The Washington herald., 1918-08-25
By JOHN l. BALDERsToN.

ny SOnN
'ooO'nsAt i''. syDtie:,.9 2 e: Mcclure Newspaper
London. July s5.-The black ravens
are gathering above imperial Ger
many. Her failure to destroy the
: allied armies in the field has by now
become evident to every intelligent
subject of the Kaiser; with the loss
Of her military hopes. she sees her
armies compelled to struggle on
against the gathering millions Of
eessful defensive in the field, Ger
mans are beginning to doubt whether
the Fatherland can hold out in
definitely against the privations which
are increasing this summer beyond
all expectations.
Information placed at my disposal
by official quarters here shows that
the food situation at present is more
serious than ever before, and getting
worse. while the prospects for the
new harvests are very bad, and hope
OF getting supplies from the Ukraine
and Rumania in suficient quantity
70 still the gnawing pangs Of the Ger
man stomach has been abandoned.
Rations in Germany are shorter
than ever before, and there is evi-
dence that serious inroads have al
ready been made on the reserves of
food intended to meet a possible
failure Of the harvest. or a late har-
vest The harvest will be both late
and poor. On top OF all her other
troubles has come the complete coll
lapse of the food supply in Austria,
Il
either to allow Austria more than her
share Of what can be extorted from
the occupied territories, or to give up
more food from her own scanty re-
serves.
Less Flour and Meat.
Grave discomfort has been aroused
BY the reduction in Germany Of the
flour ration. On June Is this was cut
down from seven ounces to five and
a half ounces weekly, and reports
measure have now been placed In my
hands- The meat problem Is worse
than ever, and no extra meat can be
allowed the hungry German to COM
psnsate for the loss Of bread. The
meat ration Of half . pound q week
remains nominally IN force, but there
Is hardly q town where more than
SIX ounces II distributed, and IN many
places Il has fallen to five. The po-
tafo has again. however, come to
Germany's rescue; seven pounds q
week are still doled out, although
there are continual reports. which
cause great alarm, that this amount
WI have to be cut down.
Herds have been so thinned out,
and the inability to get fodder has
so affected the cattle that remain.
that until both cattle and fodder
can be freely imported from outside
there is little or no chance Of an
Improvement in the German meat
supply. For the same reasons. milk
ismore scarce, ard butter and auf-
NAL fat moro dif,cult to obtain: in
some eomm2nitISs in the Sieburg
district. which includes big amIriu-
nftion works, the fat ratiun has
been reduced to just over half an
ounce per week.
Direct personal evidence of the
results Of these things on the peo-
pls has been put before me. THE
unanimous verdict Of q large num-
bef Of Witnesses" states an Official
ing evidence of a general progress
80 aGNgAA0A 8SAOh NV E&AoAAh8
food conditions. especially in the cit
les and Industrial distriets."
= Many Robberies.
. am able TO give Q few illuminate
ilfs prrsonal instances A neutral
dfpiomatist, who left Berlin recent
". said that things could not possi-
biz be worse. and that the German
nstion s.rapidiy going to the dogs.
physir-nv and morally. The on
cie - dole classes. he said, are
81 to be pitied- The women OF
10 poorer classes he described as
looking like ravenous beasts. and
he added that any well-dressed per-
son IN the streets OF Berlin is likely
{ ODE attacked. The number Of
robberies IN The towns fs enormous.
and the eathor.ties seem unable to
dsal with them. In the block OF