Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-01-21
People Crowd TheaterS to Get
Away From Thought Of War
but Talk and Think of Food
All the Time,
DESPERATE, BUT WILL
CONTINUE TO FIGHT
Rich and Poor Are StarvingI
Slowly but Surely Boys of
Seventeen Called to CoIorS.
by AutocratiC Government
Interview by Frank OConmorO
All Rights Reserved by the Boston
\

Interview by Frank O'ComorD
can Rights Reserved by the Boston
Sunday Post)
(Fiftccn months in Berlin - il
seemed like an age to this young Bos-
tun girl.
(Josephinc Marzyns'I. the singer,
returned from the Prussian capital
last week. Hers was remarkable
experience and an extraordinary op-
purtunity To observe conditions.
"a little more. than eight weeks
ago this slim ana exceedingly girlisb
young American made her veritable
escape from the great German me-
uopoIis. only by the most desperate
and importunate efforts did she OBJ
tain her passports.
(Shc brings back vivid word pic
ture of Berlin as il is today-grimly
resigned to terrible priyation and res
olutely determined 10 fight &C. the end.
Hast wcek tAD girl told me the
story of that year aud quarter in
the depressing atmosphere OF the
stronghold of kultur. Had she fore.
seen the vicIssitudcs she herself had
undergone or the awful suffering she
has witnessed, Josephine NarAynsli
would never have left her native city
t. finish the training of her voice.
(As she sat in the living room of
her hCmc on Sunderland street, RoX-
bury, the story uniolded itself like II
nightmare despite the gaycty of an
American maiden that not even the
concentrated gloom and hate OF
hrooding Berlin could supprcss.)
do the Germans still believe that
they will win the war;" ''They do!'
she replied to my first question. THE
general feeling in Berlin is that our
allies are exhausted and that a de-
cisive blow will have been struck be-
fore we become a factor on the west
crn front
Il left Berlin just as reports from
Italy indicated success of the new Of
fensive, and Italy out of the war as
a result and as reports from Russia
pointed to a peace that would insure
food for the starving people in Ger
many
They were very confident of a
Russian peace andft was regarded as
the solution of the food problem
which is really the biggest one prob
lem now bothering Germany, Peace
| with Russia was on the lips of every
one, and it was always said with u
smile that implied food.
Famine Reports True.
Food! You cannot imagine what
! the word means in Berlin Morning
noon and night the whole city talks
| food. The topic is discussed more
than the war. Wherever you go yol
are greeted with some sort of com.
ment on its scarcity and the effec
| upon the speaker And you simply
cannot get food--as we know food
in Berlin and the larger cities. In tht
smaller cities the shortage is mucl
more endurable.
Now during my fifteen month!
there I lived with very wealthy peo
| pie. Had / been dependent upon my
cwn efforts and purse for food | woulc
have suffered even more than | dix
/ fol the want of nourishing food. The,
We're able to obtain an occasiona
| goose, now and then some eggs ant
occasionally some fruits, vegetables
butter and cheese in excess of tn,
regular rations
Poorer people who performe,
hard work were much better off il
a way. For the government saw t,
it that they were allowed proper
tionately much more of the necessitie
of life.
con the other hand / knew person
ally of the case of the family of
banker who was rich. Yet the famil
was literally starving and sufferin
more privaton than the family of
poor laborer. For they were simpI
unable to connect with the under
ground source of food that goes int
Berlin in. excess of the legal allow
ance. And their legal allowance wa
less than that of a poorer family
underground" Food Route.
THE underground food supply o
which the rich depended was natur
ally costly in proportion to the ris
the farmers took in dsposing of /
Two dollars a pound for butter an
$3.50 a dozen for eggs gives yo
scme idea.
When | first got into Berlin h
way of Holland, seventeen month