Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-02-06

vidual names, as Il Is impossible 60 des-
ignate each one OF about $4,000 prisoners
In daily bread supply. And yet this or
der OF December q cuts off everything
not addressed In an individual package.
direct to the prisoner. So that the great
bulk OF this suoply il stopped.
IT have had many opportunities to see
the serious effect OF short bread rationa
to prisoners" added Mr.. Dollfus. THE
prisoners returning to France have been
conveyed to me 10 Lyons and other points
In central France. and I have personally
witnessed their condition and heard their
reports For example. in one party OF 400
prisoners which conveyed $50 had devel-
oped tuberculosis from being in FAM
ished condition from a lack of bread
they were literally emaciated skeletons,
stricken with fatal disease. And this was
typical OF the result OF short bread
retions.
Rations for Prisoners.
THE German ration to prisoners" Mr.
Dollfus went on. rs one small loaf. about
four inches IN diameter, in the morning.
This is intended for the day. but the fam
ished men eat II at once, and that ends
their bread supply for tho day. only
reason we have been pouring in this bread
supply. largely In bulk. but to individuals
so far as they could be traced. II has
proved a life-savor to thousands. And
yet by this order OF December q this
bread supply in bulk IL cut off.
This can mean only another great
tragedy" said Mr.. Dollfus, land 1 am
convinced there must be a purpose boz
hind such move. purpose to force the
allies TO consider terms of peace. rather
than see their own people dying OF starva-
ton. And we expect. also. that IL the
bulk supply Is cut off this will soon be
followed by cutting OFF tho individual
packages on the ground that II is too
great an undertaking to distribute these
individual daily supplies. And so we are
faced with the present stoppage Of the
bulk supply and the probable stoppage OF
the remaining individual supply.
To Meet Conditions.
Il am seeking as well az possible to
meet this condition by organising a COM
| plete service OF individual packages, but
Il will be a work requiring much help
from private sources-ln which I hope
America will help as II did in Belgium
and will be supported by tho allied gov
ernments as FAR as possible. But IL Is a
strange fact that The Hague convention,
designed for the betterment OF the world.
stands In the way OF a government help
ing its own prisoners One provision OF
The Hague agreement is that the country
holding prisoners shall be charged with
feeding them and that the country from
which the prisoners come shall have no
CONTROL OF the matter. That provision,
made In peace times. has had an unfor-
tunate effect In actual war times, and
France and England are thus prohibited
by The Hague agreement from officially
seeking to control the bread or food sup
ply OF their prisoners In Germany. There
fore we must orgpnize It without direct
government support. but with the ex-
pectation that the allied governments
will give II semi-official recognition with.
out encroachins on The Hague agree
ment.
Taking about 100000 French prisoners
as basis. perhaps half OF them can be
reached after by the efforts of families
and friends in sending individual pack
ages. That leaves 10000 to be looked
after daily. II takes eight kilos OF bread
TO supply one man adequately for q
month, or 10000 kIlos for $50 prisoner.
a month. / am paying 4s confines DER
kilo OBS cents), hut the cost may advance
to 20 centimes Ql cents). This makes
about 20 cents per man per month. or
about 100000 francs sl9O.OOO for $50. 900
men per month. That Is the problem
which l am trying to work out-au re-
sulting from this order cutting off the
bulk bread supply"