GERMAN PHYSIQUE IMPAIRED.

Taihape Daily Times, 12 June 1919, Page 2

GERMAN PHYSIQUE IMPAIRED.

COBLENZ. March 9. 1 Unless wholesome food is provided for Germany. the nation, ph_vsicall_V ‘deteriorated and mentally degenerated ,i«; in danger of being engulfed at any moment by absolute Bolslievfsm. This is the essence of -.~. formal report relceived here from :-.11 American Officerwho studied conditions; in Berlin, Brief ‘extracts from the report follows: _ “An official employed in the national grain depot at Berlin ventures to estimate that the present grain supply l\ViH last until the end of April or the beginning of May There are rumours of an impending potato crisis. “Observation reveals the lack of nourishing food, and the effect can he plainly recognised in the physical aplpearance of the population_ In conivzersation and editorials. it is Stated that the hunger blockade, for the last four years has achieved physical deterioration and Inent-.11 degeneration, resulting in a, complete collapse of )their nervous systems, ’m‘inging a-bout a state of continual hysteria. “The Germans them.<elve_\- willingly admit that the people of the German nation have lost many.’ good qualities for which they were once noted. I might, say. it has developed into an ‘Er-satz" nation, which is in dangnr of being" engulfed at any moment by absolute Bolshevi.<in, due to the peoplc’s‘ impotrhcy to regenerate t,hemsel‘ve’s; by wholesome food and labour.” In spite of this sweeping Statement emanating from the German capital, the Third Army continues to receive conflicting reports of the food .situa—‘ tion. The censorship of German mail. Shows that the bulk of the personal 10t'C01's appeal for an adequate food 'SIIPI>IY, and conditions. at Dusseldorf,‘ Dortniund, Elberfeld. and other Citiesare described as desperate. Still‘ the American Army ’s own investigation of the food supply in the area occupied shows an antithetical situation.