New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-02
MuddySoup
and Other
Trifles

~ trust by men who have survives
the horrors of the German nr,,
on camps. Hoping to counterfeit an IN.
cipient belief in German need, and n
stem any possible rising tide of sym.
pathy among his countrymen, Charles
Tardieu, in Figaro" gives first-bana
account of the German spirit as he founa
it during his experience as a prisoner
He declares:
at is difficult to imagine fortunes tbs.
one has not endured. Men who for month,
have hurled their anguish against TIA
triple barbed wire defences around the
Boche's camp; men who day after dsv
have rubbed elbows with Kultur, these ara
the men who realize the real meaning Of
the word humiliation, who have learned ps.
thence. When these men, given back to
their mother country, read in French papers
the sinister appeal Of stomachs in distress
from Austrian men of letters, the attempts
of Prussian houses to renew friendly rela-
lions with our firms, the willy efforts Of the
hypocritical government of Ebert and
Scheidemann to deceive French opinion as
sources, finally, when they read that in car
tain parts of France there is a tendency
toward generosity and credulity, they are
overcome with Sadness
According to this writer the German
spirit is composed wholly of hypocrisy,
brutality, servility and insane conceit
He comments upon the ease with which
he finds it possible to detest the Boches.
and asserts that if the grievances Of
prisoners returning from Germany could
be compiled the result would be an
extraordinary psychological document
"The attitude of German officers" be
says, "is marked by the tranquil cyni-
cism of a people sure Of victory and al
ready established in the enemy's coun-
try. Your attack was we'll planned
German captain said to me one day, with
a supercilious air, but it could not have
succeeded and you will never succeed"
Only One
Meal
When he was captured NJ. Tardieus
wallet and card case, his camera and
everything else that seemed good booty
were taken from him. The account pro-
ceeds:
'After week of famine in a cell st the
ciadel of Laon, we were huddled into
fourth class compartment, in which for
three days and three nights we rolled tow
Al. IL
days we had only one meal. consisting Of
soup msde of dirty water and black looking
tspioca."
When the camp was finally reached the
prisoners hoped to satisfy their hunger.
Luxurious menus had been announced
by those in command. But instead thera
were only more muddy soup, carrots that
in France would have been fed to the
pigs, disgusting goulash and hunks Of
green bread in the last stages of decay.
awe received $50 grammes of heavy IN
digestible bread and potatoes day, and
have seen young comrades of mine, white
with hunger, looking about for some shady
spot where they might hide their distress.
Men died like flies and were buried by the
Dozen"
The officers lost no opportunity to
lose or steal their prisoners baggage.
The writer notes an instance:
zone day at inspection it was announced
that our helmets were spoils of war and
that we must give them up. Ten minutes
later our helmets were smashed by our own
men and the German lieutenant colonel was
having an attack of apoplexy.
1.-THE next morning we read in the Co.
logne and Frankfort papers about a sale Of
French helmets taken at the front The
prices announced were exorbitant. The pro-
ceeds of the sale were to be devoted to
the cigar fund for German soldiers in the