The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-04-15
Bread, Bread and POSTUM
mas Head" Angry Crowd
Cries at The Hague
BURDEN PLACED
ON GOVERNMENT
People See Germany's Hand in Failure
to Accept Offer Of Allies Number OF
Wounded.

Wounded.
THE HAGUE, April 10" Bread,
bread. and Posthuma S head was the
angry cry Of the populace, men, wom
en-. and children, Friday night, when
The Hague was the scene of food riots
which continued till late hour
II should be pointed out that anger
is directed against the government,
and especially against Minister of Ag-
riculturc Posthuma, who is hated by
the lower classes. The crowds went
from street to street breaking shop
windows and plundering shops,
/ 4 number Of people were killed and
several policemen were wounded, and
the crowd got much out of hand
that cavalry was called out before or
der could be restored. Many shots
were fred and the police charged with
drawn swords, a thing unheard of in
4 Holland, for i'll this respect the Dutch
are different from the Germans,
Although bread shops were the first
to suffer. many other shops were dam
aged There were no demonstrations
in front of the legations of the allied
governments, although the British lega-
tion telephoned TO the police for q
guard owing to the dense crowd IN
Carrow street where the legation Is
situated Owing to the tone or the
people at present and the difficulty oven
German negotiations, anything the al
lied governments do or state as their
intention of doing win have an espe
ciallv advantageous effect on then
cause, and the fact that the people arc
angry at the government for not fore
seeing the food difficulties does not
mean that the allied government 5 gen
erous acts Will not be appreciated.
The fact that the meat ration was
reduced To- half a pound a week sud
denly and without warning and thai
the bread ration was reduced at tn,
samc time to a quantity even less thai
the bread ration OF Belgium and Ger
| many has not served to put the peopl,
in a good temper. The question of al
tver-increasing lack of fodder for cat
t tie has been under discussion for ON,
5 year and became really acute last sum
) mer.
Why it may well be asked, have no
I, rcfrlgeratons been provided to Stor
frozen meat instead of sending cattl
to the oyereager Teuton neighboi
5 Doubtless the agrarians have enriche,
}. themselves, but the people are nov
, hungry.
> Another question asked is why tn
I government delays about sending 70
the grain put at its disposal by Amer
> lea. 1t is not an cxaggeration to stat
! that people with ample means now fin
!, it difficult to get sufficient food. Dun
+. ing the morning a bulletin was re
ceived from Washington to the cffec
q that the allied governments had agree
2 TO permit three Dutch ships to leav
; immediately for Holland with grain 70
3 the Dutch who are starving. This a,
IL ton is absolutely essential and come
g, i'll the nick of time III view of the st
i llousness of the food riots.
d The action of the allies shows tn
s people that there need be no starvs
ton in Holland through any fault q
l. the allies, and that the suffering of tn
q Dutch people is ehargcable to the Ger
u man government alone AS alread
"a known, the allies have given assurance
'e that the ships will be allowed to IL
d turn, but il is evident that the Ge
mans have not given similar assurance
that the ships will not be torpedoed.