The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-08

Methods-Prison Camps to Be OBJ
ject Lesson to Enemy in Humane
Treatment.
Whatever fate awaits our soldiers
who fall prisoners to the Germans;
whatever hardships and tortures Karls-
ruhe or the mines of Rheinhausen and
Ewald have in store for them, a fact
with which Fritz may we'll console
himself is the comparative considera-
ton with which the American army
will treat him when he greets US with
a "kamerad."
While the American scheme for han
ding prisoners of war is still in the
embryo, it may be said to be one of
the best that has yet been devised. For
months, American army men have been
visiting immense prison colonies in
Great Britain and throughout France.
They studied the systems in use in
both countries, and while they have
found no pronounced defects in the
British system it is undoubtedly the
French plan which they will follow
closest in preparing the American
camps. This, it is explained, is quite
natural, as the American government
will be dependent on the French for
location of the collecting stations, dis
tributing centers and the final quarters
for the barracks. The French have
three large collecting stations in the
infnriOr IF &c moro fhOn lilyn1u thot
the American forces will be allotted
one of these stations for its wal pris-
Oners until our own are completed and
ready for use.
A Great Experiment.
The handling of military prisoners
in France has been a gigantic expert
ment in sociology. For the past three
years the French government has been
conducting prison camps according to
the newest formulate of group alimen-
tation it treats its prisoners somewhat
after the manner of refugees, a popu-
lation made homeless and hungry by
some disaster. This has been repeated
over and over again by every one who
has come to France since the out
break of the war. But it cannot be
said too often. l have seen during the
early days of the war huge concentra-
ton camps of homeless Belgians on
the Dutch border. AS the war pro-
crossed l made visits to neutral intern
ment camps and saw the living condi-
tons of Russian, Austrian and Ger
man soldiers. From what I have seen
of French military prison methods |
can say that in humaneness of treat
ment, the good quality of food and the
liberty of movement allowed both Of
ficers and men no other nation, bellig-
erent or neutral, which has cared for
great masses of people during this war
has %equalled the generosity of France.
"We Americans have had a great
deal of experience in sociology-more,
perhaps, than any other nation in the
world. We should find it interesting
work, applying u vast knowledge and
experience to a new and unique phase
of social science" said a high army of
fetal who has made a thorough study
of prison camp methods in Europe.
He spoke of the handling of war pris-
oners as being a real humane problem,
and while emphasizing that a war pris-
Oners' camp was not a picnic ground
or a health resort, it was at the same
time not a black hole for the breeding
of diseases and the starving and tor
turing of human beings, as seemed to
be the Prussian idea. / asked him
whether he thought reprisals to be a
satisfactory means of insuring better
treatment for prisoners in Germany,
and he answered quickly that Ameri-
ca would not and cannot enter into
competition with medieval tryannism.
Germans Barbarous.
"French captives in Germany have
endured tremendous suffering, have
died of tuberculosis and skin diseases
and of just plain starvation; the world
knows and will long remember the
story of that martyrdom. Yet despite
such intolerable sufferings of its men
and the bitter insults and offensive
treatment with which they were
coupled, the French government policy
has not been one of reprisal or imita-
ton of German method. German
pamphleteers were busy several months
g informing the neutrals and their
own populations of the terrible hard
ships Of German and Austrian prison
ers in France and Great Britain.
Switzerland sent investigators and OBJ
servers to the French camps and they
came home, not merely with reports OF
their observations but filled with en-
thusiasm for the system Of treatment,
the food, sanitary sleeping and livina
quarters, hours of labor and Opportuni'
ties for recreation. The men who have
found shelter in French camps are
quite contented. Aside from the opin-
ion of the neutral observers, the tes-
timony of the prisoners themselves is
the best refutation of Germany's allie
cations. No prisoner has yet been
found who complained.