The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-12-13
GERMAN PEOPLE
ARE STARVING
Teuton Wife of American Soldier
Tells of Conditions
There.
HARD FIGHT TO GET AWAY
Woman Has Narrowing Experiences
In Trying to Leave Country
Says People Are Fleeing
When They Can.

San Francisco.-The real conditions
In the fatherland were described here
by Mrs. George b. Szadelski, the Ger
man wife of an American soldier.
Mrs. Szadelski arrived here after a
plucky fight of over five months to
get herself and three children out of
Germany and over here, where she
could join her husband, who is with
the quartermaster's corps, United
States army, at Honolulu.
Germany Is starving. Her people
do not want war, and are fleeing the
country when they can. Not so much
the war, but food and where 1t Is to
come from is what the German people
are thinking Of" said Mrs. Szadelski.
when the people crowd up too eag-
erly In the street, waiting to get their
small bit of food, men come out with
whips, or pour hot water on them to
make them orderly. That is In the
town of Mecklenburg there we stand
waiting two hours or more In rain or
snow. But In Berlin 1t Is worse, and
men and women wait in line all night.
Buy With Cards.
"All things are bought by cards.
even clothing and shoes. IL / need q
new suit or my little boy needs new
underwear, I must go to the officials
and explain the need and show them
the worn things.
"A grown man or woman gets half
a pound Of meat q week, a tenth of a
pound of butter and three pounds of
bread. This bread is made of pota-
toes and kind Of green turnip, and Is
so soggy that only little can be eaten
at time. There Is no coffee, except
kind made from the turnip, and
there is no rice. One gets a fourth of
a pound of sugar, and there is no soap
at all.
Famine? There's a famine now.
The rich-yes, the rich can buy a
goose, but they must pay for it IT'S
marks (about SAD. l have seen wild
ravens sold In Berlin for three and
one-half marks. Everything is much
worse than America thinks.
yet there will be no revolution.
That is because there are no men at
home to make a revolution. The wom-
en- look at one another and shake their
heads. When the men come back is
the word they pass around. We have
men of fifty and seventy for home de-
fense, and as doctors arr officials.
And we have boys of fourteen. All
other men are In the army"
Mrs. Szadelski said she never re-
ceived $500, which her husband sent
her last February. A woman friend
or hers who went to the authorities
for money sent from America was told
that no more money from the source
would be given to any private person.
DO Not Want War.
"The people do not want war, but
what can they do? They cannot even
say what they think or there would
soon be chains around their necks.
"Yet there is bitter feeling against
America. I would be sorry for any
American soldier that falls into the
hands Of the Germans, either the sol
diers or the people. That is because
the newspapers talk always of the
evil-doing of America-and the people
believe what they read. They began
hating America long ago, when they
heard 1t was aiding England. 1t is not
France so much, but England and
America that Germany hates"
Sergeant Szadelski had been an
American soldier for years before he
met and married the little German
woman, during visit to Germany sew
eral years ago, but he left just before
the war. This led to suspicious that
he was an American spy, and so when
his wife wished to leave Germany last
May she had an immense deal Of red
tape to untangle. For a month she
had to go before the police each day
then she was summoned to Berlin.
At the Danish border every scrap of
paper but her passport was taken
away, and In Copenhagen she was re-
ceived coldly by the American lega-
ton, because they would not believe
that the wife Of an American soldier
would speak only German. After cor
respondence with Secretary Lansing
and others. the legation was finally
convinced that she was not spy, and
she was permitted to sail for New
York. She will leave In few days
with their three children for Homo