The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1920-09-22


al Red Cross.
ABOARD THE LISBOA, RE-
TURNING FROM RUSSIA (By
Mail. via LondoF.) Sept. o. Every
body both in Europe and America
ought to know chat thousands Of I'M
happy victims Of the war are still PIN
Ing away III captivity. In Russia and
Siberia there are still about 10000
prisoners Of war and informed civil
ians. These have no hope Of re-
turD to country and family unless
very speedy means Of repatriation
are found. Boats, boats, ever more
boats must be chartered il the COM
ing Of Winter is not to mean the
death, in misery and starvation, Of
these 100000 men. The incredibly
pitiful condition Of the Russian pop
ulation he's aggravated the misery of
prisoners Of Russia to d point beyond
endurance. Each nation gives spec
ial protection to the interests of its
own people; others must therefore
strive to secure the deliverance Of the
thousands Of prisoners detained in
Siberia and Russia from their suf-
ferings before they perish in the same
way as hundreds Of thousands Of
their comrades have already done.
Health statistics will one day show
us how many thousands have need
lessly died solely for want Of medi-
Gil attention, provisions and clothing,
but 1t will be too late to save those
who may still be saved If humanity
does not forthwith do it's duty in de-
livering those prisoners that are still
alive. The prisoners Of war in Rus
STA stands outside the law. He en-
joys no rights and no protection. He
has only obligations. The Soviet Gov
eminent has declared him free citi-
zen, but this feet has only deprived
him Of the guarantees which protect
him, and he remains more destitute
than in the days Of his severist cap
tivity.
Only those who have seen prison
ers did lived with them can under
stand their mentality. Their embit-
tered and tortured souls, their rough
and savage exteriors, are an enigma
to the stranger. Those who know the
prisoner are aware that, even after
five or six years Of captivity, his heart
contains but one desire, to see his
country and his family once more.
Most Of the time he is unaware of the
fact that he is broken man. His
superman efforts to maintain himself
at higher level of civilization by
means of intellectual work have often
failed. Indeed, what can he do all
alone, without books, papers or let
tiers from home, and that during long
years, while all around him his friends
are wasting away and dying Of starva-
ton, in country where provisions
are abundant? Meanwhile the mon
ey intended for the prisoners disap-
pears into the pockets Of officers and
commissaries. Epidemics work hav-
oc in the hutmonts, the sick lie in
cold and darkness on the bare ground,
without covering or straw or medi-
cines. The Siberian cold brings every
week to the hospitals hundreds of
sick, who after serving years Of cap
tivity have been manned by loss of
limbs through frostbite. Prisoners
have been sent in herds to desolate
regions, thousands of kilometers from
civilization to construct railways.
As the result of unnamable cruelties
committed in the course of this work,
only small portion returned. The
railways Of the Thurman and of South
Siberia are monuments built on the
graves Of thousands, which serve as
foundation to twentieth century
work Of civilization.
How many men of full vigor, the
hope Of their parents, have persisted
in miserable hut, dreaming Of their
country and oppressed by the one de-
sire: Never tell my mother how
died" How many fathers Of fami- !
lies, men in their middle age. whose
life had been fruitful and useful. have
been tortured night and day by the
thought Of their family in distress
and the future Of their children bereft
of parents, till they have gloomily
sunk into madness and are now brood !
ing in an asylum in Siberia?
| once met five survivors Of a labor
company which short while before
and m auofher !