The Washington herald., 1918-04-14
nal News OF CAPITAL Secret and FruternQl Societies

!
poverty Of nourishment that causes
the iliness. The only cure 10 sun,cisnt
amount of calories. In the Saxon
Erzgebirge, where I,too caloric
units are distributed daily, there
are no cases Of ocdema- In the
Germsn-Bohemia border territory
q, 900 cases of ocdema were OBJ
served last summer. Of which about
1000 were mortal. In November
there were again nifty fatal cases of
ocdema. The remedy proposed is to
bring up the daily amount Of cal
ories to 1,200-l.40o. The authori-
ties see the need for Increasing ra-
tions, but to do 90 IL impossible
Ocdema leads not only to skin dis
ease, but also to tuberculosis. What
is to come to German Bohemia!
Death on the battlefield and resti-
lence at homer
One result of the low oficial food
rations has been the buying by cor
porations and factories of extra
food, at illegal prices above the nx-
ed maximum. for distribution to
their employees in order to maintain
their working efhciency. This IL
licit trade has spread so that hun
dreds of thousands IL. not millions
Of people throughout Germany are
involved. and the whole food dis
tribution Of the Empire has been
thrown into confusion. The rations
are fixed on the available supply
and II by illegal purchases some
people get more than their ration.
it means others must get less.
On the other hand, the government
has been warned that IL the illegal
additional supplies are suddenly cut
on there will be trouble among the
workmen. Steps have been taken al
ready to stop Illicit feod trade in the
Rhenish- -westphalian industrial dis
trict, and these. the government is in
formed In a memorial. will result in
practical starvation for the heavy
workers. 1t is indisputable that the
smelters and miners cannot possibly
exist on the general rations. The man
agement OF the works perceived this
and everyone now knows that the buy
ers of the large works used to obtain
food by illegal means for distribution
to the workers. This Is now stopped
But unfortunately the government
has done nothing TO replace this food
hc AOc1 e1ppitN VIC NOAhAheht -
not sufficient for workers in heavy
industries and SO starvation in a lit
eral sense is drawing near. The un-
rest in the industrial districts is there
by increased and in certain works
spontaneous strikes have occurred in
dependent Of the Berlin movement. A
sufficient supply for the workers rs
the first necessity for holding out II
it was possible to procure food Illegally
the food is there and the government
must get hold OF it. IL it comes to the
worst the reserve potatoes must be
distributed. The government must
take speedy steps for there is not a
minute to lose"
That the highest authorities realize
the force OF this argument is shown
by the mild attitude taken by the
food controller. Herr van Waldow, in
a secret meeting OF the War Food
Board at which representatives Of the
large firms that had thus Illegally pur-
chased food were present These firms
not only drove up food prices by COM
petition and purchased all goods far
above the maximum prices. but they
also sold the surreptitious food 10
their employees at still higher prices.
Won waldow, in public, had stated
that all such offenses would be ruth
lessly punished
At the private meeting he asked
the great firms to submit to him
lists of all the Illegal food contracts
they had made. These contracts, he
said. can be carried out. and no
prosecutions will follow. but no new
ones are TO be concluded. and Won
Wsldow promised that the war food
board will in future itself procure
the needed extra food and allot II
to the firms This promise means