The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1917-04-19
FATIGUE OF war
FELT IN GERMANY
Wage-Earning Class Becomes
Sullen and Almost Rebel
lious, Says Consul.
WANT PEACE At ANY PRICE
Russian Revolution Finds Echoes In
Riots In German Industrial Cen.
ters-<standard Of Living
Lowered FearfuIIy.

New York.-Rumors from various
sources that the Russian revolution
has found echoes In riots In German
Industrial centers had an interesting
sidelight here when A. Curtis Roth,
American vice consul at Plauen, Sax
ony, described the awful conditions
existing among the working classes of
the central powers. Mr.. Roth has just
spent seven years in the Saxon indus
trial district. He said:
Wage-earning Germany's nerves
have been worn raw by the increasing
weight of suffering that the war has
brought 1t. This class of Germans has
become sullen, dissatisfied with the
government, almost rebellious. While
the middle class remains intensely
patriotic, parading before the casual
observer unified and determined
Germany, fatigue of war is making
alarming strides among the working
people. A great many of these humble
people want peace at any price-at the
price of their colonies, of Alsace-L Lor-
raine, even Of their country's prestige
and position.
"The working people, ut least, in
SnXony, are becoming restive. They
have hungered and grieved and over
worked for many months, with cOndi-
tions steadily growing worse and with
each promise of peace fading into an
indefinite prospect Of endurance. All
foods but the very coarsest are beyond
their means. The ration of these
t.. H,..,.
have been subsisting throughout the
last year upon bread, potatoes, turnips
and salt.
Second Peasants War Possible.
pushed much further by the gall
ing stress of starvation, overwOrk and
loss of dear ones, second peasants
war may well be added to the miseries
of central Europe.
"The standard Of living among the
working people has been lowered
fearfully. 1t is now on par with the
coolie standard of overcrowded Asia.
Their work has increased; their share
in comforts has diminished, and their
umuscmcnts have entirely fallen away.
The urban poor have become desper-
ately poor, and they are beginning to
realize that each added month Of the
war means that their plight must be-
come more and more hopeless.
''ln the beginning all was wild en-
thuSlasm for the war. The people
crowded around the railway stations
to see the troop trains hurting past
every 20 minutes. Then came the
floods Of wounded, the difficult read
do l., 81 4,
Sence of the wage earners, and then
the numbing pinch OF hunger. Worst
of all was the atmosphere that settled
down upon the land, an atmosphere of
want, of fear, of suffering, of black
depression, which seemed to seep
through and through one and chill the
consciousness.
IAN eternal New England Sunday
gripped the formerly bustling manu-
featuring towns in my district. The
streets were bare of traffic. People
passed about their errands silently.
There was no laughing, whistling.
loud talking or jovinl greeting. The
business streets were dotted every
where by stores closed up by war.
Grass grew between the cobbles in
the roadway. Now and again oxen
dragging primitive carts of farm pro-
duce numbered through the streets.
Restaurants and cafes were deserted
1t cost money to frequent them, and,
moreover, they had nothing to sell,
Sufferers on Every Hand.
ut Is hard to describe life under
these conditions. The best / can do
is TO say that 1t was suffocating.
When not going to and fro about their
work, the less well-to-do hid their un-
happiness in their rooms. AS 1t was,
one was forever meeting on the street
hollOw-cheeked, emaciated, dry-eyed
sufferers. l felt AS though l had eS-
capped from dark prison when / got
back TO this country and saw happy,
healthy, well-fed people again.
'The strain Is beginning to tell. i
) have heard the emperor soundly be-
rated by his famishcd subjects in the
shops that the poor frequent. / have
often during the last months of my
stay listened to strangely seditlous
talk among the workers. men and
women, which grew In violence after
the check at Verdun. The working
women have threatened number of
times to get out Of hand and rough
J things. In SaxOny, at least, war Is
successfully throttling one by one, all
the peoples impulses for living.
"The Saxon casualty list has been
very heavy. The Plauen regiment has
been wiped out six times. All the
young, dashing, professional officers
who led the first onslaught have been
| wiped ont The troons are now Off.