The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-04-01
MAKE STARTLING DISCLOSURE
HoIIander Tells How Deported Bel
CLANS and French Prisoners OF
War Are Compelled to Work
in Munitions Factory
in Essen.
ey w. j. l. klEHL.

disclosure that some 4,OUU HOllanQerS
are working at Essen in the munitlon
and war material factories. Most or
these men get. there through the machl-
nations of what this escaped Hol-
lander calls "Seelenerkaufer"-
& Ossendegner of Rotterdam, who
seem to act as agents for supplying
Germany with greatly needed labor.
Eighty or ninety men day generally
find their way across the border by
means of their agents, lured by the
prospect of very high wages and good
food. What they find in reality and
how next to impossible it is made for
them to return to their own country
is thus told in the Hollander's words:
No Return Pass Given.
''When this firm of agents secured
my services they did not mention war
work." he said. 81 was given to under
stand that field labor and trade work
was required. Also was promised
that 1 could return any Saturday to
Holland to stay through Sunday. The
promised wages were high and food
was said to be plentiful. accepted,
my pass was ready in few moments,
but did not know that the signatures
and vises required for my return to
Holland had been omitted, as they al
ways are in the passes given by these
agents, no doubt because they know
perfectly well that after week in
| Germany no single Hollander would
ever think of returning there after his
weekend in Holland.
"Soon after my entrance upon Ger
man soil at Elten, where found sew
eral compatriots like myself, we were
! met by an agent from an 'arbeits bu-
| reau,' who secured our services for
f! shellmaking at Krupp's by telling US
| that food was good there and wages
1 very high. He said that in other
! branches of labor food was but indif-
Nrupp 5, SO We fr.~S enc ted6r & 4-IIillf
How good the food was there you can
/ judge of by the fact that my weight
was reduced by "a pounds while there.
For breakfast we received two
| slices of bread without any butter or
/ ANe "hoISNO4s VI ullnCA pOtdlO sup
that left us hungry an hour after
eating. Then in the evening again
two slices of bread like at breakfast.
| If the Hollander felt too Ill or feeble
to work. the Germans simply took away
his bed from under him to make him
get up. Oh, yes, there is doctor, but
| he always diagnoses the same. You
| can work-if you don't work you won't
| eat'-nicht arbeiten-nicth essen as
we used to put it.
"The laborers are housed by the 500
together in barracks, which are but
insufficiently waEmed and imperfectly
cleaned. Typhus claims many victims.
In the barracks where I was housed
| found four men lying dead of typhus
beside my crib one morning. After q
few days of this sort of thing it is not
to be wondered at that many Holland
ers try in every way to get back to
their country, although the vises on
| their passes are lacking.
IF they are captured they are
thrown into prison for fortnight on
bread and water. If they survive they
are then drafted back to Krupps, and
set to work again. Production is
pushed to the utmost. Numbers of SOL
diers are employed as a change from
the front, and these men are so afraid
of being again sent to, the front that
they would rather work themselves to
death at Krupp's.
Where Deported BeIgians Work.
"Deported Belgians and French pris-
oners of war also work at Krupp's.
Discipline is strictly enforced, and any
utterances of anti-German views are
at once punished.
II got the impression that Germany
flung itself like mad into munition
work as it's last card. But raw ma
terial Is getting scarce. especially cop
per. In Essen all copper faucets and
the like had already been replaced, by
iron ana tin. The general idea in Ger
many Is that the war can be prolonged |
at the utmost for another half year, SO |
they are employing their last forces
for supreme effort. $3.50.
Every evening at Krupp's alarms is
made-'Flieger Gemeldet' ,Iairplanes |
seported]. All lights are then. extin-
guished. This is done so, that we
should not know when flyers really
came to lombard the factories. No one |
is allowed to talk of the damage done I
by allied bombs, and the newspapers
are enjoined to keep. silence on these
matters. Still, / can say that some
damage has been done, although can
not say how much nor exactly where,
On the, other hand, stories likely to
stimulate the energy of the people are
eagerly promulgated, such as those Of
enormous submarines Of dreadnaught
type. of guns that can shoot 80 kilo-
meters that are soon to be used against
the allied armies