Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-07
MUST
HOLD ON TO
WIN THE WAR
Such is Opinion OF Italian
Who Has Been German
Prisoner.

Rome, March 1.-(Correspondence
OF the Associated Press)-The Aiii IS
"a; win this war only by holding o.,
by the exertion Of economic pressure
on the Central empires and by rigid
economy at home" in the opinion of
army. who has just been exchanged
after tweity months as a prisoner in
Austria. and Hungary. DIR. Pan
taleoni, although Italian by birth has
many relatives in the United States.
The secret Of winning the war;"
said DR.. Pantaleoni, remains in the
blockade n in the allies at home
exercising the greatest economy but
SO organizing that economy in the way
of limitation of consumption of foods
and fuels n clothes that people will
OF their time each day searching for
coal, or bread, or such articles.
ut is like passing from darkness in
to. daylight on leaving Austria, where
the stores are empty ".of all useful
articles. cloth sells at about the
equivalent of s26 a yard, where leath-
er shoes sell for 100 kronen the pair,
where there Is no sugar at all for sale,
where the bread rate for the civil
population is two and a half ounces
for each person per day, where the
fat ration is one quarter of an ounce
and where potatoes sell for twenty
pound before the war.
I'm Austria mortality has increased
very much since a 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
by rags and in. these they. are. buried.
:. Living conditions have not been
while in Hungary attending
Italian prisoners, who had been sent
as far away as possible from the
1sonzo front So that they could not
escape and go home. Rumanians told
me civil conditions had been such in
Rumania that the fields had not been
worked and therefore the crops had
been poor.
~"As'regard the entrance. Of the
United States into the both Ger
mans. and .Austrians said the effective
result. would be more in. money and
materials furnished than in fighting
units. due to difficulties of troop trans
portation. They a that it Is hardly
worth while attempting to capture or
destroy enemy artillery because new
cannon will be forthcoming from the
United States.
The Austrian people have been in
time. They want peace. any kind of a
peace, and h longer the var lasts
the less they have to keep the. war
going. ! The Germans are still pos
.sessed of the nonomania of domina-
ton, of Wishing to grab all they see.
to take. take, take; but time is sure to
bring. them .toatheir knees, to cut down
their lighting materials. while that. of
the Allies keeps o~nIgrowing. and this
win if they resist, If they exert eco
monte pressure on themselves, and re-
fuse to patch mp a peace. ~
u, THE Germans. now are seriously
afraid of the English and French. be-
cause hey@l'eal ize their superiority in
ateriala H. T. 4 !:
All, What has bsen sid about the
ill-treatment5 Of the prisoners:its true
They are so poorly fed that II they
fall; i'll they are sure to die, as their
bodies have nc resisting power. Most
of their illnesses; are in the intestins
or of a bronchial nature leading to
tuberculosis. Their food consists In
the camps, of soup made Of beets in
the proportion Of one-half pound a
day for each nan with sometimes a
potato and W ounces of. meat once a
week. In the hospital. Of Sig
mundsherberg where I served, a
hospital arranged for 5000 men, the
death roll has risen from one man
every W days to three and four a
day.. r %
"Prisoners put on governmentawork
last about two months. The phrase
prisoners step has passed into the
so feebly do the gangs
along. without power to lift
their feet from the ground. Also. the.
Austrian soldiers are very il cruel,
shooting or hayoneting prisoners for
slightest ihfraction of rules