NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Tho belief, 'so strongly held at ono timo by most, if not all, of us, that Germany would be forced to conclude peace owing to the starvation of her population, has passed away with tho passago of timo. Tho collapse was to come when wo first heard of tho issue of food rations and food cards in Germany—wo did • not then realise that that policy was not so much tho effect of a shortage of food supplies as a measure of precaution lest they should become unduly scarce. Last year was positively to see the end of Germany's resources, but when it passed and Germany still held out wo remembered that tho prophets had predicted just the same thing for I'JlfS. So, nowadays, we build few hopes on that way of winning the war.

Yet it is possiblo in the reaction from too easy credulity, to bccomo too incredulous as to tho effect of tho internal pressure of starvation in bringing about the end of Germany's fighting power. Tho statements by tho "New York "World's" correspondent at The Hague, quoted in to-day's cables, only coulirni and emphasise reports from many visitors to Germany. Tho nation is undoubtedly in a bad way, suffering severely from lack of sufficient food and the prey of tho diseases of malnutrition. Mot long ago a leading Socialist paper depicted tho plight of the country as follows: —''The people's health is deteriorating rapidly, the rags are falling l'rom tho children's bodies, tho bread and potato rations are insufficient to appease hunger, vegetables are unobtainable, meat is very scarce.' and iat long ago unknown." The conditions during the S:ist winter, in spite of Mr Cyril rown's reference to "comparative plenty" were, for those who were not well-to-do, simply appalling. 11l addition to tho groat scarcity of food, coal and oil were in short supply, and tho half-starved people underwent the additional hardship of having littlo warmth or light. Berlin particularly was "dark, cold, and wrctched."

Nor is the prospcct for tho coining months much brighter—in regard to some essentials it is "worse. Tho flour ration was reduced during tho winter, and tho occupation of tho Ukraine, which was expected to yield enormous quantities of wheat and flour, proved from that point of view a bitter disapEaintment, whilo Roumania, another and of Promise, was herself short of food, owing to the harvest. The area of cultivation-of potatoes in Germany /is tliis year only three-fifths of what it was three years ago, and the Food Minister, has banished all hope of # , an increase in the potato ration. In • the interior of Germany the food ptablem has been accentuated owing io - the Government's decision to reserve large tracts of agricultural land for army supnlies, and many large cities : " which had contracted for food supplies for delivery by producers this spring have been informed that they will get} nothing. ■

According to Tlie Hague correspondent mentioned above, 23 per cent, of tho population is suffering from' disease as the result of poor and innutritions food. This is probably not too high an estimate. Much has been said about the effect of war diet on the public health, and one neutral visitor has been found who declared that he spoke to jGermans who said that they_ felt better and were really more healthy on the almost exclusively vegetarian diet. The testimony of Dr. Tliiele, municipal school physician ac Chemnitz, is probably a more reliable guide to the actual state of affairs. H<J quoted in mid-winter figures to show that the number of anaemic children had increased by 60 per cent., and that the proportion of tuberculosis children of six years had doubled, while among those of 14 the proportion had trebled since the war began. Tuber r culosis has al&o spread alarmingly among tho adult population, hungertyphus is levying toll in some districts, while other diseases due ' to under-feeding are making headway.

There is in New Zealand occasional talk, usually ill-informed, of profiteering. One would have to go to Germany to understand what profiteering really is. The maximum prices of almost all foods are fixed by law, but *he scarcity and the willingness of many people to pay more than the maximum prices, induce many breaches of the regulations. Money will buy almost r.nything eatable in Germany, evfen butter—at 20s per lb. This illicit trade in food, which began with individuals, is now said to be conducted on wholesale lines by municipal authorities. who have to arrange for the sale of food to residents and the managements of large industrial works who wish to keep their workmen fit to do their work. These bodies and organisations compete with each other in buying food in wholesale quantities. The Mavor of Crefeld was fined for paying 6s ljd per lb for geese instead of the fixed price of 4s per lb. The Mayor of Brenkholln was to be prosecuted for buying trpck-loads of cabbages at £11 per ton, which was more than the maximum price, but the prosecution was dropped when it was found that the cabbages went to Essen, the directors of Krupps, in which the Kaiser is a large shareholder, having offered the dealer £17 per ton for them. "Vorwaerts," the Socialist paper, declared that what was done by these Mayors, and all others in Germany, was also being done by high Imperial and State authorities. As a proof of the extent to which this evasion of the food regulations is practised may bo judged by the fact that m twelve months in Prussia alone 189.80G penalties were administratively imposed for breach of the orders, and 23,302 sentences were inflicted, in cases brought before the Courts. The poods exhibited at the great annual fair at Leipsie tMs year included, wo ara told to-day, thousands of substitutes, ©specially of foods. Germany is, indeed, existing largely by moans of ''ersatz'' (substitute) foods, of which it,: is claimcd there aro now over 10,000 ; different varieties on the market, Bome> ; •if thorn being extremely horrible. Ona| of the worst must surely be "eteatvm marmalade, which, acoording to an.ttH||| fortunate American woman who yMfigl perforce to consume some of it eyjjw-gi day, is made by dragging a through kohlrabi pulp. There wJrag9| tically no tea, at least for thejaWySraHj ift_-Germany; in its iilnrn TjfSBBB

tutes made from the leaves of blackberry, hazel, beech, or chestnut, knotgrass, and dead-nettle blossoms. "Coffee" is made of cc/rn, malt, acorns, dried and asparagus seeds flavoured with aromatic resin! A composition of dairy refuse, red pepper, and brick-dust masquerades as cheese. What are currently known as "flour-stretch-ers" —i.e., materials by which the supply of flour is eked out, include potatoes, turnips, the inevitable kohlrabi, dried and ground heather and grass, and sawdust.

"Ersatz" clothing forms a large part of such stock-in-trade as German shopkeepers now caTry. Tho "standard" boots mado under official supervision for the civilian population contain 10 per cent, of leather; tho uppers are made of old canvas or paper, and wood probably enters largely into tho soles. A recent statement that there are no woollen clothes for German civilians, since the Government has commandeered for the army all wool and woollen fabrics is probably incorrect; the fact seems to be that woollen goods are dear and of poor quality, and so scarcc tiiac no ono may buy more than one suit, or which ho cannot get possession until iie has given in his old one. For women wear substitute cloth made from paper varn is said by a German traco journal to be coming more and more mt vogue. Costumes, blouses, jackets, ana under-clothing are said to snow by their make "how suitable cloth woven irom paper yarn is for women s draperyNothing, it will bo noticed,, is said as to the comfort of such clothing, nor or its wearing qualities.