Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-04-10

accomplish what they set out to do.
First, they enlisted the Berlin Social
lists, and the report went around the
people that the rich were going to
Copenhagen and bringing back food
while the poor starved. So the gov
eminent had to prohibit all food from
coming into Germany by way Of Den
mark unless 1t was imported by the
government.
That was the first SUCCESS Of the Ba-
varian Socialists. Now they have had
another. Batocki is reported as having
announced that all food supplies will
be confiscated. The Socialists are re-
sponsible.
Excepting the very wealthy and
those who have stored quantities of
food for the SIEGE" every German is
under-nourished. A great many peo-
pie are starving. The head physician
of the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria hos
pital, in Berlin, stated that $4,000 chill
dren died In Berlin in 1915 from lack
of food. The "Lokal- Anzeiger'' print
ed the item and the foreign office cen
sor prohibited me from sending 1t to
New York.
But starvation under the blockade Is
slow process and 1t has not yet
reached the army. When I was on the
Somme battlefields last November and
In Rumania in December the soldiers
were not only well fed, but they had
luxuries which their families at home
did not have. Two years ago there was
so much food at home the women sent
food boxes to the front. Today the SOL
diers not only send but carry quanti-
ties of food from the front to their
homes The army has more than the
people.
1t Is almost impossible to say wheth-
er Germany, as a nation. can be starry
ed into submission. Everything de-
Ponds upon the next harvest, the
length Of the war and future military
operations. The German government,
I think. can make the people hold out
until the coming harvest, unless there
is big military defeat In their pre-
sent undernourished condition the pub
lie could not face q defeat. II the war
ends this year Germany will not be SO
starved that she will accept any peace
terms. But If the war continues an
other year or two Germany will have
to give up.
EFFECT ON FOOD SUPPLY.
1 entered Germany at the beginning
of the allied blockade. In February,
1915, one could purchase any kind and
any quantity of food in Germany. Two
years later, when left, there were at
least Is foodstuffs which could not be
purchased anywhere, and there were
~ kinds Of food which could be obtain
ed only by government cards. That is
what the allied blockade did to the
food supplies. It made Germany look
like a grocery store after a closing out
sale.
Suppose in the United States you
wanted the simplest breakfast--coffee
and bread and butter. Suppose you
wanted a light luncheon of eggs or a
sandwich, tea and fruit. Suppose for
dinner you wanted q plain menu Of
soup, meat, vegetables and dessert. At
any grocery or lunch counter you could
get not only these plain foods, but any
thing else you wanted.
Not 80 in Germany! For breakfast
you cannot have pure coffee, and you
can have only very small quantity of
butter with your butter card. Hotels
serve a coffee substitute, but most
people prefer nothing. For luncheon
you may have an egg, but only one day
during two weeks. Hotels still serve
a weak, highly colored tea and apples
or oranges. For dinner you may have
soup without any meat or fat in 1t.
Soups are just mixture Of water and
vegetables. Two days a week you can
get small piece of meat with a meat
card. Other days you can eat boiled
fish.
HOUSEHOLDER STORE FOOD.
People who keep house, Of course,
have moro food. because as . rule they
have been storing supplies Take the
Christian Scientists as an instance.
Members Of this church have organized
a semi official club. Members buy all
the extra food possible. Then they d.
vide and store away what they want
for the "siege"-the time when food
will be scarcer than it is today.
Two women, practitioners in Berlin,
who live together, bought 80 pounds
of butter from an American who had
brought it in from Copenhagen. They
canned 1t and planned to make this
butter last one year. Until few weeks
ago people with money could go to
Switzerland, Holland and Denmark
and bring back food with them, either
with or without permission. Some
citizens who import machin-