"Germany is Starving"

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 July 1916, Page 4

"Germany is Starving"

EFFECT OF A REAL BLOCKADE. 'Thero would appear to be no doubt thai even under present conditions as established, even without fresh advances on any front, Germany is doomed.' This it> a summary of the situation as described in to-d»y's Nation. It is kasedi upon a series of communications from tho German Empire, which te>l a terrible story of privation and misery "Lifo is not pleasant; there is nothing more to be bought; and if there were, it is so dear that it is impossible to pay for it." Famine is fast approaching, as you will see from enclosed newspapers cuttings When a man has to»do two days 'without meat, one day without fat, and one day without butter in a hotel, how wil lthe working man fare? There have been bloody riots in Berlin and ite suburbs owing to the loss of life at Verdun." I "Everybody is wishing that the war would end. Food is frightfully dear, and oniy obtainable in small quantities." "It is almost impossible to keep house. We ntay only write that all is' well, but this is the simple trutlh, tlmt Germany is starving. No one has the least idea of what is going on in tho fighting area, but we thini it must he dreadful. In the large to*M

the distress must be tarriible, but everything must be kept secret. No newspapers may publish Anything, llie penalty for smuggling a letter is immediate death Ijy shooting." "There is not we aiwshteui doubt (this from a neutral visitor) that the working class is really starved—the food riots in the city demonstrate this." THE CRY FOR I'EACE. From a small German town:—"We may not write you openly about these matters, but we think you will get this letter without its bemg seen. Burn it at once on receipt. All the butohers have closed their shops. There is nothing to be got. Pigs are also very dear. We have had to give up all cooking pots for making munitions. There is no petroleum. The women in the town are in despair. They have already been in front of the castle and tried to make peace and give us our men back. These are sad times. There is very little butter. In the town they havo potato cards, and butter cards. All the potatoes have been commandeered. Now they are floating another war loan. This is already the fourith. Gold has all been called in. *\ e have noit a single gold coin left. The hospitals of the towns are full of civilians who have fallen ill owing to the way in which the people have got ;to feed themselves. it is now said that bread is to be made out of hay."

"Ask 'my husMand to send mo a few kronen, for I hare no food to give the ohildiren, and am bogging bread from door to door." "Things aro very bad here. it's only Sunday we get meat. Not a scrap during the week. Soap is beyond our means so we have to go dirty. We dunnot satisfy our hunger even with bread, for that is rationed. Boots are frightfully dear. Things get worse erery day." "It's only the rich that can indulgo in tea and bread and butter. The poor cannot buy or get food." "The blockade is blockading Germany. | "I-, is said that we obtain no victories. Every twenty-four hours that the blockadie is maintained is a victory. The Central Powers are girdled with steel and fire, and the knowledge that that girdle is closing in as the Russians advance, or as the Russians and British break like the breaking of an egg, into the Eastern border of Turkey, is the knowledge which is the key to all recent German strategy. "Without undue presumption, when' all the f*tory is stold. it will be recorded that it was the blockade of the British Navy, which finally beat Germany to her knees."