Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-09
ZRLlN'S HUNGER
NEARING LIMIT
Potato Ration Cut Again
and Meatless Weeks
Are Coming
ALL NATION GRUMBLING
Incapable Officials and Greedy
Agrarians Blamed by
Capitals Press
ALL NATION CRUMBLINC
By GEORGE RENwICK
ypeciaI Cable to Evening Public Ledger

ooDyrioht, 1918, By Ne,D York Times Co.
Amsterdam. July Q.
Berlin Is grumbling hungrily. Only
short week ago her potato ration was
reduced from seven pounds per head to
three. Now 1t has been further cut down
to one pound. About one pound of other
veeetables will be distributed to COM
pensate for the missing six pounds of
potatoes.
The food dictator has told the Reichs-
tag that the meat supplies are SO small
that meatless weeks will be introduced.
These will most likely begin on August
I and last until the end of October.
The Reichstag debate on food condi-
ttons contained much that is interesting,
Food Dictator Waldow declared that
Germany and Austria Hungary were to
be put under a strict system of super
Vision. The harvest. he declared would
not fulfil the anticipations of a few
months ago, and the crops would be be-
low average.
Oppose Food UnioL
Deputy Matzinger Center member,
objected to the food union with Austria
Hungary. That would anger the people,
he said, for 1t meant giving German
supplies to Austria.
Herr Wells. Socialist, said
1t would appear that the Government
wishes to know the extreme limits of
the peoples endurance. That limit will
soon be reached, for a further worsening
OF food conditions is unbearable. OF the
misery prevailing among the masses,
Government circles have no notion. The
speech of the Kaiser at Aix-le- -Chapelle,
where his Majesty joyfully announced
the arrival of great supplies from
Ukraine, shows how little he knows
about the real state of affairs. In Ber-
lin unemployment is increasing and the
coal supply arrangements for the COM
ing winter leave much to be disregard
ed."
The speaker referred to a case in
which army authorities allowed 5000
pigs to die from a lack of fodder Ber-
lin authorities had previously offered
to buy a proportion of these animals,
but the army authorities refused the
o6er on the ground that the people had
grumbled about high prices Of pork, so
the pigs were allowed to perish.
Every day the war lasts" said the
speaker, removes us by months from
the time at which the people will have
eufIlcient food. Therefore the shortening
Of the war would be of a greater eco
nosnic gain than the conquest of
province"
It is always dangerous to draw a
conclusion from food conditions, as those
wary greatly in short. periods, but there
can be no doubt that bad and INSULT
Client food contributes lately a great
deal to that spirit Of fatalism and
pSssimism to which several prominent
German politicians recently referred
wArningly. 1t also helps to bring on
that time to which ex-Ambassador
Gerard has referred in his latest book,
when the nerves of Germany will break.
Capital Hardest Hit
The Berlin press is naturally very
angry that the capital always feels the
seyerest pinch in the food scarcity. Only
in q very few places has the potato ra-
tion been reduced, and nowhere to such
an extent.
There are ample supplies of pota-
toes in the country" says Norwaerts
angrily, "but to Berlin the damned, of
course no supplies have been coming for
q fortnight"
The Socialist organ blames the in
capable officials of the food department
fer that. as we'll as the greedy agrarians
who, for political reasons as we'll as
for their own pockets, consider only the
farming interests. With such lost po-
lltical souls as the Berlin workmen they
can have nothing to do. and the OFF,
cials are powerless to bring pressure
to bear on these strong -willed agrarians
That Berlin suffers worse than the
rest of the country is shown by state
ment in the Vossiche Zeitung's article
on the beginning of the school summer
holidays. The schools were officially
closed on Friday. but it says that most
Of the children had left them long be-
fore, THE food conditions in the capi-
tai" It says, were such that no teacher
could really insist on scholars remain
Z ing in Berlin If they had an opportunity
to 60 to the country, where conditions
ware better"