The Cordova daily times., 1918-03-14
DOCTOR TELLS EXPERIENCE
AS PRISONER IN AUSTRIA

RUNE, req. ~ 10y mall THE al
lies can win this war only by holding
on, by the exertion of economic pres
sure on the central empires and by
rigid economy at home" is the opinion
of DR.. Massimo Pantaleoni of the Ital-
ian army, who has just been ex-
changed after twenty months as a
prisoner in Austria and Hungary. DR..
Pantaleoni, although Italian by birth
has many relatives in the United
States
THE secret of winning the war"
said DR.. Pantaleoni remains in the
blockade and in the allies at home ex-
ercising the greatest economy but so
organizing that economy in the way of
limitation of CONSUMPTION of foods and
j fuels and clothes that people will not
be compelled to lose several hours of
their time each day searching for COAL
or bread, or such articles
1T is like passing from darkness in.
to daylight on leaving Austria, where
the stores are empty of all useful ar
ticles, cloth slals at about the equiva-
lent of $26 a yard, where leather shoes
sell for 100 krOnen the pair, where
there is no sugar at all for sale, where
the bread rate for the civil popula-
ton is two and half ounces for each
person per day, where the fat ration
is one quarter of an ounce and where
potatoes sell for twenty cents pound
instead of two cents a pound before
the war
In Austria mortality has increased
very much since year ago because of
, poor or no nourishment leading to
rheumatism and dysentry, and when
people die there are no collins in
which to bury them Instead, their
shrouds and good clothes are replaced
Ny loSo anu III LhOSS IhSS StI Z DuIIeu.
Living conditions have not been i'm
proved by the taking of Rumania.
while in Hungary attending Ital-
ian prisoners, who had been sent as
far away as possible from the Isonzo
front so that they could not escape and
go home, Rumanians told me civil con-
ditions had been such in Rumania that
the fields had not been worked and
therefore the crops had been poor.
"As regards the entrance of the
United States into the war, both Ger
mans and Austrians said the effec.
tive result would be more in money
and materials furnished than in fight
ing units, due to difficulties of troop
transportation. They say that it is
hardly worth while attempting to cap
ture or destroy enemy artillery be-
cause new cannon will be forthcoming
from the United States.
"The Austrian people have been in
different about the war for a long,
time. They want peace, any kind of
peace, and the longer the war lasts
the less they have to keep the war 60
ing. The Germans are still possessed
of the monomania of domination, of
wishing to grab all they see, to take
take, take; but time is sure to bring
them to their knees, to cut down their
fighting materials, while that of the al
lies keeps on growing, and this is why
| maintain that the allies must win if
they resist, if they exert economic
pressure on themselves, and refuse to
patch up peace.
The Germans now are seriously
afraid of the English and French, be-
cause they realize their superiority in
fighting materials.
"All that has been said about the
ill-treatment of the prisoners is true
They are so poorly fed that if they fall
i'll they are sure to die. as their bodies
have no resisting power. Most of their
illnesses are in the intestines or of a
bronchial nature leading to tubercu-
losts. Their fosd consists, in the |
camps, of soup made of beets in the !
proportion of one half pound day for
each man. with sometimes a potato
and two ounces of meat once a week.
In the hospital of Sigmundsherberg