The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-17
TO Make
POLAND DESERT
herman System Reckoned on
Starvation Of People to Pro-
: mote Imperial Ends.
WON KRlES REVEALED PLOT
Country, After Population Had Been
systematically Done to Death, Was
70 Be Restoeke6 by Settlers
From Germany.

The ertent of human misery in
Poland caused by the German oc-
lcupation was as great as that IN BEL
Igium and France. The entire heart
kcssness which characterized the kat
ser,s high officers is weu shown in a
statement By Mr.. Vernon Kellogg,
prepared for a pamphlet issued By
The committee on public informa-
tion, Which we copy.
The systematic exploitation of hui
man misery by the German authorities
I'm Poland followed the general plan
haid down by the kaiser's orders. In
,order to prove the identity Of proceed
lure Il will be enough to present the
detailed report prepared specially for q
pamphlet issued by the committee on
public information and written by Mr..
Frederic G. Walcott. A fuller and In
some ways touching treatment
Ne given in his article. Devastated
Poland" In the National Geographic
Magazine for May, 1917.
September, 1917.
"Poland-Russian Poland-is per-
hshing. And the German high COM
mand, imbued with the Prussian sys-
ITEM, is coolly reckoning on the neces-
stiles Of a starving people to promote
dts imperial ends.
West Poland, which has been Prus-
sian territory more than a hundred
years, is a disappointment to Ger
many; its people obstinately remain
Poles. This time they propose swifter
measures. In two or three years, by
grace Of starvation and frightfulness,
they calculate East Poland will be
thoroughly made over into a German
province.
I'm the great Hindenburg drive one
year ago, the country was completely
devastated by the ~retreating Russian
army and the oncoming Germans. A
million people were driven from their
homes. Half Of them persisted by the
roadside. For miles and miles, when /
saw the country, the way was Uttered
with mudsoaked garments and bones
picked clean by the crows-though the
larger bones had been gathered by the
thrifty Germans to be ground into fer
tilizer. Wicker baskets-the little bas-
lket In which the baby swings from the
irafters In every peasant home-were
scattered along the way, hundreds and
Hundreds, until one could not count
them, each n telling a death.
Deliberate Policy Of Starvation.
"Warsaw, which had not been de-
,stroyed-once a proud city of a million
l~people-was utterly stricken. Poor
folks by thousands lined the streets,
leaning against the buildings, shivering
IN snow and rain, too weak to lift a
hand, dying of cold and hunger. Though.
the rich gave all they had, and the
poor shared their last crust, they were
starving there in the streets In droves.
I'm the stricken city, the German gov
ernor Of Warsaw issued a proclama-
tion. All a%ble-bodied Poles were bid
den to 60 to Germany to work. If any
refused, let no other Pole give him to
eat, not so much as a mouthful, under
penalty of German military law.
ut wal more than the mind could
grasp. To the husband and father of
broken families, the high command
gave this decree: Leave your families
to starve If you stay, we shall see that
you do s~tarve--this to a high-strung,
sensitive, highly organized people, this
from the authorities of a nation pro-
Tossing civilization and religion to mil
lions of fellow Christians captive and
starving.
General Won Kries, the governor,
was kind enough to explain. Candidly,
they preferred not quite so much star
walton; 1t might get on the nerves of
the German soldiers. But, starvation
being present, 1t must work for Ger
purpose. Taking advantage of
this wretchedness, the working men of
Poland were to be removed; the coun-
try was to be restocked with Germans.
1t was country Germany needed-rich
alluvial soil-better suited to German
expansion than distant possessions. If
the Poland that was had T., perish, so
much the better Tor Germany.
TO Make Poland German Province.
Remove the men, let the young and
weak die, graft German stock on the
women. See how simple 1t is: with q
crafty smile, General Won Kries CON
cluded, BY and by we must give back
freedom to Poland. Very good 1t will
reappear al a German province
SLOWLY, I came to realize that this
fi%onstrous, incredible thing was the
Prussian system, deliberately chosen
BY the circle around the all.highest,
and kneaded into the German people
till 1t became part Of their mind.
German people are material for
building the state-of no other account.
Other people are for Germany's will to
work upon. Humanity, liberty, equality,
the rights of others-all foolish talk.
Democracy. an idle dream. The true
Prussian lives only for this. that the
German state may be mighty and great.
"All the woes In the long count
against Germany are part Of the Prus-
sian system. The invasion Of Belgium,
The deportations, the starving Of sub