached after by the efforts Of
lanllles and friends in sendinp indi-
Nldual packages. That leaves 15O 0no
70 ne looked after daily. 1t takes eigbt
kllos or bread to supply one man ado
uuateIy for a month, or 200. 600 kills
LOT IoO,OOO prisoners q month am
paving 46 centimes per kilo (9.i5
cehts) out the cost may advance to N
CGnumes GA cents). This makes
apout % cents per man per month. or
5pOut 100000 francs (S12O, ,OO0) for
IoV,VoO men per month That is the
PiopieIn Whlch l am trying to work
out-all resulting from this order cut
ting off the bulk bread suppIv."
L. o. s. OF 4 CONVIrN-Vuo~-