Germany Cannot Stand It.
Boston Transcript.
Thi?sc seven days arrives cameo of
German conditions, observations of
Dutch merchant, years long familiar
with Germban Rhine provinces. This
neutral writes:
"In the last three months I have
visited such centers as Dusseldorf,
Iselohn, Elberfield, Barmen, Cologne,
Bonn and Buchum, and have listened
to and observed people in every sta
tion in hfe.
"I can honestly come to only one
conclusion. Germany cannot stand it
much longer. People are at their wits'
end and at the end of their courage.
If there is no peace by Christmas
I cannot see how a revolution can be
avoided, at any rate in western Ger
many.
"I have not seen a person, not even
.? child, laugh or smile all the time I
was in Germany. People go about the
streets evidently physically weaken
ed. All of them without exception
look pale and haggard. There are no
more fat Germans, except, I under
stand, in Bavaria. Everyone looks
sick, slovenly and almost ready for
suicide. Germany is the most melan
choly place under the sun. If civilians
are sick of the war, what must one
think of the countless stories one
hears, even from soldiers on leave,
about war-sickness at the front.
"At all points of the German west
ern front one hears of officers sud
denly disappearing. For some of them,
and practically all the soldiers, are
kept without furloughs for the min
imum of one year. Many will not put
up with this, and simply run away to
see their wives and children. They
would be shot in normal times ? now
they are hardly reprimanded, for they
are needed.
"The feeling of solidarity among
men in the same armies and in the
same ranks is stronger now than ever,
rot for the common cause, but always
against their commanding officers.
The discipline of the German army ?
once the pride of Germania ? is now
sinking to a low degree. The feeling,
formerly so strong and admirable in
the German soldier, has now prac
tically vanished, as has also the de
sire for promotion.
"What will surely bring about
'break' is the fact, now generally ad
mitted, that the soldiers do not re
ceive one-third of their usual rations.
Complaints from starving soldiers at
the front are received everywhere,
while military censors destroy thou
sands of letters and erase passages
where reference is made to insufficient i
food at the front, but the people i
know that their children ire dying
for the Kaiser and dying on empty
stomachs.
German Army Unrecognizable.
"Soldiers returned from the front I
have seen by thousands and they are
pitiable sights ? thin, tired, and ill,
wearing uniforms' that are often in
shreds, or with caps that do not be
long to them. The German army is
unrecognizable. And yet the soldiers
are suffering nothing comparfd with
the civilians. Under the card system
it may be said for western Germany
that a fortnight's ration might suffice
a man with a delicate appetite for
two days. People either suffer hunger
or try to get food of some kind by
swindling or stealing. I know two
brothers at Iserlohn who married the
two ugly daughters of a local baker
that they could thus get bread.
"The bread, however, is terrible.
There are two kinds ? war bread and
gray bread. The latter is the better
of the two, but people prefer to eat
the former because it 'fills.' It in
cludes large quantities of gelatine,
it sticks to the knife and tastes like
anything but bread.
Hindenburg's Halo Dims.
'I found the Kaiser's popularity has
remained unaffected and as has the
Crown Prince's unpopularity. The
Crown Prince was at first called 'poor
devil.' Now the rudest language is
frequently used about him. The Ger
man people are very well informed
about the Crown Prince's military
failures. There was a great laugh last
week when the Crown Prince's troops
managed to gain a small trench near
.Verdun, at the very moment when
the prince was in Berlin. When I was
in Cologne it was said openly 'If only
he remained in Berlin we might ad
vance a little.' The hope was speedily
crushed for the prince returned to
the front and the German advance im
mediately stopped. The popularity of
Hinderb\irg is declining slowly be
cause there are no victories. In spite
of submarine fever here and there,
the hope of crushing England has
vanished. The people say, with a sigh:
'If it had not been for England we
should have won the war easily, but
we will never get even with the damn
ed English.' America's intervention is
quickly dismissed. 'They can do noth
ing. They have no ships.'
"These seven days Germans who die
in bed are ordered to be wrapped in
paper winding sheets. Smart Rhenish
women are wearing paper blouses and
paper underwear. They adorn their
rooms with paper carpet; the work
men wear paper ovei^lls ? costing
leven times what cotton overalls cost
in 191I5. Women, even workers, w ear j
silk dresses ? for decent silk costs $1
u yard, woolen cloth $10 a yard.
Textile industries are dead. In Bar
men two large factories which cost
about a million to equip for munition
making, remained idle seven months
for want of raw material. Thousands
of workers, mostly war cripples, wom
en, manv boys and girls of even thir
teen and fourteen years, were thus
out of employment and many of them
had to beg in the streets."
Keep Up the Roads.
The Ohio Good Roads Trustees in
their July conference were in full
agreement that public improvements
should go forward as usual. They re
solved that "commercial and agricul
tural activities should not be lessoned
or handicapped by war hysteria."
They declared:
"Our financial resources arc in
healthy condition, no stringency in
the money market exists; there is
ample employment at good wages fur
all labor; the agricultural districts
promise an unusual acreage and har
vest yield; every pound of meat and
bushel of grain the farm produces can
be sold at profit prices. To sum up,
none of the factors that usually con
tribute to business depression now
exist."
Such conclusions are sound and ap
ply to the whole country, with the
possible exception that they did not
emphasize the shortage of labor for
harvest. Road-commissioners in most
communities have released their men
to help the farmers during this crit
ical period of labor shortage.
There have been many radical sug
gestions for the purpose of promot
ing road building, such as the scheme
to bring German prisoners over here,
the use of all convicts, and the im
portation of Chinese and Mexicans.
Whatever the method efnployed, the
necessity of road improvement is
more vital than ever before.
Good roads will go a long way to
ward answering that vexing question:
Now that we have grown the food,
what shall we do with it? ? Country
Gentleman. j
Family Repartee.
He ? You haven't a thought above a
new hat.
She ? And you haven't a thought
worth mentioning under your old
one. ? Boston Transcript.
?
Center Brick Warehouse
POOL & LASSITER, Owners and Proprietors
SMITHFIELD, N. C.
We Announce Our Opening Sale on
Tuesday,
Msiig* 21
If you have any ready for sale bring it to us and we will do as
we have in the past, give you the very best sale possible to be made.
Do not sell your tobacco to pinhookers-? Bring it to a good
Market and put it on our floor. We are here to protect your
interests and see you get what belongs to you.
We have just installed the finest pair of scales that could be
bought.
We Invite Your Inspection
Your friends,
POOL & LASSITER
SMITHFIELD, N. C.
II
Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 21st
Closing Saturday, September 1st
We Mention a Few of the Hundreds of Items That We Have To Offer:
Dress Ginghams, Oil Cloth, Ticking and Hose
Good Dress Ginghams 10c
Better Dress Ginghams 12'/2C
Better Dress Ginghams, extra wide 15c
Best Fancy Table Oil Cloth ! 19c
Best White Table Oil Cloth 21c
Good Feather Ticking, worth 35c, 29c
Good Black Hose for Ladies 10c
Good Black Hose for Children 10c
CORSETS
50-Cent Corsets 39
$1.00 Corsets 79
$1.50 Corsets SI. 19
$2.00 Corsets $1.59
$2.50 Corsets ?1.98
$3.00 Corsets '. $2.39
SPECIALS
Good stock of Bleachings, Cambrics, Long Cloths, Sea
Island Sheetings and Pajama Cloth ? We are offering
less than we can buy them.
SHIRTWAISTS
50-Cent Shirtwaists :>9
$1.00 Shirtwaists 79
$2.00 Shirtwaists $1-59
$2.50 Shirtwaists $1.98
$3.00 Shirtwaists $2.39
$4.00 Shirtwaists $3.19
$5.00 Shirtwaists $3.98
LADIES' AND CHILDREN'S DRESSES
$1.00 Ladies' Dresses "9c
$1.25 Ladies' Dresses 9*c
50-Cent Children's Dresses ' 39c
$1.00 Children's Dresses 79c
50-Cent Middy Blouses 39c
$1.00 Middy Blouses 79c
SKIRTS AND DRESSES
$1.00 White and Fancy Skirts 89c
81.19 White and Fancy Skirts 98c
$1.50 White and Fancy Skirts $1.33
$2.00 White and Fancy Skirts $1.69
$6.95 or $7.50 Taffeta Skirts $5.00
Few Silk Dresses left will sell Less than ( ost
SILKS
Fine Silk Poplin, $1.00 to $1.25 value, 89c
All Taffeta Silks 10 per cent discount
All Crepe de Chines 10 per cent discount
All Fancy Silks 10 per cent discount
HOYS' BLOUSE SUITS
$1.69 Quality $1.39
$1.48 Quality . ... $1.29
$1.19 Quality 98
98-Cent Quality 89
48-Cent Quality 43
LAWNS AND VOILES
10-Cent Fancy Lawns 8c
1 2 !/2-Cent F ancy Lawns 1 0c
15-Cent Fancy Lawns 12c
20-Cent Fancy Lawnp 16c
25-Cent Fancy Lawns 19c
20-Cent Fancy Voiles 16c
25-Cent Fancy Voiles 19c
33-Cent Fancy Voiles 27c
39-Cent Fancy Voiles 32c
? _ ? '
Goods are advancing rapidly. This is an opportunity that we cannot offer again until cort!itior?s change. We
can only offer at these prices for the reason that we had big stocks bought up.
SPIERS BROS., - ? Smithfield, N. C.
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