Page:The Destruction of Poland - Toynbee - 1916.djvu/32

 employed by them for no less than 15 years; that practically means the old people who are not fit to go to work in Prussia. The German administration is assisted in promoting emigration by the municipal authorities, though it is said that there are Poles, too, on the town council. The town committee for poor relief helps only those who bring certificates from the German. Labour Exchange to the effect that they are not fit for work in Germany.

"We raise a solemn protest, in the name of the Polish labouring classes, to all the more enlightened elements of the German nation and to German Socialists in particular. The present condition of things is reducing the Polish proletariat to mental and physical exhaustion."

That was the last cry of despair, before the winter descended upon Lodz like a shroud.

No one can tell what may happen to that once flourishing community of 500,000 souls. The worst of the season is still before them; yet the most recent glimpses of their state are already so appalling as to raise doubts whether any will survive to see the return of spring.

Here are a few sentences from a statement drawn up, in authoritative Polish quarters, as recently as January, 1916:—

"On May 22, 1915, all textile mills in Lodz were shut and all 'stocks of raw materials, as well as part of the machinery, were confiscated. The same thing happened a little later in Warsaw and Sosnovitse.&hellip;

"The working people are starving. Hundreds of people are dying from a new illness caused by lack of food. The majority of in-