The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-21
NOTHING IS 0vERL O0KED BY
 GERMANS IN THEIR ANXIETY
 TO AVOID DEATH BY STARVING
Mothers and Children Suffering From Nal Nutrition Al low Nothing to Go to Waste-Grain and Flour String ency Steadily Growing.

other wonderful discovery of which the papers have been boosting is the preparation of mineral oils for kitch-
 en use. It is said that by a chemical process 1t has been found possible to
 do away with thes strong taste and
 smell and make the oil fit for eating. The 'Drogenhandler," however. has issued a warning against accepting
 such statements It is doubtful, 1t
 writes, whether mineral oils can be
 made palatable. They contain no
 nourishment, and it is more than like 1y that they would prove directly in-
 furious to health. I
 The scarcity of soap appears to be
 the cause of almost as much inconNe-
 nience, if not of actual suffering, as
 the shortage of food and clothing.
 The stuff which is supplied as soap
 is said to bear no resemblance to the
 real article, as there is neither fat nor
 oil in it. So universal is the short
 age that even royal princesses have
 been known to write to their rela-
 tions in neutral countries to beg for
 8 few pieces, as they say that while
 hunger is hard enough to bear, dirt
 is almost worse.
 The scarcity and poor quality of
 the food is responsible for new epi-
 demic, raging especially in the urban
 areas, the symptom being 8 general
 swelling Of various parts of the body.
 A numbef of people ares under medi- cal treatment for this nalady, which yields rapidly under good diet. Babies are being born in a most unhealthy condition, sometimes with
 out enough sin, and even mothers in the highest. circles are experiencing
 the effects of underfeeding. One case. indeed is reported in which a royal | mother has lost her child from this cause.
 ] Notwithstanding all these evidences of hard times, however, neutral wit
 nesses seem to be convinced that the country can hold out economically for some time to come, and at all events | until the next harvest. It Must be remembered tha tin Germany nothing is allowed to be wasted ,and the full est use Is made of everything-spoilt potatoes, decayed vegetables and fruit, offal from animals, waste from slaughter yards, and even sewage from the scullery-nothing is too disgust l ing to be converted into either food | for human beings or fodder for anil
 ma1s. Complaints are numerous | against the quality of the preserved food-the timed fish being officially | described as refuse, the tins of Nege- tables being found to be full of dirt and stones, and the artificial syrup 1 look and taste@ike grease.
 Austria, like her neighbor, is able
 -apart from military or political dis 1 aster-to hold out till the autumn. I &H4 1.Ix o4 kN-e and the consequent Improvement in the means of transport conditions I have become more tolerable, but there has nevertheless been no mitigation | of the food shortage. The authori- 1 ties still desire to conceal the state of the country from outside eyes, and l every obstacle is placed in the way I of persons, both natives and neutrals 1 who wish to leave the country; while
 in order to prevent the possibility oi l travellers carrying out important news they are subjected to a lengthy quar- antine at some small place in the Tyro1 before being allowed to cross Il the Swiss frontier. So far as food conditions are concerned, If one has | money sin\ Austria he can purchase practically any sort of food, whereas in Germany there are things nc money >can buy. Provisions are more plentiful in Hungary than ir l Austria, but at the same time the 1916 crops are said not to have ex-
 ceeded 55 per cent. of the average t while the 1917 crops, after the lons
 and severe winter, are not expected
 to exceed 40 per cent. n Il Conditions in Upper Austria are no
 far removed from actual famine I Bread,s is uneatable, and flour, Smaca roni, potatoes, <rice and Jneat Hardly
 to be got the inhabitants being re \ duced to living mainly on turnips ant
 pickled cabbage. The wealthy cal still purchase sufficient food. but tn. T poor people and even the middl, Il classes are suffering severe privations
 Reports from the Southern Slav prov inces-Istria, Dalmatiae and Herzego
 vina-say the people there are reduc ed almost to starvation; in Croatia tn,
 land is more productive, and thougl there is considerable distress anon,
 the poor money can still buy food matia and Istria. The Bohemian populace Is suffering from the scant. l and poor food, the condition Sf tn , school children being specially de :, plorabIe. There has been no sign o any relaxation of the four str1ngency
 though cohstant notices appear in tn
 fspaper of the arrival of supplies o . corn from Roumania. In any consid eration of the food supplies of tn ! Central Empires for next year it 1 a impossible to leave out of nconsidera ton the prospects of the Rournania harvest. There are no reliabl ! l sources of information open to us wit regard to the amount of grain an
 other foodstuffs likely to be ayailabl . for export from Roumania to Austria Hungary and Germany. but nothin , has been left undone to make 1t a Il large as possible.
 al The continuous growth in the COS f of living has resulted sin a consider i able increase in the number of publ, v Kitchens. but of late the food avai able was not sufficient to feed tn
 crowds which throng to them, whtc a even, include members of the nniddl q classes. Experiments are being mad v with various kinds of 4ebread-stretcf 4 ing" materials Another substitut q for wheat and rye flour has been dis covered in the shape of flour mad q from certain fungi, which grow 1 II large quantities in the Galician foi - ests, from which '-very nutritious an > l. baiafable bread" can be, made Pote