Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1916. CRIME WAVE IN GERMANY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14051, 22 July 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1916. CRIME WAVE IN GERMANY.

Gradually the veil which hides from .us the internal conditions in Germany 4s being lifted and we get. some insight "into the depressing phychological effects upon the Teutonic people, of the war's disappointments, : reverses and hardships. It was reported ; yesterday ih : a message from the. Hague correspondent of the United Press that '. a wave' ■ of ghastly : crime and suicide is 'sweeping over Germany. -...This, though 'it' may he but a small factor in the great international struggle, is nevertheless most interesting to those who are closely studying the fortunes of the war, for it indicates results which may naturally be expected to follow the effective blockade of that country and the realisation by the Germans that their cause is a lost one. Discounting heavily the statements which' are: made frrini tirnje to 'time by Ineutral coiTespotidehts re* garding' the" 'prevalence of, famine, conditions in . Germany, , i.t can ; scarcely _be that all these stateihents are" exaggerated, and one is safe -in assuming that shortage exists . in regard to certain . essential items of food, particularly ; fats.' The question as to what is going to be the effect on the German physique of the shortage' of .fats irl ! tH*feir food has been interestingly' discussed in -the Fmglish press. ; The ■ German Government it seems, are taking all the available fat they can get for the manufacture of glycerine, ' which is essential for . explosives, and the people are being deprived in consequence of an important element in their dietarjf. '■'■'- Sir -tTames Crichton-Browh, an .eminent medical authority, in an , interview, .' showed clearly that the deprivation of fat must ultimately have an injurious effect upon the health of the nation. "Except in .the case of infants, "who receive it in the form of milk, fat," he began by pointing outj" "is ' iiot an absolutely ! essential element of diet, because the booty'' can produce fata from" the carboi hydrates; ' ■ Frit 1 still deprivation* over a prolonged -period ftriist have a. disastrous effect 'upon physical health. If .you were to take the carbo-hydrates — sijgar, cereals; , and "50 .. 0n — to. compensate for; shortage of fat, you would havo to take an enormous bulk, which would over- , load the stomach and produce intestinal troubles. .A deficiency of fat must conduce to " debility and to an increase of tuberculosis. Then the Germans will suffer severely," he said, "because they are, perhaps, next to the Esquimau!, the most fat-eating race: witness their.addiction to pork. They eat much more fat than the English; and the English eat more than the Scotch. They are a race with a strong tendency, to obesity." • The doctor drew a contrast 'between 'a » group of German soldiers -and a group, of Anzacs-^the former., large ; fat'-cbn-suining men, heavy, sto\it and stolid, and the Anzace, fldsh : eating men, beI cause beef and mutton' are plentiful in Australasia, spare,, lithe, nimble and alert. After ; middle life the, ./strong tendency of the Germans is to become heavy and obese. The withdrawal " of this very important element in the ' German diet must amount to a kind of .* starvation in the' long- run,' and if i the German authorities continue to appropriate fat in order to make" explosives Ihey will before long find that they i have a .very explosive, people t6 deal, with, because starvation always leads to the , most savage conduct on the part v of mobs. "A deficient diet— -arid absence of fat makes diet deficient — like .all morbid conditions both corporeal • arid, mental," 'Dr. Crichton-Brown went on to say, "has a vitiating and degenerating - tendency.' ' Famine" is*alW%B * motlier; of crimes and vices, hot only such as 1 will satisfy the gnawing desire for '''■ food, " : but - also general lawlessness, ilfct'emper; despair:', lust r:L and : ctruett^ The late .Dr King Cha.rn.bers once saia the; love^ of purposeless destructiqri\;ei: hibited'by ,the, . Communists mighty > fairly 'attributed' to: deficient food dur--1 ing.' the; Siege -of Paris.' " No ' well-fefl people, .he" said', least* *6f all the French, with their refined and artistic tastes, could -have wrecked ; the ..Vendome and burned. the Hotel :de. Ville and 'the Tuilleries, of which they we're so proud. They were like hungry children smasly ing then? d6lls. Thucydidesi Boccaccio and. Defofr ' all testify to the 'f rightfulness- exhibited" air Athene, Flbrenoo" and in London during their famine fevers. So the German authorities may well be apprehensive pf the food deficiency, and not merely the deficiency in fats, but in all kinds of food whioh recent .reports seem to indicate is taking place in Geririahy: s They may be warned, because on such circumstances the manifestation of famine . fever would be worse in Germany than elsewhere because of the inherent brutality of the German character." Another aspect of the question, it is pointed out, is to be found; not 'merely in the deficiency but in the want of diversity of food< A characteristic :sfeature in all national dietaries is variety. Diversity of diet is always greatest s in the most highly civilised races, and might indeed be taken as a rough measure of racial advancement in civilisation. Change of diet serves a useful purpose. It may be as restorative as change 'of air.! A dietary that is reduced to a dead level o? monotony is riot as sustaining as one that" is varied, and hence Ihe^reduction of a large p*rt, of the, population of Germanv to a diet of potatoes and bread must, if continued for a long time, diminish the national , efficiency. "And here I think coines." added Dr. Crich-ton-BrowTi, "in a good orospect for the industrial future of England. There can be no doubt that, there is and will be an. increasing deficiency of food itt Germany, which, when the war is over,* will leave!; the! German: people in aVstatb of' comparative inefficiency. Oh the other hand, the people in this country , have never been as well fed as they are now, and they will therefore be . able to encage vigorously in tho industrial war that is to follow when the war is over." So that when we read of food riots and eruptions of crime in Germany we know they are the natural re{suit of the deprivation of food th©

I " people are sustaining, and we may take it that the blockade the Allies are imposing upon Germany is -hot only a j very vital factor in the military situation by lessening the moral. and virility of our enemies but a just retribution for the untold misery they have created in the countries ravaged by their "armies. ■>■■•'