Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-23
GERMAN FAMINE
STORIES DENIED
aActual Starvation" an Ex-
aggeration, War Corre-
spondent Says
CALLS FOOD RIOTS YARNS
pv Karl H. Won W1EGAND

Nrw YORK. Jan. 23-Stories that Ger
snv is in a state of actual starvation
Nv be taken as an eNaggeraton. The
.,,rcoe from which some of these reports
come are not entirely free from suspicion.
tThe wish is father to the thought
I'M 70 the time ] left Germany in the
.,,dd,e of December there had not been
sinpie food riot Of any serious propor-
s,ons or in which. as has been reported,
~ military had been called out Women
.,,.ral times smashed the windows Of
s,ores where eNorbtant prices were
ss.rged. In one of the textile centers the
a. department on one occasion was called
- and turned the hose on such a riot"
n had the desired result
Americans seem to find it difficult to
zrasp the spirit Of the German people. The
,nnresson, I find. prevails in many places
in this country that the Germans are op.,
n.sed to the Government Nothing could
- further from the truth There is no
s,.nnsition on the part Of the people in
osrnnanv to make trouble for their Govern
ment.
aooo AMERICANS IN GERMANY
There are. or were the last time | talked
"a Consul General julius Lay. about 5000
Americans still in Germany according TO
.onorts Probably two-thirds of the Amer
icans now in Germany come under the
category of Americans They
70 none the less American citizens. Wer-
oaoditions as bad as some of the reports
sssert these Americans would be starving
y,tb the rest. and either would leave Cor
,anv, or would be sent away by the Gov
,srnn,ent especially as the American Gov
srnment does nothing to get food to them
s do the other neutral COuntrics~tO their
!. citizens in Germany
The American Government is the only
nsutraI so far that has not insisted on
i,s right and the right of American cti-
no |
THE Swiss Dutch, Danish. swedish ana
Norweglan Governments all provide that
their nationals in Germany OBTAIN certain
amount of food every month from their
respective countries. America does not
when Americans in Germany order food
,ron, these neutral countries for their own
nse the amount is deducted from the uuan-
,itv these nations allow to he exported lhIp
Cermany for use of Germans.
Germans declare that Americans should
at food from their own country or at least
nave an arrangement between their Gov
srnment and these neutrals. whereby the
food they get would not be deducted from
Germany's allotment. Julius Lay, American
Consul General at Berlin has Deeh
negotiating with Washington for months,
hut ND to last accounts with no result.
n n comes to actual starvation in Ger
many at any time the nearly a million and
three quarters prisoners held by Germany
will be among those who will have to
starye along with their captOrS.
An English statesman declared some time
ago that il Germany could not feed her
prisoners she should release them. To this
the Germans reply that IL Germany is to
he regarded as fortress beSieged, as the
English claim in their starvation war;
awho has ever heard Of prisoners in be-
seRed fortress being turned loose because
the defending garrison was starving and
the prisoners could not be fed?" And there
are plenty in Germany who say: Before
our innocent little children, our aged men
and our women are allowed to die of star
vation the prisoners we hold will have to
die the same death with them
Up to the time l left Germany there was
much grumbling among the farming pop
ulation of East Prussia and Silesia that
the thousands of Russian prisoners work.
ing on the farms were being better fed than
the German labor employed. TO get work
out of the prisoners the incentive of more
food is given. More food" adds more zest
and interest to the prisoners work than
would any increase in the small daily wage
paid them.