Evening journal., 1918-10-11
HUNS DON'T Want
TO EXCHANGE Men
Returned Soldiers Would
Garry Tale of Sure
Defeat
ALSO WOULD TELL
Of KIND TREATMENT
BY HOWARD L. BECHTOL.
European Manager OF the Newspaper
Enterprise Association

Enterprise Association.l
LONrlON, Oct. 1.-THE German rulers
10 not want TO exchange prisoners
With the British; BECAUSE-the Ger
nan rulers know:
That the returned German prls-
oners would carry the truth to all
parts Of Germany;
That they would scatter through
out the empire stories Of the kind,
considerate treatment they re-
ceived;
That they would expose German
lies and schemes. and tell the Ger
mans at home how the Kaiser and
his cohorts have fooled them;
That they would tell their friends
and relatives that England has
plenty OF food; plenty OF every
thing; that the U-boat Is a failure.
That they would show the Ger
man people that the Kaiser and the
m.litarists are leading them 10 GER
tain, crushing defeat; that the lon
ger they pin their faith 20 these
rulers the farther they viii be led
down the black valley.
The above Is not connective. IL Is the
Inside story Of the reason behind the
German delay" In ratlfying the agree
ment reached with the British at The
Hague a few months ago for the ex-
change Of prisoners.
Several months ago the British sought
an agreement on the exchange OF able
bodied men. A meeting at The Hague
was arranged and an agreement full OF
conditions OF exchange was drawn up.
but the expected ratification from Ger
many did not arrive.
Questions were asked. And 70 de-
velOped that the German government
had put forward a demand that, before
50 would ratlfy the agreement, Britain
must pledge its word that certain Ger
man subjects In China-Chinai mark
you-shOuld not be expelled or informed.
China had announced that she In
tended to intern or expel certain Ger
man subjects And that is just why
the Germans used I'LL
How tOlerently the German prisoners
are treated Is best illustrated by the
recent report OF a commander OF a camp
In the west OF England; that a party
OF German prisoners went on strike
because they were asked to work on
farms with British conscientious OBJ
jectors. or course the strike" was
quickly ended. but the strikers were
not abused.
Can you imagine any prisoner In
Germany mentioning strike for any
cause and living to tell about it2
And Berlin Is taking a hand In the
exchange agreement for British and
Turkish prisoners Austria has guaran-
teed such exchange refuse ships safe
conduct, but Germany refuses, which,
OF course. makes the paper agreement
worthless.
The twenty-nfth train OF repatriated
Atalians war prisoners. since exchange
segan with Austria, arrived in Rome
recently. All OF the 800 prisoners had
tuberculosis; their eyes were dllated
their clothes hung like bags; their
hands were Just bones covered by skin
their daily fare in the camp in Boz
hernia was one loaf Of chestnut bread
for &c prisoners; the death rate In this
one camp was GO a day; many were
kept alive by food parcels that arrived
for comrades already dead.
In one instance 30 Americans and t40
British were compelled 20 work on
railways. carrying heavy rails and push
ing trucks from o'clock to 9 o'clock
Their food was the ordinary German
soup and one slice OF bread a meal.
These men became weaker and weaker
and on August p arrived in Crossen
camp, almost starved.
I talked with a prominent London
surgeon who is devoting most Of his
time to the disabled British who have
been returned.
''The treatment all OF these men re-
ceived." he said, was rotten They
are ali starved; many Of them have
gone mad from their sufferings, and
many others have been terribly multi
ated by amateur or unskilled surgeons
IN the German camps"