The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-12-06
with something of a splash.


ing to a clump of grass on the Swis.
oank, Savicki waited for the bullet,
ne was certain were coming. But
none came. Evidently the Boche hat
not heard him. Finally, he pulled
himself on to the land He was q
prisoner nomore.
by daylight he made a little Swiss
village in which he met an old man
who dried his clothes before a fire
place and gave him breakfast, The
town received him graciously and
bought him ticket to Berne. AT
Bernie the Red Cross fitted him out in
new uniform, and the American
colony outdid itself in affording en-
tertainment worthy Of an American
ex-prisoner from Germany.
His trip through the prison camrs.
and especially his Is days on the farm
gave Savicki store OF information ON
now the Germans themselves are far
ing. Soldiers and civilians alike are
stolld, unsmiling and miserable. They
nave very little to eat and they seem
tc have little interest in who wins the
war so long as it is soon ended.
German soldiers actually on the
line eat fairly WE'LL" said Savicki.
They all have bread. meat once a
day marmalade, coffee substitute and
tobacco made of leaves. They do not
have all they want, but they have
enough to keep them in good health
The soldiers at the depots 20 or 20
miles behind the line, however. do not
get the same ration. They have meat
only two or three times a week, and
they subsist mostly on war bread and
vegetables grown BY themselves,
French civilians forced to work in
their gardens, and prisoners.
"ln Germany itself there is little
food of any kind. During the Is days
| worked on the farm | ate at the
same table with the old farmer and
his wife. They had chickens and
cows but only rarely did they have
milk or eggs themselves, and never
did they give me more than a boiled
potato in hot water With my box
from the Red Cross had a far better
meal than they.
Every week German soldiers same
to the farm with wagon and took off
the weeks accumulation of eggs and
the weekly harvest Of potatoes. Once
they took, over the farmers protests,
two live chickens. They had a book
with them which apparently contained
an inventory of what he had on the
farm. -
Once they were not satisfied with
what he gave -thesn-s & 1-Ahap- -saarehed-
the premises. For what they took
they gave him a receipt, and l think
the farmer exchanged this receipt
for German paper money, which will
be redeemable after the war in silver.
There is no metal money in Germany
now.
After | had been on the farm a
week the farmers son arrived from
the front for furlough. AS soon as
he arrived he took off his uniform and
all his equipment and sent it back to
the front. This included his shoes.
There is a shortage of all sorts of
clothing and equipment at the front,
he told me. and permissionaires have
to turn back all their government is
sue upon starting their leave
"Of all the persons | met in Ger
many, the son was the only one who
had kind word for me. He gave me
apples occasionally and told his father
not to be too hard on me.
America, the son told me, had
turned the scales of the war, and
Germany had no hope. He complained
of shortages of everything at the
front. He believed, however that the
United States was lighting for the
money she would make out of it, and
he believed that the American soldiers
were fighting because they We're so
highly paid.
81 heard many Germans condemn
ing Hindenburg. Some of them said
that if he were dead the war would be
over and everything would be all
right.
81 saw only two automobiles all the
time I was in Germany. They were
ammunition trucks at the front Near
ly all of the Boche transport is by
horse-drawn vehicles. There are
large numbers of horses behind the
front. They are in fair condition.
After got away from the front | did
not even see many horses. On the
farms oxen and milch cows are used
for hauling"