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Sawdust Unsuitable for Bread 



' ' Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! ' ' 

 So spoke a New Testament writer nearly two thousand years ago, 

 and the truth of the proverb stUl holds. That was recently illus- 

 trated in a forcible manner. Two or three months ago a newspaper 

 waif of half a dozen lines was floating about the press, to the effect 

 that in Germany bread is baked of a mixture of sawdust and rye 

 flour. H.4BDW00D Record passed the item along, but it seemed to 

 take new life of a sudden. The Eeuter news service cabled the item 

 to Germany, and quoted Hakdtvood Eecord as authority; but the 

 little item seems to have grown pretty rapidly after it got on the 

 cable, and when it reached the other side of the sea it had expanded 

 almost beyond recognition and had assumed a sensational form 

 unknown to it on this side of the water. 



Hardwood Eecord has been receiving some interesting mail on the 

 subject from Germany, which is gladly published in order that the 

 whole truth may be placed before the world. 



H. Malmodie. 



Coln-Sulz, I.audalinstr. 15. Tel B. 2753. 

 Habdwood Record, 



Chicago, III. 



Gentlemen : I rtad that your paper brouKlit news by Router that the 

 Germans make bread of sawdust and rye Dour and that the Austrians 

 mniuifactiiie briquets of sawdust and tar. 



I am an American, living here since several years and cannot get over 

 the humbug that is printed in the States. 



One of the worst papers I find to be the New York Times. The editor 

 is a rank Anglophile and has no sense and no idea of what trash he is 

 thinking and printing. 



Germany is today better fed than I';ngland. rrancc, or Russia. 



Don't forget that Germany has a higher education by its superior 

 schools than any other country on the giobe and the higher the standard 

 of common education, the ie.ss barbarism. 



Germany neglected to buy influence and "soak" foreign papers, thus the 

 detestful behavior of the majority of them. 



For the sake of culture and civilisation Germany must win this light 

 and so It will. Very truly yours, 



H. Malmedie. 



P. S. .\nother man that likes to hear himself talk and see his queer 

 brain in print is that man Beck, former associate district attorney ; he 

 even went so far as to advise the German general staff what it should 

 have done instead of going through Belgium. I hope you are all satisfied 

 now that Belgium was no neutral country for the last six years. M. 



The next correspondent writes from Hamburg and makes clear the 

 position which he takes in the matter as follows: 



Hamburg. .Tanuary 10th, 1915. 



II.VRDWOOD ReCOUI), 



Chicago. 111. 



Gentlemen : 1 take the liberty to introduce myself to you as ardent 

 reader of your esteemed journal, whose hobby it is since about twelve 

 years to "stock" all photos and descriptions referring to trees and their 

 uses, etc., and who natiually likewise "stocked" thereby a pile of theory 

 which proves of great value in the lumber tr.ide I am employed in (Richard 

 Koeller, Hamburg). 



Having thus become a "dormant partner ' of the Habdwood Recokd, you 

 will certainly permit me a tew words in regard to an article contained in 

 your issue of December 10th, 1914. page 42, under the title of "Various 

 Uses for Sawdust." Knclosed you will please lind :i clipping of the German 

 lumber paper, "Die Holzwelt." reading in translation as follows: 

 Bread Made of Sawdust in Germany 



A neat "Reuter ' advice can be found in the Hauowood Record regard- 

 ing the various uses for sawdust. This journal, ot a decidedly high stand- 

 ing in the American lumber industry — it appears in Chicago — contains the 

 following news: "In Austria sawdust is mi.ved with tar to make fuel 

 brinuettes In Germany the sawdust is mixed with rye flour and made 

 into a kind of bread, which is eaten by human beings and horses. 

 Giie German bakery turns out 20.000 such loaves per day. How entirely 

 different is the standing of i:ngland in this regard. iliere the same 

 sawdust which the German "barbarians" are said to eat is placed in spit- 

 toons." The advice stands amongst a series of other entirely serious re 

 marks ot the named lumber paper which has omitted to add that all 

 luml>er mills are busy in converting all lumber into sawdust, in order that 

 ilermany may have sufficient to eat. 



So far said paper. Whence came this fairy-tale to you? No doubt from 

 our special friends, the English, who have since years poisoned the Amer- 

 ican press with blast lies in regard to Germany's standing. You may 

 rest assured that even today bread is considerably cheaper in Germany 

 than In England, in spite ot the latter's waving the rules (I beg your 

 pardon, "ruling the waves" I intended to say). We know that the Eng- 

 lish, and likewise most of those speaking the English language, refer to 

 Germany only In a disparaging sense, and perhaps a month later the 

 English will cable you that, in order to keep things going in Germany, 



—16— 



the latter is forced to import from the United Kingdom the sawdust after 

 it served for their spittoons, for bread making purposes. 



The article would have been placed in a more favorable way on the 

 page of your paper with the headingj> "Pert, Pertinent and Impertinent," 

 or don't you think it is "impertinent" to say that the Germans fill their 

 bellies with sawdust? Sawdust does not contain any nutritious sub- 

 stance, and consequently it is of no use to swallow same. 



Sawdust is used in Germany likewise for tlie manufacture of fuel 

 briquettes ; they strew it on toot-ways, especially in winter time, on the 

 walks of railway stations, etc., etc. Sawdust bread would force us to 

 ask the Lord for a new and better stomach, but he would certainly reply : 

 "Thou Shalt not eat sawdust !" 



Should our friends, the English, tell you something like that, be assured 

 that provisions in Germany are plentiful. Public and dining-rooms are 

 closed at 12 o'clock in the night, sometimes at 1 or 2 o'clock only, and 1 

 only recently sent a bill-of-fare of a tirst-class dining-room to a friend of 

 mine in Baltimore, in reply to the British lie that Hagenbeck's show wa? 

 devastated and the lions and tigers were fed with the finest antelopes. 

 -Mso, Hamburg has been taken and devastated seven times by the "Allies," 

 but we know nothing (ft all these things and do hardly observe that Ger- 

 many is in war. It is true, one or the other article, which in times of 

 peace is more plenty in Germany, had a slight advance in price, but od 

 the wlioie things are as in normal times. 



What lies are scattered over the world in regard to Germany are unbeliev- 

 able ! A cablegram from Buenos Aires recently stated that a sea battle 

 had taken place near Mulhausen ; 36,000 Germans (the more the better) 

 killed, 90 ships lost. We have no notice of this, and Mulhausen is a place 

 high in the mountains. 



The latest news Is again that German soldiers are cruel. They bombard 

 cathedrals, the houses of God. I'es, certainly, if the Allies want churches 

 to remain houses of God they must abstain from placing machine guns in 

 the steeple of churches. If people do not want to be hanged they should 

 abstain from showing the enemy where our soldiers are. War is no ,% 

 o'clock tea ! And if we are said to wage a cruel war this is only a token 

 of their Impotence, as they are unable to resist our guns and men and 

 consequently more of them are killed than of our people. They com- 

 menced the war, not we, and if the English talk of our "militarism," 

 which is a necessity for us In view of the geographical and political situ- 

 ation, what is then the "marinism" of England, which at present behaves 

 Itself as the policeman of the world, and lias ever done so? Letters from 

 .\msterdam to Hamburg are opened by English censors and reach us with 

 a stamp in English langauge, "Opened by censor." Who grants England 

 the right to control letters from Holland to Germany? This would be the 

 same thing as if England controlled the letters from Chicago to Mexico. 

 The word impudent Is certainly not too much. 



With best wishes, and trusting that the war will be soon at an end, 

 and that the lumber business between Uncle Sam and the Fatherland can 

 soon be resumed with prospects for a good future, I beg to remain. 



Respectfully yours, A. Eiciii.er. 



There Is only one : John Bull ; he's wonderful, wonderful ! 



The women of Germany have not been slow to defend tlie gooJ 

 name of their country. The writings of Eicarda Huch and Clara 

 Vielig, upholding Germany in its war, have been widely read irt 

 .Vnierica. The latter has been called ' ' the George Eliot of Ger- 

 manj-. ' ' There is no mistaking the spirit of patriotism which 

 actuates the German women at this time; and the following letter is 

 proof that the spirit is no less strong among some who are German 

 by adoption only. The letter below, though coming from Germany, 

 was w ritten by a lady who was born in Missouri : 



Halle a. S. Germany, 18/1, 1915, Dessauerstr 5 b. 

 Hardwood Record, 



Chicago, 111. 



A Reuter telegram brought us a message of yonr paper, stating that lu 

 Germany sawdust mixed with rye flour is used for bread. Herewith I 

 would like to rectify that falsehood. It is like much that is written about 

 (iermany — untrue and false slander! 



In no country in the world are the food laws so severe and food pre- 

 parers subject to such close inspection and punishment as In Germany,, 

 and no German baker would dare to so grossly violate the above laws. 



I only hope that in case of the United States ever being Involved in such 

 a war as has come over Germany that the United States may be able to- 

 provide for the subsistence of its populace as well as the Germany govern- 

 ment has done since the beginning of the war. The prices for flour, feed 

 and most necessary articles for food and maintenance for the people are 

 llxod and the manner of usage regulated so that all people, rich and poor, 

 are well fed and cared for in spite of England's great effort to starve us 

 out. 



You do not seem to know that one of the greatest enemies that German 

 soldiers are obliged to battle with is Russian filth and French uncleanli- 

 ness. Every soldier coming from the battleflelds will tell you this; there- 



