Evening star., 1918-06-26
BY DAVID LAWRENCE,

copyright, 1918. by u. Y. Evening Post Co }
! HOT SPRINGS, n. c.. June 25.-Life
| In an American internment camp
Tor this is the largest of them all,
| more than 1900 Germans being Sc
| questered here-is not what it is
| cracked up to be. Pictures that went
| forth months ago of Germans lolling
/ in splendid luxury gave an impress
sion OF exaggerated solicitude on the
| part of our government for the ev-
| eryday welfare of it's involuntary
| guests. They are being treated de-
Gently. and such luxury as they have
had was supplied by nature in a won
! derful mountain spot or by the skill
| Of their unemployed hands.
Both the scenic beauty and the lit
| tie playhouses they have fashioned,
however. are to end on July l, when
the government removes the Germans
! to Fort Oglethorpe and takes over the
! camp here for reconstruction hos
| pital. Subtracting the scenery and
the arbor houses the Germans have
built for themselves. nothing remains
| but monotonous Army barracks and
| a barbedwire fence. Still, if the
German government treats American
prisoners Of war or detained citizens
with equal consideration we shall not
| that the Germans are living in sum-
| mer hotel comfort is all wrong. They
| have been permitted recreation and
| occupation. for they would go crazy
i an opportunity to break the monotony
| of their confinement. that's all.
At Work and at Play.
spent some time observing the Ger
mans at work and play. and talked with
the men who have guarded them for
more than a year. who have censored
| their mail, and who have had the chance
| to get an intimate view of this odd
aggregation of enemies, whose counter
part three thousand miles away is fac
| ing American troops In the trenches. In
! this and the succeeding articles of this
4 series, l give not merely my own i'm
have made a study of the psychology of
their wards during the last twelve
months.
Ten Germans came down on the train
with me. Some were picked up in the
Philippines, others in the Canal Zone,
! some came from American ships. where
| they had quietly become assimilated
with other foreign-born In the crew:
some were merchants and one travel
| ing salesman, who could have no good
object in meandering from Argentina to
America. Four husky American guards
| in the immigration service Of the De-
partment of Labor had charge Of the
Germans. and from the moment the
train pulled out of Washington until it
reached it's destination they never had
| a chance. To have made the slightest
break would have brought very accu-
rate fire from the pocket artillery, which
the guards, some of them typical Caro-
lima mountaineers, would have sent in
their direction.
Ouietlv Admonished.
"My instructions" said J. Kemp Bart
lett. jr., OF Baltimore, well known
Princeton athlete of recent years and
the present director Of the Hot Springs
camp. ARE to bring ten Germans to Hot
Springs''-he spoke in n low voice to the
Germans AZ they stood in a row before
him OH entraininE-"and there's nothing
in the instructions which says the Ger
mans must. be alive when they reach
their destination. It's a lot easier to
take care of a dead German than a live
one. and the very first time anybody
tries anything my guards will shoot
Every one of the group took this
advice, more or less soberly but one,
a hatchet-nosed German, with pompa-
doured hair and a blonde moustache.
There was on his face the same kind
Of a leer which l imagine marked the
who have cold -bloodedly drowned
men, women and children in the life
boats of torpedoed ships. But the
whole crowd behaved very we'll as the
train would stop along the way: one
guard would get outside the car and
protect the exits on both sides, while
two others stayed inside. The Ger