The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-29

9 Aside from being offered rotting
g food that no real human being could
, eat, and having their American
clothes and parcels stolen from them,
American prisoners of war in Ger
many were treated as mercifully as
. the .barbarian's code will allow. That
: is there was no systematic or au-
.horized physical abuse OF the twenty
, six hundred Americans who were in
; the hands of the Germans when the
! armisticc was signed. November IL,
1918.
And there was a very practical
and Hunnish reason for this discrim-
J ination in favor of the Yanks, ac-
, cording to the first authoritative public
statement of actual conditions in
German prison camps, just issued by
Carl j. bennett, of BOSTON, who. as
Deputy American Red Cross Com
, missioner to Switzerland. had charge
of feeding, clothing, and caring for
American prisoners of war.
Here is that reason In Mr. Dement'S
own words
1--WE always had in America more
German agents in prison or intern
ment camps than the total or all
American prisoners, civil and military.
in the hands Of the Germans, and
among these civilian prisoners were
esteem and friendship by the leaders
of the Prussian military party"
Before false impression is gained
from the statement that Americans
were not treated with the studied
| brutality that French, Italian. Rus.
sian or Roumanian prisoners were
subjected to, let these words from the
same report linger in memory.
The American prisoners would
10, ..f, 1. 1aA -
been for the food parcels sent to
them through our organization at
Berne. The German army received
the best of everything in abundance
(and under a special agreement be
tween the United States and Germany,
American prisoners were to receive
the same rations given the German
soldiers). Our prisoners were offer
RI cd spoiled fsh~-rIsuaiiy seal n1eat or
doEtish--hlood sausages made from
the entrails OF animals, sometimes
horse meat, substitute coffee. substi-
tute mustard, bsead made from po-
II tatf -four, sawdust and similar ingred-
ients--absolutely the worst. foul
smelling, Unlocking bread that
|, have ever seen--bone meal, and thin
watery soups.
'''The condition of the Italian,
Russian and Roumanian prisoners
from their country of origin proves
beyond question that the ration was
not sufficient to sustain life for n pro-
longed period. and 1t was OF a char
acter that our men absolutely could
not eat Does any one believe that
was the ration provided for the Ger
man troops? No evidence to the con-
trary is necessary.
The reports or our neutral dele
/ E..t.h -.
spection of prison camps almost
without exception called attention TO
the inadequate and unwholesome
food supplied prisoners, and our re-
, turning prisoners have testified unan-
imously to the fact that they would
/ have starved had 1t not been for the
food we sent them.
4 II have the testimony in one tcfe~
, gram of 1900 American prisoners to
that effect
.Furth erTnore. our men were not
placed in 'cantonments or barracks
, as roomy and good as provided for
the German troops. Some OF the
, camps were better than others and
the conditions were fairly good: other
, camps wcre filthy and miserable to
/ an extreme degree, without adequate
, stopping. bathing. toilet. cooking or
! hospital facilities, and the men were
abuse.
, The American Expeditionarv forces
, scrupulousiy respected the Prussian NJ
treaty on the treatment of prisoners,
and one Of the best testimonials in
: confederation of this, says Mr. Dem
1 nett, is the fact that there is not a
t single official record of an attempt
by German prisoner to escape from
the A. T.. F.
g In tho early months after Arneri-
cas-. entry into the war. American
fprisoners in German hands we're SUBJ
, jected to many of the indgnities be-
s slowed upon other prisoners. They
S were robbed of food and clothing sent
e them by the Red Cross. as we'll as
] of their army shoes belts. and other
a articles of apparel which might be
of economic use to Germany And
t but for the demands of the United
; States. as expressed in conference
5 between German and American rep
resentativs in Berno September a.
: 1918, this sort of maltreatment might
have culminated in a measure OF the
savagery and cruelty melted out to the
. Russians.
! Americans were not subjected to the
, "schlaEue," beating across backs
with heavy leather straps, common
treatment for many prisoners,
t They did not have pots OF boiling
2 water poured over their PROSTATE
! forms as a group of UNDECIDED Rus
sian ghosts OF men did when they re-
I fused to do unreasonable physical
tasks.
They were not worked in the salt
1 mines like human slaves until they
dropped in their tracks.
= They were not allowed to die and
vt from typhus as many poor
wretches were at Wittenberg camp
They were not made to dig treaches
under their own shcll-fre.
I There was always that fear In the
I back of the Teuton mind that, hui
$ name as America could be relied
upon to be, certain distinguished
plain clothes junkers, militarists,
, strike promoters. plotters, and in
: triguers who were held in American
ntermen and prison camps might
t have their wholesome meals and
healthful surroundings altered bit.
Fear for their own. In other words.
l and this fear alone, kept the Germans
from treating Yankee doughboys as
insane men only would treat beasts OF
burden.
Pecausa Germany WAS notorious in