The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-06-16
English Woman, Interned Until
Recently, Tells of Conditions
as She Saw Them.
HEALTH OF PEOPLE IMPAIRED
Impossible, She Says, for Germany to
Hold Out Much Longer-Food
Riots Are Becoming Worse
and Worse.

the considered opinion Of the wife 0
an EngliShman who for the who'll
period Of the war up till now. has beef
interned at Ruhleben, and who her
self within the last two or three week.
| has been permitted by the German au
thorities TO return TO the land Of hel
birth. Her knowledge of Germany i!
especially thorough. as she has resided
there with her husband, who was as
ISOLATED with a commercial house, fol
nearly twenty years; and her account
OF the conditions of the country when
she left last month is SO balanced and
restrained as TO carry full conviction
Of its truth.
THE people" she said, ARE Starv.
ing. and vet most of them think that
If they hold out they will be the vic
tors. Only defeats on the battlefield
will bring it home to them that their
starving is no good, and then they will
turn round upon their government.
MY husband and l, after so long a
stay In Germany. were on the point Of
returning to England In September,
1914, when the war broke out In Au-
gust, and then there was no chance to
get away. We had to give up our
pretty home and 60 into the interior
Of the country, whence he was taken
to Ruhleben, where he has been ever
since. For the first two years wives
situated like myself were not allowed
to see their husbands and it was not
until June, 1916, that / met mine for
the first time after his arrest. You
can perhaps imagine the shock l got
when l saw him again-thin and hol-
low-cheeked, as he had lost 45 pounds
while in the camp. After that we were
to visit every three months
for two hours, which was better than
nothing at all, especially to me, as l
had a brother also there and many
others l knew.
Money Is Held Back.
Il held out as long as 1 possibly
fould because then l could occasional
y see my husband, and besides had |
money, which, as soon as l came over
he frontier, / had not. No one was |
allowed to take out of the country
more than 200 marks, which should |
'e worth $50; but when I crossed the
'hange came to not much more than
20. Thanks to the help of friends,
am now being financed in a small
way, but / am only too thankful for
his, because things are so distressing
Y bad in Germany that l am much
fraid we should be starving If we still
we're there. The food riots are becom-
ne worse and worse. and every one
nOws the worst times are yet to
ONE. These will be in May and June,
ntil some of the new crops are avail
bic; but If they eat these as soon as
hey come out OF the ground there will
e none for the coming winter. And
hat then?
THAT Is why there were many Ger
lans / knew who envied me for be- ,
lg able to leave the country, where ,
lings are going from bad to worse !
), the weeks pass on. Now, it seems,
lie bread rations have been made ,
mailer, instead of larger as was prom
ed to the people some months ago,
Id 1t Is less than three and half
FUNDS head per fortnight, and very
,Or stuff at that, it being made chief
Of swedes. The largest amount of
eat allowed per head weekly is one
If pound. including bone, and for I,
e last seven months we In did =
It see anything In the shape of pork,
con, lard or any other fat. The
problem, of course, is for the Ger
ans the worst. All we saw in that
~ for the last seven or eight months
Is about three ounces of butter
ad per week, and there were many !
yns that were allowed only half
at weight and even less. You can
nothing unless you have plenty of o
'ney. Jam-dreadful stuff it is
ITS 1.50 mark q pound and one can
only half a pound Of that every
the same with coffee.
You can imagine that. with this
Sht VI llc III
Nth Of the people as a whole Is 81
ing way. OF course the rich can !.
" and then get extras, such as a
all fowl Of from two and q half to =,
ee pounds for from $3.50 to 50, 49,
lie at Christmas geese were bought -.
prices up to $50 and S75. and there @.
re folks who were glad to have ~
m even at that price. Foreign lard -
now and again be had at $3.50 n :.
Ind. but there are very few who
buy that.
No More Sugar. ~,
All sweet shops were closing down me-
IN l left, as there was no more m
ar to make sweetmeats, and choc- in
.e and cocoa were not to be had
last three or four months Milk tin
; hardly to be had any more, and, the
TACT, there are many towns which wo
e not seen drop of milk for VIC
ks and weeks, and when | came
y last month it was publicly ow
wn Shat in April and May there ow
Id be hardly any meat or milk to for
had and the shortage would be tina
c. Soap is scarcely to be got, and str
niece of toilet SOaD, costing about est