davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

In the German Empire there was
year by year an appalling increase
in the suicides Of children and
young people, the child suicides Of
Berlin being fifteen times more than
those in New York City. Year by
year the number Of paupers in
creased, in Berlin the number ris-
ing from 31,35S in 1891 to 56,eO1
in 1909. So tr1vza- were the much
extolled pensions given the aged
that the miserable beneficlaries had
to ask for additional poor relief
aims in order to live.
While Germany, through her pub
licity agents, German professors
and American "uplift" writer's, car
ried on propaganda designed to
impress Americans with the belief
that Germany was superior in So
cial progress, German writer's made
it their policy to regale the masses
at hope with accounts of food
adulteration, municipal graft and
political corruption in the United
States. The "muck rake" articles
of those same American "reformers
and uplifters," who, while they ex-
tolled Germany, made it their bust
ness to exploit conditions here. were
relishingly purveyed by the German
press to the German people.
While the German government
sought to ALLEVIATE the loyalty and
allegiance of other peoples from
their governments, they endeavored
to render their own masses more
servile, submissive and content by
presenting as inferior the conditions
existing in democratic countries.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

were forced to use substitutes and
adulterated articles instead Of pure
food. Taking the facts embodied
in reports of Prussian state officials,
the "Zeitschrift fur Oeffentliche
Chemie" published in 1914 an
amazing account Of the methods of
food adulteration which prevailed
in Germany. According to this re-
port, artificial butter was increas-
ingly being used instead Of real
butter, even in the country; ben
zoic and sulphuric acids were used
as preservatives in margarine; flour
and bakery products were adulterat-
ed with sand, talcum and weed
seeds; imitation egg mixtures were
colored with coal tar products; !;
canned vegetables were colored
with salts Of copper; coffee was
adulterated with pulse or lupine
seeds; fruit jellies were found to be
entirely artificial; without regard
for human health, the most fragrant
adulteration Of candy was carried
on. The penalty for such adultera-
tions, so the report declared, s'has
not been clearly defined because
the law has not been properly ex-
planned" In fact, Germany never
had any effective food investiga-
tions or scandals.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

happiness and folksong? Germany
was pictured to American children
as the home of Santa Claus, of the
Christmas tree, Of marvellous me-
chanical toys.
Yet in this Germany Of alleged
happy homes many children found
death more alluring than life. In
Saxony there were eight child
suicides to every one in the United
States, and in Berlin fifteen to every
one in New York City. In the
United States registration area the
suicide rate for children from ten
to fourteen years Of age has been
0.55 per 100000 population; in
Bavaria it has been 1856. and in
Saxony 4.39. Bavaria has been less
under the influence of Prussia than
Saxony, where the working classes
are hard worked and underfed. In
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Cost of Living
Relatively High

Of course, one has heard a grea,
deal about the cheapness of food
in Germany; that for a little money
one can get a great deal more than
in the United States. In addition
to the cost of food, according to q
study of a given number of fanail-
les made by the German Imperial
Statistical Office during 1907-'08,
the average family expenditure
each year for clothing was $67.22,
for rent, $95.50; for heating and
lighting, $21.62, and for miscellane-
Gus expenses, $105.19. Bearing in
mind that the average yearly earn
ing of unskilled workmen was s31O
and of skilled workmen 1878, the
difference in cost of food between
Germany and the United States was
not relatively as great as it was
represented to be. An idea of how
the German workers food compared
with that of the workers in the
United States may be cleaned by a
comparison of the food consump-
ton of the average German work
man in 1907, as reported by the
German Imperial Statistical Office.
with what the average adult male,
according to the report of the
United States Bureau Of Labor,
consumed in 1903 in the United
States:
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
In some of these cities the cost
If caring for sick paupers in hos

In some of these cities the cost
Of caring for sick paupers in hos
pitals was not included. In Bavaria,
the richest agricultural state in the
German Empire, the number Of
paupers relieved, according to DR..
Zahn, had increased from 189.4S4
in 1900, to 23o,21s, in 1911. Even
at that the Bavarian statistical rec
ord was incomplete. Expenditures
for poor relief in Bavaria increased
from 9,442,955 marks, in 1897, to
17,460,000 marks, in 1911. In ten
years, from 1897 to 1896, about
$26,000,O00 was spent for poor re-
lief. That destitution was not con.
fined to the great cities was shown
in the annually increasing expendi-
lures for poor relief in two rural
districts alone:
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Death Rate Higher
Than in New York

The great increase in longevity in
Germany has long been one of the
chief arguments of propagandists
for German efficiency. But figures
show that the death rate in New
York City has decreased much more
rapidly than in Berlin. According
to the figures of Gustavus Myers, the
actual gain in longevity in Germany
for period of thirty years was only
1.6 years. Comparing the period
from 18S1-'92 with the four years
from 1908-'12 the decrease in the
death rate in New York was 1913
while the decrease in Berlin was only
27.8 per cent. In short, health is not
so we'll safeguarded in Germany as
in America.
One Of the other chief arguments
for German efficiency has been the
abolishment Of the unemployed class.
Figures show that the number cf
men out of work far exceeds the
available positions. Just before
the war there were I'll applicants
for every 100 jobs, according to the
figures of the employment bureaus
in one German state. Clearly this
understates the real situation since
many men undoubtedly sought in
vain for work without applying to
an agency.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Crime Increasing
Throughout Germany
But what are the facts?

1t may be assumed that the eff
cheney and integrity of govern
ment may be interpreted by the ab-
sence of crime and the moral stand
ard of the people. Crime has in
creased throughout the German EN-.
pire. According to data gathered
by DR.. Thomas Smith, there were
IN Germany in period of ten years
$50 convictions for murder, against
81 in England and Wales. From
1901 to 1910 about 178,0OO illegiti-
mate children were born each year,
and, according to German statistics,
25 per cent Of the children born in
Berlin are illegitimate. AS for the
superiority of Germany in pure
food, scientific Germany was the
original home of food adulteration.
While legitimate criticism was called
for by food adulteration in this
country, the United States was
never worse than the expert Ger
man adulterators and inventors OF
imitation foods. From the candy
sold to children to the coffee slipped
by those happy benefciaries of old
age pensions the rankest adultera-
! ton has prevailed for years. AS
for meat, dog slaughter houses have
been officially recognized, and in
Berlin before the war from 1900
to IA, 900 horses were butchered for
the markets.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Infant Mortality
Alarningly Great

Germany has claimed to be the
innovator of the movement to re-
duce infant mortality, to take care
Of poor mothers, to give babies and
children proper food and medical
attention-in fact, the whole "child
saving" system was claimed by the
exponents of Teuton Kultur. AS a
matter Of historical fact, this move
ment originated in France. before
the Revolution, in 1885, when the
Societe de Charlie was founded.
Milk stations for babies were estab.
l1shed in France quarter of a
century ago. Yet Germany has
advertised her krippen, milk sta
tions, clinics, maternity hospitals
and other alleged social reforms to
the degree that Socialist Bentall and
perhaps many others were inclined
to regard the possible imposition of
such wonderful government upon
ourselves with acquiescence. Ger
many has never advertised the facts
regarding infant mortality or child
suicides. In this alone is q damning
indictment Of the Prussian system.
According to official figures the
number Of deaths per hundred of
children under one year Of age in
the German Empire from 1910 to
1914 averaged II, against IL in
France and 1919 in England and
Wales. The infant death rate per
thousand in 1912, according to the
report Of the Prussian Medical De-
partment, Ministry Of the Interior
was: Berlin, 178; Danzic, 203;
Breslau. 203; Magdeburg, 2oz;
Posen, 212; Dusseldorf, 146, and
Hanover, 132. The death rate OF
children in the East Side of New
York and the Sums Of other Ameri-
can cities has been exploited 70,
their own purposes by various Amer.
ican radicals and Socialist reform.
ers, who at the same time praised
lsverything that WAS German, "A
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Pauperisrn Doubled
In Ten Years

Pauperism in any country is an
unfailing index to "the Just distri-
button of wealth" in that country.
While Germany spent untold sums
in advertising her model homes for
workingmen, her insurance schemes
and other alleged social reforms, she
was significantly reticent regarding
pauperism. Of course, if the pen
sion system of Germany was what
it was said to be there should have
been no such thing as pauperism.
In fact, it was claimed there were
no paupers in Germany.
DR.. Ffiederich Zahn, director of
the Bavarian Royal Statistical Office
at Munich, and the greatest author
ity on poor relief in Germany, read
a paper at an international conven-
ton, held in 1912, impressivefy
called "The Fifteenth International
Congress on Hygiene and Demog-
raphy." DR.. Zahn presented facts
and figures which proved that pau
perism, increasing year by year,
was general condition throughout
the German Empire. In Berlin, for
instance, the number of persons re-
ceiving poor relief had increased
from 31,358 in 1891 to 55,601 in
1909. From 1895 to 1909 between
5000 and 10000 persons were
given poor relief in Hamburg. In
Munich the number of paupers get
ting relief had more than doubled
in five years; the number who re-
ceived aims had increased from
II, 1873 in 1895 to 25,187 in 1909
although the city's population had
decreased less than two-thirds.
From 1905 to 1909 the poor relief
expenses increased almost one-third
in Frankfort-on-the- Main. In Nu-
remburg the number receiving aims
increased from 5000 in 1900 to a.
496 in 1908. In Dusseldorf the num-
Der of paupers relieved almost
doubled in ten years. In all of the
large German cities pauper burials
were frequent. While the German
military machine was in the making,
while German manufacture and
commerce expanded, while the
world was thrilled with clustering
boasts Of German achievements
stark destitution increased among
the masses throughout Germany
Public expenditures for paupert
and orphans Ia twenty-six Germa1
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
By Ralph M. Easley
~ u;,.ruam Erecutive Council Of the
National Ciac Federution--Dk-
rector of the League for
National Unity

OR nearly a quarter OF CEN
tury-despite the fact that
\ thousands. Of Germans fled
). nxher countries-the American
,.onle have been told that the Ger
IAN masses were we'll fed and
hanny. that from infancy to old age
thew were solicitously cared for by a
fatherly government, that workers
.n;oyed shorter hours and higher pay
.hsu those of other countries, that
they had picturesque homes, cheap
food in plenty. According to the re-
norts in Germany there was no pow
erty, slums did not exist, German
babies were provided with pasteur-
;sed milk and cared for in Nippen
and clinics, and in sere old age, in
usad of poverty or the almshouse,
the happy Germans enjoyed ease,
comfort and freedom from worry
through the marvellous German sys-
TEN of pensions.
In fact, so delightful were the
living conditions Of the masses of
German workers before the war, as
presented by German propagandists
and certain American sociological.
experts" that many people in this
country pined for the paradise pro-
yided by the Kaiser for his de-
voted subjects. Especially were So
cialist leaders, whose political phi
losophy came from Germany and
who opposed our going to war with
Germany, outspoken in the belief
that the German system was better
than our own. j. c. Bentall, former,
Socialist candidate for Governor of
Minnesota (recently found guilty by
jury in the Federal court of Min
neapolis Of violating the espionage
act and also under sentence for OBJ
structing the draft), declared in
effect in a public speech: "What if
the Germans come over and rule us?
What do we care who governs US
30 long as we are we'll fed and
hapuv?"
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Conditions Unknown
To Most Americans

The system which has worked out
IN Germany is what the German
autocracy by force of might would
impose upon the people of the world.
Should it be desired with out
stretched arms as blessing for all
mankind? The Allies have given
their answer, and America has given
her answer. Yet so long-continued
and persistent was the German prop
aganda, aided and abetted by such
writer's as Fred Howe and Morris
Hillquit, that many Americans are
still in ignorance of the actual facts
concerning conditions in Germany.
When they realize what actually
existed they will better understand
Why the peoples of the world must
resist the thing called Prussianism
with force to the utmost.
Facts concerning the social and
working conditions in Germany up
tothe outbreak Of the war have been
gathered for the League for Ma
tional Unity by Gustavus A. Myers,
the we'll known historian and re-
search writer These facts have
been assembled from official Ger
man documents and other authori-
tative sources. What do they re-
veal:
The annuity banks of Germany,
instead of benefting small farmers,
operate almost exclusively to the
advantage of Junker landlords. The
poor peasants are still paying off the
Ieudal impositions of five centuries
ago. Because they could not afforo
machinery, German farmers were
opliged to employ women and chis-
dren, who worked beside the oxen
ana the plough. Women in 1912
earned 38 to 48 cents a day and
children over IL years "a cents q
day.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Insurance Only
76 Cents a Week

The much praised imperial insur.
ancesystem gave to the aged the
munlficent sum Of 76 cents a week
@ the invalided and sick less. thar
y week and to widow 25 cents
: week-this in country where the
Yearly cost of barest subsistence
vas from $140 to $155.
Workers in Germany worked long
r than those in America, England
W France. The average yearly
sesning Of skilled workmen wa.
esfS, and unskilled 1910. The aver
se family expenditure, according
9 an investigation made by tht
herman Imperial Statistical Office
- $o8l.70 year. To make ends
mees women and children wer.
SDnged to work. They were EN-
ployed in the most strenuous trades
oe1ofe the war about 81, 900 womer
Wsre engaged in the metal industry
esrnlng an average Of 40 cents I
w They were employed in thu
s0& and salt mines. In the meta
aes they were subjected to ter
.'''c strain by having to lift heav!
haehinery.
& employment in trades for which
~ men were normally fit and un
1seding made many of thes'
3 n unit for motherhood. In
y rtality up to the beginning
. war Was higher ia German.
y country accepting Rus
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

AlSace-LOrralne, Where the PruS-
sian influence has made the least
impress, the suicide rate was only
OBS per 100000 population. or 0.30
more than that of the United States.
The suicide rate of adults in
many parts of Germany was un-
paralleled in other parts of the
world. It may be remarked that a
low general rate of suicides pre-
vailed in the Roman Catholic Sec
tions Of Westphalia, the Rhine
provinces and the Polish provinces
of Prussia, while in the stretches
from the North Sea along the Elbe
to Bohemia, which were most at
fected by the Prussian system,
high rate Of 30 to 35 per 100000
prevailed. During the five years
ended with 1913 the suicide rate
per 100000 in Berlin was 35.8.
In New York City, where suicides
are more especially marked among
the foreign population, the rate was
17.2, and in London IL. During
the same period the suicide rate per
100000 population in the Kingdom
of Saxony was 32.6, in the province
of Brandenburg, exclusive of Ber-
lin, 1871. In the Kingdom of Ba-
varia, which is largely Roman Cath
olic, the rate was 1862, and in Al
sace-Lorraine, which has resisted
Prussianization, only 1916.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Appalling Rate of
Child Suicide

And Of those who did survive an
appalling percentage was driven to
death by suicide. Perhaps there is
nothing so revealing Of the actual
conditions in Germany, no such
commentary on the government
which seeks to impose its will on
the world, as the death by their own
hand Of the little children Of Ger
many. !. Why did these children
|Aeek escape, by death from 4 lfs OF
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

consisted of hog meat, potatoes,
milk, pastry and bread. With an
average additional outlay of IL
cents a week for drinks and 10
cents for tobacco, the average an
nual expenditure per year for a
skilled workers family amounted
to $230.65.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12


died before they were one year of
age. Reviewing the infant death
rate in the German textile indus
trial districts, the report went on
to say. the reasons given for the
conditions were:
"First-The fact that wages are
so low that the wife is obliged to
go to the mill to help keep the
house going.
"Second-That prices of necessi-
ties are so high that sufficient
amount cannot be purchased, espe-
cially of meat, to keep the mother
in state of physical efficiency.
"Third-That a considerable num-
Der of the children are handed over
to the care of neighbors or older
children, and lose the close atten-
tion of the mother, who returns to
the factory as soon after confne-
ment as possible.
perhaps the principal reason has
been overlooked by the Germans
themselves. From the number OF
inquiries we made, 1t is safe to as
sumo that the average textile work
er's family is housed in two small
rooms, measuring twelve feet by
nine feet, in high building Of five
or six stories. 1t is the exception
rather than the rule for a worker
to have three of these rooms, unless
he has other members of the family
working; and the stuffiness of these
rooms can be better imagined than
described, when the family is all
present"
According to statistics prepared
by Breckh's, six-sevenths of the in
fants' deaths in Berlin were Of bot
tle-fed babies-this despite th'
vaunted use of pasteurized milk
The deaths of a majority Of thes,
infants, therefore, must be as
cribed to the physical condition o:
mothers who, to earn meagre liv
ing, were driven to drudgery, t,
hard labor in fields, mines, factorie
and shops. Because men wer'
needed for the army, before tn
war millions of women were con
demned to tasks for which only mel
were fitted. Overstrained, under
fed, their health destroyed, unabl
to nourish infants, they brough
into the world weaklings too physi
cally unfit to survive.
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

Reduced to the barest necessities,
tho German masses even at that
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

were between the ages Of twelve
and eighteen. In 1910, as stated,
179,584 illegitimate children were
born in the German Empire. Since
the beginning Of the war the Ger
man government following it's
policy of fostering the production
of "fodder for cannon"-has en-
couraged the propagation of male
children by establishing a pension
for all male infants born; children
born out Of wedlock have been Of
ficially legitimatized; womanhood
has been prostituted to the designs
Of imperial Germany in a manner
unsurpassed even in the days be-
fore Christianity dawned upon the
v,vo~1J
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

Just as children were driven to
suicide in Germany because Of the
intolerable conditions, so were
large proportion Of children driven
to crime. In 1908 1857 persons were
convicted of crimes causing death
of this number ITS were between.
twelve and eighteen. In the same
year, of 1852 persons convicted
of crimes against morality 1919
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

cities in 1910, according to Dr..
Zahn, were:
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12

lrue Record of Vaunted Social Teuton Efficiency Shown
IN Statistics of Misery and Crime-Workers Crowded. Un-
aerfed and Overdrven Babies Death Rate Hgh Aged
Made Outcasts-Whole Picture of Industrial Paradise Proves
Camoulage
New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
world.
Militaris1n's Chief
Support Is Hunger

1t has been said a hungry man
knows no conscience. Before the
war, while the land-owning and
manufacturing classes waxed in
ordinately rich, the masses of Ger
many suffered from actual hunger.
While Germany was increasing her
navy and building her costly war
machine, rents and the costs of liv-
ing went up year by year; the bar
rack tenements became more and
more overcrowded; foods that wers
mere necessaries in America be-
came luxuries to the German work
ers; the pinch of poverty became
more acute. The German govern
ment realized that it's subjects were
approaching uneasiness, if not &C.
tive protest. 1t realized that to
bring this hungry and at the same
time docile people to the savage
mood for war all that was needed
was the declaration that Germany
was attacked and that England
wickedly intended to deprive the
Germans of the. fruit of their in
dustry and thrift. It likewise held
out the promise of the fat lands Of
France, the markets Of Great Brit
ain, Of colonies beyond the seas.
Success in war meant money and
food.
The German Imperial Statistical
Office affords accurate information
as to the condition Of the German
workers stomach up to the begin
ming Of the war.
The German workers for many
years have used horse meat and
some dog meat. Beefsteak, veal
and chops were far above the slen-
der means of many. The average
German worHngman, according to
official German statistics, was able
| TO huy Aor his-3 family only 20 osuts