The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-02-20
GERMANS, STARVING,
TALK REVOLUTION
NEUTRAL" TELLS WHAT HE
SAW IN EMPIRE-SOLDIERS
ON FURLOUGH OFTEN REFUSE
TO RETURN TO FRONT.

~ M L ONN ~ FKONI.
LONDON, England-Sinc Ger
many makes the Entente's policy of
barring the shipment of food to her
the excuse for unrestricted subma-
rinism reports on Germany's larder
are of particular interest.
A special correspondent of the
Daily Express, who is described as a
neutral merchant of high standing
and character" who has visited a
number of small towns near the
Dutch frontier and passed fortnight
IN Cologne and several days in Han
over, is of the opinion that starva-
ton and great popular discomfort ara
staring the German government in
the face.
We are starving. Tell everybody
! outside Germany we are starving. If
! our soldiers can stand it any longer
| we cannot. We women of Germany
cannot go on seeing our children suf-
1erlng deprivation and hunger. We
cannot and will not. Death is better
than such life, tell them. Ask them
TO have pity on US, for our own gov
eminent has none. Tell them we are
! starving"
This is the pathetic message which
the correspondent brought back. The
misery IN the little towns is reported
as terrible, despite the continued
smuggling of foodstuffs from Hol-
land.
Bread Unfit to Eat.
The correspondent visited Bush
holtz and tasted the ''bread" the local
bakers sell there. He affirms chat
1T IS unfit even for horses food. but
the population has seen no other
bread for eighteen months. Two
ounces daily of this stuff, which
tastes like india rubber and is made
OF sweeplngs of rice and sawdust, is
the chief nourishment of the poor
population of western Germany.
Meat and milk are hardly ever seen
except on the tables of the well-to-do.
People in Cologne have not had
milk for four weeks, except children
under 6, who receive less than a pint
daily. There has been no genuine
coffee for months, only an undrink-
able substitute made with barley and
sold at high price. Beans, rice and
dried vegetables are unheard of, ex-
cept in legendary pre-war stories.
while fresh vegetables are all seized
by Won Batocki for the army's use.
The same remark applies to cheese
and tea"
Signs of Revolution. Z
According to the correspondent
there are plenty Of signs of the prog
ress OF revolutionary ideas. 1t is
merely to stem the threatening tide
mat peace overtures have been made.
Everybody In Germany knows that
the emperor, the government and the
military party are between two
abysses-revolution within. defeat
without. Soldiers on furlough dis
cuss openly in the streets the tonics
OF revolution and German republic
The spirit of the soldiers ON fur-
Tough whom the correspondent oh
served was extraordinary and almost
incredible.
Many refuse to return IN tho
front and have to be brought ont of
their homes by soldiers with bavo-
nets" ne says. "On the Cologne drilJ
ground captain slapped a young re-
crult IN the face before all the Other
men. The recruit, his nose bIeedino
protested, saying that he was a So
clailst and would not be struck. The
oincer drew his revolver and shot
him. ' 'hiO'
Many women of all classes are
inducing their husbands and broth
ers to desert and meet them in Ho1-
land or Switzerland, feeling that life
Is almost impossible in Germany
Expect to Starve in Spring.
AS to the future, the corresnond-
ent says the people have no hope en-
cept in the Allies magnanimitv in
speedily ending the war. Nobody
even hopes for a decent peace. LET
alone good peace The correspond
ent declares that he heard it said
among all classes of society,":
In the spring of 1917 famine will
surely come. If there is no peace.
then revolution will break out in Ger
many"
A Socialist town councillor is re-
ported as saying: eyes, we shall all
sstarve in April. We know it, but who
knows whether a German republic
VIII not be proclaimed before them"
! WIDOW M crrTrNr~, 49,