The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-01-08
((z| ((.I''nIIIlH!S |'I||IAIliS HAVE
p ..I .E.IIjIIl| OF FOOD
Allied Naval Commission Re-
ports on Conditions in North
Germany.
THE PEOPLE ARE WELL
FED AND CLOTHED
Evidence in All Sections Visited
of An Abundant Harvest and
Large Stock Of Food.

London, Jan. "a long article
written by a member of the allied ma
val commission in German waters on
the subject of food conditions in north
germany is published by The Times
today. The writer is careful to point
out that he deals only with what va
rioEs mera bers Of the commission saw
with their own eyes in a very consld-
cradle area and that he ignores hear
:av evidence regarding other parts OF
er,nany.
'.But if food conditions in the rest
of Germany ne goes on, "are not
cry much worse than in Oldenburg,
Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holsteln
there is certainly no need for haste on
the part Of the allies in going to their
relief. am confident that none Of
the score or more members of the va
rious sub-conmissions which covered
many hundreds Of miles Of country
and saw tens Of thousands Of the peo-
pie at close range noticed any vidence
Of palpable undertaking among am
of the inhabitants. Indeed, they are
- the unanimous opinion that the
whole populations, both urban and
rural. in these regions have been and
are being fed near enough to normal
requirements to keep them at fuli
physical vigor. A member Of the IN
telligence staff who had spent many
years in the country before the war,
said:
.:You don't see so many people
with rolls of fat on them as you did
five years ago but you do see health
ier, harder and generally more n
:ooking population
t.The men in the dock yards and on
the first ships searched at Wilhelms-
haven, although slovenly and filthy,
betrayed none of the traces Of under
feeding so readily recognized by one
who has been in India or China in
famine time or in Siberia or Greece
since the war This party prepared
us for the we'll nurtured look Of the
people of the town itself. In no place
Of the same character in England, say
Portsmouth. Plymouth or Harwich,
would the people have been in better
flesh or better color.
AS 70 clothes. the Germans would
certainly have had the best Of The
COMPARISON
After describing the evidence Of
good cultiva ton OF the land seen by
various members Of the commission
on their journeys Of from so to 100
miles. the writer says:
1.-The results of a really bountiful
harvest were to be seen in the bulging
barns and sheds. the swollen hay
stacks snd the fodder piles. The surest
evidence that there had been an over
supply of vegetables was the careless
way in which such things as cabbages
and Swedish beets were being handled
in transport a starving people does
not leave food Of this kind to rot along
The road or in station yards
The writer saw. he says. endless
evidence of intensive cultivation and
careful, scientific fertilization. With
the prisoners available and the unre-
rnitting labor Of the women and chill
dren, Germany, the writer declares,
way Of production.
"In no part Of the world" he re-
ports, "have I ever seen fairer farm
steads than those through which the
inspecting the great
belt of forts around Kiel drove for
many miles one day. Personally, I did
not visit either Hamburg or Bremen,
but the head of one Of the subcom-
mission who spent several days in
specting the interned ships between
the two ports assured me he saw no
material difference between the peo-
pie in the streets of Bremen and Ham
burg and those Of Wilhelmshaven and