The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-08-26

The following is a statement by F..
G. Walcott, who served as an assist
ant to Mr. Hoover during the time
America was doing all that was pos
sible to feed the starving millions OF
Belgium and Poland and northern
France. In this work he was brought
in direct contact with German military
officials, and saw the conditions which
the German invasion had created
among the civilian population:
/ went to Poland to learn the facts
concerning the remnant Of a people
that had been decimated by war. The
country had been twice devastated.
First the Russian army swept through
1t and then the Germans. Along the
roadside from Warsaw to Pinsk the
present firing line, 23O miles, nearly
half million people had died of hum
ger and cold. The way was strewn
with their bones picked clean by the
crows. With their usual thrift, the i
Germans were collecting the larger
bones to be milled into fertilizer, but
finger and toe bones lay on the ground
with the Undiscovered and rain-s0aked
clothing
Wicker baskets were scattered along
the way-the basket in which the baby |
swings from the rafter in every penst /
ant home. Every mile there were
scores Of them, each one telling I
death. started to count, but after
little had to give 1t up, there were
80 many
That is the desolation one saw along Il
the great road from Warsaw to Pinsk,
mile after mile, more than two hum
dred miles. They told me a million +
people were made homeless in six
weeks OF the German drive in August
and September, 1916 They told me
four hundred thousand died on the
way. The rest, scarcely half alive,
got through with the Russian army.
Many of those have been sent to ST.
,eria; 1t Is these people whom the
committee is trying to re-
ieve
In the refugee camps, 100000 sur
'ivors Of the flight were gathered by
he Germans, members Of broken fam
lies. They were lodged in jerry-built
arracks. scarcely waterproof, .un- y
Ighted, unwarmed In the dead OF WIN
er. Their clothes, where the buttons
we're lost. were sewed on. There were h
O cenveniencee, they had not even TN
cen able to wash for weeks Filth II
nd infection from vermins were lb
They were famished, their !,
ally ration cup OF soup and piece
bread as big as my list. -
In Warsaw, which had not been de- "
.royed, city of one million inhab-
ants one of the most prosperous cit pl
8 of Europe before the war, the d,
reefs were lined with people in the u
angs of starvation. Famished and
they squatted there, with =
eir elbows on their knees or lean ~
G against the buildings, too feeble nj
lift hand for bit Of money or SO
orsel Of bread If one offered it, per :,
hing OF hunger and cold. Charity re
d what it could The rich gave all :.
at they had, the poor shared their
st crust. Hundreds Of thousands -
ere perishing. Day and night the u
ctures is before my eyes-a people
arvirg, nation dying. re
The above statement by Mr.. Wal p
tt is terrible arraignment Of the no
IN, but no more terrible than. he thf
serves. What has happened in
land, In Belgium, in northern Nj
ance and every other country that tri
8 been blighted by the Huns pres Inc
&c would happen in America should co,
J allies, by any chance, fail to win !,
- .,n.r;osn n,an 10 starv,ne its
death Of American women and chill
N. Either the Hun or humanity lad
st perish. by
ty
Iced BY GERMAN HElME7 DIRE