The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-03-29
cial lives. They are fighting also the spirit
of revolt - if not revolution which is too
widespread to be comfortable"
MRS. PADEREWSKI DESCRIBES
AWFUL CONDITIONS IN POLAND

MRS. PADEREWSKI DESCRIBES
| AWFUL CONDITIONS IN POLAND
All the world is familiar with the fact
that, few weeks ago, Ignace Paderewski
and wife, returned to Poland their native
country, where the great pianist statesman
assumed the reigns of government, becom-
ing premier at the invitation of his country
unen
| PadereWski's love and devotion for his
native land and the stupendous personal
sacr1hces that he made for her during the
world war, in the course of which her soil
was ravaged time and again by opposing
armies, are we'll known.
| No doubt, many people in this land of
plenty, where the wheels of commerce are
turning much the same as usual, have read
with more or less sSepticism Of the suffer
ing, starvation and outrages taking place
in central Europe A letter, however, re-
ceived from Mrs Paderewski few DAYS
ago, by people in Chicago, where she and
her husband are personally we'll known, and
which has been made public by John F.
Smulski, president of the National Polish
department, should dispel these doubts.
After speaking of the love and confidence
shown her husband by the Polish people.
she says:
Shortly after the new premier took office.
peace and order prevailed throughout the
country. There was no attempt at strikes,
no disturbances, and this momentous turn
ing point in the history of our nation was
reached and passed without shot being
| fired.
so much for good news
There is misery here and famine. The
most pitiful conditions exist. The Polish
army is hungry, without shoes, without
! cloaks in zero weather, and almost without
hope of lettering themselves The hospi-
tails are without linen, bedclothes, bandages,
etc. There are no stretchers upon which to
bear the wounded from the battlefield; and
often when we reach them we find them
killed off by the enemy, sometimes with
their eyes gouged out.
Our enemies commit the most horrible
atrocities. They are beyond description
Some of the women taken prisoners were
impaled on pickets. Boys were taken and
tied together with barbed wire and then
buried alive. The prisoners of war are
tortured most terribly.
Along the border, the Bo1sheviks are
looting and burning cities, beheading pris-
oners or freezing them to death by throwing
them into pools = in some instances bury
ing them alive, and they have even com
PEELED their victims to dig their own graves.
THE Czechs are taking our lands by force,
killing and hanging and deporting men.
The miners in Karwin defended the land
of their ancestors with hatchets and axes.
Many were hanged.
The German army is advancing on the
fourth side. We are in a trap. We cannot
| get away from Warsaw because the Boil
sheviks are only twenty-five miles from the
! frontiers In order to send this letter we
are employing a courier who leaves for
Paris by airplane.
I'm Warsaw and throughout the land, the
| factories are idle. The Germans took awav
every bit of brass and raw materials and
destroyed the shops. The people are with
out work The fields are barren no stock
and no seeds. The specter Of famine stares
us in the eyes"
| Mrs. Paderewski, after describing these
conditions, concludes:
II must hold my heart with both nv
hands for fear it will burst with pain