Part 28 (1/2)
Consequently every man was certain to secure something of what he needed, irrespective of his financial circ.u.mstances.
The camp government also embarked upon trading operations. Shops were erected, one or two at a time, until at last we had a row of emporiums.
The requisite material was bought from the Germans or from home with money drawn from the camp treasury. It must not be forgotten that the Teuton authorities resolutely refused to supply us with a single thing, declined to partic.i.p.ate in any improvements, and refused to contribute a penny to defray the cost of any enterprise which was considered imperative to ameliorate our conditions. Indeed they robbed us right and left, as I will narrate later. By building shops in this manner we were able to boast a Bond Street, from which in a short time radiated other thoroughfares which were similarly christened after the fas.h.i.+onable streets of London--we had a strange penchant for the West-End when it came to naming our streets. The result is that to-day Ruhleben can point to its Fleet Street, its Trafalgar Square, and so on.
Goods were purchased for the various departments according to the specialities of the shops--boots for the bootshop, clothes for the clothiers and groceries for the provision stores. The communal government selected competent men to take charge of these establishments at a weekly salary of five s.h.i.+llings. Every shop in the camp, with the exception of a very few, such as mine in which I specialised in engraving, the ticket-writers and so forth, belonged to the community and were run by the community for the benefit of the community. No prisoner was permitted to launch out upon his own account as a shopkeeper if he intended to deal in a necessity. Only those trades which involved no stock or might be described as luxuries were permitted to be under individual management for individual profit.
As the inter-trading in the camp developed we were able to purchase large stocks of essentials, and it was astonis.h.i.+ng to observe the prosperity with which our trading endeavours flourished. Great Britain has always been contemptuously described by our commercial rivals as a nation of shop-keepers, and in Ruhleben Camp we offered our German authorities, right under their very noses, the most powerful ill.u.s.tration of this national characteristic, and brought home to them very conclusively the fact that our national trait is no empty claim.
Thousands of pounds sterling were pa.s.sed over the counters every week.
While the shops dealt only in what might be termed necessities for our welfare, we were able to procure almost any article we desired. A ”Special Order Department” was created to which we took our orders for special articles not stocked in the camp. If the order, upon scrutiny by the authorities, was deemed to be reasonable and did not infringe the prohibited list, the arrival of the goods in due course was certain.
The value of this system of managing the colony may be ill.u.s.trated from one example, typical of many, which reflects credit upon the captains and civic organising committee. b.u.t.ter was a luxury and could not be purchased in the camp for less than 3s. 2d. per pound. Yet this figure was decidedly below that ruling in the shops of Berlin for this article of food. Under these circ.u.mstances one might wonder how we were able to sell b.u.t.ter at a cheaper figure than the native tradesmen, and readers might be disposed to entertain the opinion that here, at all events, we did receive a valuable concession from the German authorities. But it was no such thing. The camp treasury secured a quotation for b.u.t.ter and at once realised that the terms were far too high for the prisoners as a whole. Consequently they decided to place this and margarine upon sale at attractive and possible prices. The purchasing department was allotted a certain figure for purchasing, but as this was insufficient the difference in the prime cost was taken from the common fund. Hence we never paid more than 3s. 2d. per pound retail in the camp, although the price was soaring in Berlin, so long as the article was obtainable.
This division of the cost between the communal shop and the common fund brought b.u.t.ter within the reach of those who otherwise would have had to be content with dry bread, because very few of us could have afforded the luxury had Berlin prices prevailed in Ruhleben. Incidentally the price of b.u.t.ter serves to convey a tangible idea of the economic conditions reached in Germany and that within nine months of the outbreak of hostilities!
When the prisoners discovered that they could obtain the majority of things which serve to make life bearable even under depressing and oppressive conditions they commenced to launch out in the acquisition of things for improving creature comfort. With the money drawn from the banks and other inst.i.tutions they purchased beds, cupboards, utensils, electric reading lamps, clothes, and what not to render their living quarters attractive and to improve their personal appearance and conditions. This extra work threw a heavy strain upon the clerical department which, within a short time, demanded organisation. The position of auditor was a.s.sumed by J----, who gathered a competent staff, and they worked like Trojans on behalf of the camp. Many times, while on night patrol as a policeman, I found J---- and his a.s.sistants burning the midnight oil at 1 a.m., straightening out the accounts and posting the books of the treasury. He and his staff deserve the greatest credit for the high-spirited manner in which and the hours they worked on behalf of their fellow-prisoners.
The shop-keeping industry received a decided impetus when the British Emergency Relief Fund was inaugurated. Under this scheme, five s.h.i.+llings per week were paid regularly through the American Emba.s.sy to all prisoners who were in need of financial a.s.sistance.
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Notwithstanding the elaborate precautions which had been brought into operation to ensure that this relief should get only into deserving hands, the fact remains that up to the day of my departure it was being paid directly into the pockets of some of our enemies. The scheme had been brought into operation some little while, when one morning, upon parade, the authorities requested all those who sympathised with the German cause to step out. Many, doubtless thinking that here was the opportunity to secure preferential treatment or the golden chance to obtain release from the Prison Camp of Abandoned Hope, answered the call. The numbers were appreciable, but as they advanced from the lines they were a.s.sailed by vicious hooting, groaning and hissing from the others who were resolved to maintain their patriotism at all hazards.
Still it was an excellent move upon the part of the Germans. It eliminated dangerous enemies from our midst.
But if the pro-Germans, now chuckling merrily and rubbing their hands with childish delight, considered their release to be imminent they received a very rude awakening. The German authorities are not readily gulled. To them a pro-German is every whit as dangerous as an avowed enemy. They merely marched these traitors to another part of the camp where they were forced to re-establish themselves in their own isolated barrack quarters. They received no improvement in treatment or food. The only difference between the two divisions of what is now described as the ”split camp” is that whereas the true Britishers are free to sing ”Rule, Britannia,” ”G.o.d Save the King,” and other patriotic songs, the traitors have to while away their time singing ”Die Wacht am Rhein,”
”Deutschland Uber Alles,” and other German jingo melodies.
The position of the traitors became aggravated a little later, when they learned that the German authorities were quite ready to release them upon one simple condition--that they joined the German Army! I am ashamed to say that some of them even took advantage of this infamous avenue of escape. But the majority, after their dropped jaws and long faces resumed their normal positions, thought they might just as well change their national coat once more.
Some of these scoundrels, after openly enlisting under the German banner, did not disavow their pension but coolly continued to draw the five s.h.i.+llings per week. Moreover, in one instance at least, one of these scapegoats after declaring his pro-German proclivities was enabled to return to England as an exchanged prisoner. I could reveal unpalatable truths concerning the laxity of our authorities in dealing with the exchange of prisoners, but the moment is not opportune.
One day one of these renegades came to my booth to have some engraving carried out. He asked me a price and I quoted half a crown. To my surprise he urged me to make it five s.h.i.+llings. Somewhat astonished I suggested that the work was not worth five s.h.i.+llings and that my estimate was perfectly fair.
”Oh, it doesn't matter,” he replied, laughing gaily. ”I draw five s.h.i.+llings from the British Prisoners' Relief Fund, which I never spend because I don't want it, and one week's draw might just as well pay for this job!”
I was so exasperated by this cool confession from the ”P.-G.”--our colloquialism for a pro-German--that I whipped round my bench and confronted the amiable traitor. We commenced to argue, I told him what I thought about him, words grew hot and soon the fur commenced to fly. He landed out at me and then I pitched into him unmercifully. It was useless for him to appeal for help. We knew every ”P.-G.” among us and he was now fairly in the hands of the Philistines. My colleagues merely gathered round, jeering and cheering like mad as I got some stinging blows home. The renegade subsequently slunk off rather badly battered, only to act quite up to his traitorous principles. After being thrashed in fair fight he crawled off to one of the German officers to whom he explained in a wheedling, piteous voice that he had been a.s.saulted and went in fear of his life.
The officer came over to me and accused me of fighting. I explained the whole circ.u.mstances, emphasising the fact that the sneaking, drivelling humbug was drawing five s.h.i.+llings from the British Pension Fund and yet was parading and voicing his anti-British sentiments far and wide, when there were many admitted and honourable British prisoners walking about and in greater need of the money. The officer was evidently impressed with my point of view and undoubtedly concurred in my contention that my att.i.tude was perfectly justified.
At all events he unostentatiously and unconsciously betrayed his opinion of a pro-German. He never uttered a word of reprimand to me; the discomfited ”P.-G.” was advised to make himself scarce; and although I had been guilty of the grave offence of fighting I never heard another word about the incident. It is evident that the officer in his own mind concluded that the less he said about the episode the better. Still I had got satisfaction. I had given one of our enemies a drubbing which he would not forget in a hurry.
Yet the one fact remains. At the time I left the camp there were several of these whimpering, cold-footed, British Judas Iscariots still drawing unblus.h.i.+ngly their five s.h.i.+llings per week! I might add that this const.i.tuted one of the greatest scandals of the camp, and precipitated a feeling of smouldering rebellion, not against the German authorities, but against the traitors who did not refrain from attempting to fraternise with us after the diabolical repudiation of their nationality. It was fortunate these back-boneless, long-faced and drooping-mouthed Britons were forced to live away from us; otherwise I am afraid there would have been some tragedies and endless fighting.
Another rule of the camp somewhat grated upon our nerves. We opened several canteens which we stocked with our own goods, and operated upon communal lines so that the prisoners might secure ample food-stuffs.
Naturally these articles were sold to the men at the lowest possible prices. But to our dismay we learned afterwards that they might have been sold at a lower figure had the German military not demanded a commission, or perhaps it should be called a ”royalty” upon the turnover of 7 per cent.! This applied equally to the ”Special Order Department,”
and I am afraid, if the subject were probed to the bottom, it would be found that every article sold in Ruhleben--fully ninety per cent. of which probably would be construed as articles saleable from the canteen if shops were unavailable--contributes its toll of seven-and-a-half per cent. to the German authorities. When one recalls the thousands sterling which pa.s.s through the shops and canteens during the course of the week, the German officials must have derived a handsome revenue from this iniquitous practice. If all the camps were mulcted in the manner of Ruhleben, looking after the British prisoners must be an extremely lucrative occupation.
This scandalous impost hit us at every turn. It meant that we had to pay for every article and through the nose at that. For instance, the Camp Committee laid down a house equipped with four large boilers to supply boiling water, which we had to fetch, and with which we were able to brew beverages and soups in the secrecy of our barracks. We purchased this convenience, of which the Germans took a proportion, so that we really paid a prohibitive price for the water which we consumed! _The supply of hot water, no matter for what purpose, was construed by the Germans as coming within the business of the canteen!_ Shower baths were also introduced, the cost being defrayed out of the camp treasury. I wonder if the British authorities follow a similar practice among the German internment camps in this country? It is an excellent method of making the prisoner pay for his own board and lodging.