The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-03-27

camps with hearts as hungry TO
home as yours.
"You have suffered in confinement
as who would not? There wer,
many discomforts, irritations, ant
understanding Your situation
has been difficult one. Our owl
has been desperate. Our country
blockaded, our civil population and
army suffering from want of proper
and sufficient food and materials, the
enormous demands made upon our
harassed land from every side-these
and many other Affections made it
impossible to do all that we should
have liked to -. Under the circum-
stances we did our best to lessen the
hardships of ycur Let, to insure your
comfort, to provide you with past
time, employment, mental and bodily
recreation. 1t is not likely that you
will ever know how difficult our cir
cumstances have BEEN"
With "square-head" clumsiness the
authorities go on to admit that Ger
rors have been committed, and that
there have been hardships for which
the former system was to blame"
There have been wrongs and evils
on both Sides" it is touchingly con-
fessed, and eve hope that you will
always think of that-and be just"
To proceed:
"You entered the old Empire of
Germany; you leave the new Repub-
hc-the newest, and, as we hope to
make it, the freest land in the world.
"Once the barriers of artificial
hatred and misunderstanding have
fallen, we hope that you will learn
to know, in happier times, these
grander features Of the land whose
unwilling guests you have been. A
barbed-wire enclosure is not the prop
er point of view from which to sur
vey or judge a great nation.
SThe war has blinded all nations.
But if true and just peace will re-
suit in opening the eyes of the peo-
Piles to the fact that their interests
are common, this war will not have
been fought in vain. If the peoples
at last realize that it is not each
other who are their enemies, but the
ruthless forces of Imperialism and
capitalism, of militarism of all sorts,
of jingo journalism that sows false
hood, hatred and suspicion, then
peace will not be established IN vain.
We hope that every one of you will
go home carrying message of good
will, of Cancellation, of enlightment. "
All that the Westminster Gazette
offers in reply to this whining plea
is the statement of a British soldier
who was captured on the A1sne III
September, 1914, and was repatrlat-
ed early in the present year. This
former prisoner is quoted as saying:
cat the Belgian station to which
we we're first taken we had to run
the gauntlet of German brutes. They
let the French go by, but when the
English passed on to the platform
thew were slashed at with Jumps OF
iron. sticks, and twisted ropes. L
was struck twice on the head with a
lump of iron, and for two hours the
train had to be delayed while the doc
tor patched up our wounds. Many
mems backs were almost broken by
being beaten with the buckle-ends OF
belts. Finally, the doctor had to
draw his revolver to keep the Ger
man soldiers away from US.
"Later we were taken to the Rus
sian front, where we had to bury the
dead and work in the second and
third line of trenches. Our food was
terrible-only two meals day. We
all slept in large marquee, and only
one or two had blanket. The tenn
perature was thirty-three degrees be-
low zero, and we lay on wire-nettlng:
placed over the snow and ice. Ii
it hadn't been for the skin coats our
people sent out. we shouldn't have
lived a night through.
"Our worst experience was at Lam
sdorff Lager, in German Poland:
There conditions were terrible. l
saw $50 Roumanians drop dead
through starvation in one day. Their
legs were no thicker than my wrist.
Every fortnight they used to white
wash US all over with a powder which
took off the hair from our BODIES:
They said it would keep US free OF
lice"