The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-03-07
ALLIES CAN WIN VAR
ONLY BY HOLDING on
That Is the Opinion of DR.. Massimo Pan
taieoni of the Italian Army, Who Has
Just Been Exchanged After 20
Months as Prisoner in
Austria Hungary.

Rome, March 7 Correspondence of the
Associated Press) THE allies can win
this war only by holding on, by the exer-
ton of economic pressure on the central
empires and by rigid economy at home, y
is the opinion OF DR.. Massimo Pantaleoni
of the Italian army, who has just been
exchanged after 20 months as prisoner
in Austria and Hungary. DIR. Pantaleoni,
although Italian by birth, has many
relatives in the United States.
"The secret of winning the war said
Dr. Pantaleoni, remains in the blockade
and in the allies at home exercising the
greatest economy, but so organizing that
economy in the way of limitation of con-
sumption of foods and fuels and clothes
that people will not be compelled to lose
several hours of their time each day
searching for coal, or bread, or such ar
ticles.
1T is like passing from darkness into
daylight on leaving Austria, where the
stores are empty of all useful articles,
cloth sells at about the equivalent OF S26
a ward, where leather shoes sell for 100
kronen the pair where there is no sugar
at all for sale, where the bread rate for
the civil population is two and half
ounces for each person per day, where
the fat ration is ne-quarter OF an ounce
and where potatoes sell for twenty cents
a pound instead of two cents pound
before the war.
In Austria mortality has increased |
very much since a year ago because of
poor or no nourishment, leading to rheu |
matism and dysentery, and when people |
die there are no collins in which to bury |
them. Instead their shrouds and good |
clothes are replaced by rags and in these
they are buried.
Living conditions have not been i'm
proved by the taking of Rumania.
while in Hungary attending Italian
prisoners, who had been sent as far away
Is possible from the lsonzo front so that
hey could not escape and 20 home, Ru
nanians told me civil conditions had
been such in Rumania that the fields had
lot been worked and therefore the crops
had been poor
AS regards the entrance Of the United
States into the war both Germans and
austrians said the effective result would
,e more in money and materials fur
lished than in fighting units, due TO diff
iculties OF troop transportation. They
Jay that it is hardly worth while at
empting to capture or destroy enemy
artillery because new cannon will be
from the United States.
"The Austrian people have been indif-l
erent about the war for long time
hey want peace, any kind of a peace,
nd the longer the war lasts the less
hey have to keep the war going. The
Germans are still possessed of the mono !
1ania of domination, of wishing TO grab |
II they see, to take, take, take; but
inc is sure to bring them to their knees, +
o cut down their fighting materials, 4
lille that of the allies keeps on grow I
~, and this is why | maintain that the .
lilies must win if they resist, if they {
Sert economic pressure on themselves,
ile refuse to patch up a peace.
THE Germans now are seriously afraid
the English and French, because they r
,alize their superiority in fighting ma
,rials.
"All that has been said about the ILL.,
eatment of the prisoners is true. They I
.e so poorly fed that if they fall i'll T.
ley are sure to die, as their bodies have D
, resisting power. Most of their i'll Il
,sses are in the intestines or of a bron o
nal nature leading to tuberculosis. i
heir food consists, in the camps, of soup v
ade of beets in the proportion of one {,
If pound a day for each man, with a
a potato and two ounces of h
eat once a week. In the hospital of
gmundsherberg, where / served, hos "
tai arranged for 1900 men, the death Il
II has risen from one man every two r.
US to three and four day. al
Prisoners put on government work II
st about two months. The phrase 'pris. ~
ers' step has passed into the language,
feebly do the gangs shuttle along,
thout power to lift their feet from n,
e ground Also, the Austrian soldiers ~
e very cruel, shooting or bayoneting
isoners for the slightest infraction OF
les" co