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| Sunday, September 16th -- We are all up a little earlier than usual this morning and everybody is in a good humor and happy at the prospect of soon being at Jassy. At this writing we are only half hour's ride away. We crossed into Roumania this morning about 9:45. The river Jiu serves as the boundary line between Russia and Roumania. For the first time we see soldiers working in the fields. We have, just this second, stopped at the first Roumanian station. It is a good-looking two-story, smooth stucco building. The country in the distance is mountainous, but from the train we can see beautiful green fields where cattle and horses are grazing.
Colonel Anderson issued instructions that we are to leave the train according to rank and seniority -- meaning the Commission first, then the Staff, following by the Medical Unit and the Nurses Unit. We were met by high Roumanian Military officials and the Colonel assigned me to the job of assigning lodging space to the party. The Roumanians have secured living quarters for us in at least twenty or twenty-five residences, throughout the city. I assigned the Commission to the best rooms, according to information furnished, then placed the balance of the party to the best advantage possible, putting the Staff as near the Colonel as possible. I have as a roommate Schribman, who is a Roumanian by birth and First Lieutenant in our Medical Unit -- a very agreeable and likable fellow of about twenty-eight years of age. After making the assignments, an automobile was waiting for us and our Interpreter and I, with a Mr. Smith, an Englishman temporarily attached to the American Legation, but who represents the Standard Oil Company here, and the Romanian officer (Laptew), who was handling our party, went automobiling around the town -- part of the time in rain -- for about an hour. There are some beautiful buildings here but not many and stucco still predominates. I discovered that they use no cement at all in their stucco. It is mud with some kind of preparation simply plastered against the brick wall. It is always smooth finish and makes a very good-looking job. Upon returning to the train we had lunch, inviting Mr. Smith and the Roumanian officer to join us, which they did. After lunch we had to begin the real work of having baggage and persons moved to their various assignments. Ten automobiles were furnished by the Roumanian authorities, some Pierce Arrows and the others were of very good make) for this purpose. There are a number of automobiles here because Jassy is headquarters for not only the Roumanian Army but also this part of the Russian Army. The automobiles are, however, in very bad shape, needing all kinds of replacements, tires, etc., which are very difficult to obtain, if not almost impossible. We finally got everybody out with their baggage and then with Connes, as Interpreter, I paid out some R3,000. as tips to the waiters, cooks, porters and four soldiers who had accompanied us from Harbin, Manchuria. This done, we started off for our quarters. I might mention here that across all of Russia, we did not have to pay railroad fares, nor did we have to pay for the dining car service -- this was all a courtesy of the Russian Government. I am writing from the room now. Any number of times, while we were en route, we were told we would never reach Roumania, but this Commission is composed of men, who, when they start out to do a thing, believe in sticking until that particular thing is accomplished -- and here we are (all that started) in Roumania on the job (with the one exception, of course, of our Secretary & Treasurer who was sent to Archangel). We had expected really to camp out and be eaten up with lice and many other dreadful and unmentionable things, but here I am in a really beautiful room with twin beds, an adjoining tub and shower, and all of the conveniences of home. The room is beautifully equipped and the people are very nice. It is really great to sit down on a real Davenport that sinks with the weight of your body and look around at lovely mahogany furniture, electric lights, a handsome wardrobe, dresser and mirrors everywhere. This is not half bad. If our luck holds out, we will not need our sleeping bags, rubber sheets, Jaeger caps, etc., any more than we would need them at home. It is now seven o'clock in the evening and they are to send an automobile for us to take us to some place to dinner, where we will again meet the balance of our party. Later -- About eight o'clock we were called for by automobile and after collecting others of our party from various sections of the city, we were ushered into the Staff Headquarters of the Roumanian Army. Here we had dinner with the high Army officials. A Roumanian Colonel was at the head of the table and a Russian General opposite him. I was to the General's left. On my left was a great broad shouldered Canadian, who is a Civil Engineer, but has been in Russia for his Government in charge of transport business of a strictly military character. We had a good dinner of bouillon, meat, potatoes, apples (served in an attractive and palatable manner with sauce) another dessert of some kind, wine and coffee. A great start for a country starving to death (we very quickly settled down to normal food allowances, however -- this was our reception meal). We were surprised to find that many of these officers spoke English. The Russian General spoke English to some extent and, of course, the Canadian, and several others. These two were the only ones with whom I could converse on account of location. In our party we have at least five who can speak French, one can speak Roumanian, and a few speak German, but no conversations are carried on in the last-mentioned tongue. We discovered that we had been expected to lunch the same day, but there was some hitch, as we knew nothing about it. We are to dine here regularly until further instructed. All of the officers were particularly nice to us and seemed really delighted at our presence. This meal-time business, we found, was quite a formality. Upon entering the mess hall, it is customary to bow to each gentleman (each officer, of course, as there were no civilians dining here), first of course to the Colonel, and everybody remains standing at or near his chair until the Colonel takes a seat, then we all may sit down. After once seated, things run along rather smoothly, until the demitasse -- everybody smokes, but no one is supposed to light up until the Colonel has performed. Then, no matter how great a hurry you may be in, it is necessary to sit there and wait until the Colonel arises. The Colonel, however, is the last one to leave the room, everyone leaving according to rank and bowing very low to the Colonel and the others before going out and frequently shaking hands with everybody as you pass by them, in addition to the bow. This is all right if you have to do it only once in a while, but to go through with this same procedure every day twice a day, is bound to cultivate in this bunch of Americans more politeness than they ever dreamed of having before. It is tiresome, but probably very good for us. After dinner, I was told by our Roumanian officer guide that Colonel Anderson had instructed him to call for me in the morning and we would proceed to the Colonel's house, thence to the Prime Minister’s. I am to do a great many interesting things and likewise meet some very interesting people, due to the fact that I am acting as Secretary to the Commission. We walked around for a while after dinner and went to a moving picture show. This, I understand, is the only thing to be done in Jassy (pronounced Yassy) at night. It is a town of about eighty to eighty-five thousand population in normal times, but is now crowded to over three hundred thousand -- some say five hundred thousand -- people. In an American city, it would be impossible to stretch the capacity of a city to this extent for any considerable length of time, but Jassy is built on a spread-eagle scale, and in war times, refugees have to be taken care of. It is remarkable that we have been taken care of so nicely, and none of us yet understand exactly how it was accomplished. The streets, both sidewalks and the middle of the streets, are usually paved in one way or another. There is a streetcar line, but the cars run only at certain hours of the day. They are operated by women of the peasant class. Cusa Voda is one of the most prominent streets and the King's Palace is located on this thoroughfare. The buildings are, practically without exception, two stories and lack architectural beauty -- apparently no attempt in this direction has been made, except of course in some instances. There are, of course, some handsome buildings, but they are rare. Most of the streets are narrow. The streets are filled at all hours of the day with men in uniform and we are kept busy returning salutes. It is a rare sight to see a man in citizen clothes and, even then, you find he is doing some sort of government work. To bed about midnight. My bed has a wonderful quilt of yellow and white silk and it is as warm as a very heavy blanket. Monday, September 17th - Up this morning about eight o'clock. Breakfast served in our room. It consists of tea and bread -- no butter, as it is a scarce article, and the bread is black. To our surprise, a little sugar was furnished. I am now waiting for the automobile. Upon arrival at the Legation, I found that the American Minister, Mr. Vopicka, has provided a large room for the Secretarial Staff as an office and things are beginning to move along in some shape. Colonel Anderson has arranged to have us properly supplied with automobiles, interpreters, and, through the American Minister, is beginning to get in touch with the Roumanian authorities, with a view to getting real business started. It is finally definitely decided that we will make Jassy our headquarters. We have stored our carload of medical, surgical and food supplies in a warehouse, which the Roumanians term a magazine. This is probably large enough to take care of the additional supplies which will be escorted by our Secretary and Treasurer from Archangel, and which were, as before mentioned, shipped to us from the States. We find by talking to the people here, many of whom speak French, Russian and German, but only a few English, that last Winter soldiers died by regiments from Typhus, and the hearses and vehicles of every character were busy night and day taking care of burials, and, finally, it was necessary to resort to the more primitive way of burying the dead, by digging long trenches and depositing the bodies, without coffins. It must have been appalling! They are very bitter against the Russians. They claim, and it seems rightly [so], that the Russians would fight for a while and then simply stop, allowing the Germans to get so far east that they feared even for Jassy. This necessitated the transfer of Roumanian troops to cover positions supposed to be taken care of by the Russians. The Russian soldiers who are here now were supposed to bring their rations with them, and now they are here living off of the country, crippled as badly as it is. Only a very small portion of Roumania is in the hands of Roumania, and, most naturally, the part in the hands of the enemy is the desirable part -- where all of their oil wells are and where the wheat is grown and where they stored their supplies of all kinds. Tuesday, September 18th - Breakfast served in our room this morning by the stout and barefoot maid of all work, consisted of very good butter, war bread and hot tea. The Roumanians -- while having some large and handsome buildings in Jassy, commercial as well as residential -- make apparently no effort in most cases for exterior beauty, but the interiors of the homes are very lovely. For instance, two of our men have a room together in a house very near me. The entrance is an alley, or drive-way, of rough stones, where there seems always to be water and mud, or both. This alley way is really an entrance to probably five or six houses scattered in the rear and to the right and left, and all built closely together. One naturally does not expect much of the interior. After climbing an enclosed and not prepossessing stairway, you find yourself on a kind of long veranda (this is of course all in the rear). You enter the rooms from this veranda and it is surprising to find them very handsomely appointed and well arranged. The front room, which is used as a bed room by our two men, is as large as an ordinary ball room, with pattern hardwood floor, tapestries on the walls, full length mirrors, twin beds, desk, etc. None of these houses have a front porch. Many have balconies at the second floor front. At our home this evening one of the young ladies gave a card party to about twelve people, including Roumanian officers, all of whom were connected with the Red Cross. Two tables were kept going with poker, playing a minimum limit of one lei (a little less than ten cents). I did not play poker because I was really afraid the limit would be the sky, as these people are great gamblers. I played first a game of checkers with one of Mrs. Shouberg's daughters (Mrs. Shouberg is our hostess), but she did not know the game. In fact, it does not seem to be known in Roumania. Then we had one long game of Chess, in which I finally came out the victor, not due to my skill, but to the fact that I was not only assisted by my opponent, but also by her sister. There were several Roumanian girls present, one in particular a beauty -- oval face, black hair, large brown eyes and wonderful play of expression. All of the girls here use rouge and some of the young officers also use it. I found, to my surprise, four of the party, two men and two of the ladies, understood a little English, but it was necessary to speak very slowly. This card party was held in the room assigned to us and the adjoining room, the doors being thrown open. I enjoyed it very much, but, of course, could not enter into it to any great extent. Most of us have become accustomed to hearing unknown languages spoken around us and know absolutely nothing about what the people are either saying or thinking. To hear English, spoken without [being] badly mixed up French or Roumanian, we have to seek out one of our comrades. We have become hardened to this and can now really enjoy ourselves in foreign company by watching and studying their faces and very peculiar motions and shrugs. This party, however, lasted a little too long for me. They left about three o’clock in the morning. Nothing had been served on account of the shortage of food supplies and there was nothing to drink. My room is in the Bank of Muldavia -- The second floor of the bank building consists of two apartments, one on each side of the building. My room is in the front of the building, facing the street. Our hostess’ husband is an Austrian and the Roumanian authorities have him in a detention camp. The city is so overcrowded that every room not in actual and essential use is commandeered by the Government to take care of refugees, as well as military officers Roumanian, English, French, Russian, and American. Clean laundry looked good this morning, as there had been no opportunity of getting any washing done while we were en route across Russia, and our supply was naturally completely exhausted. We also found it very difficult to have it done here. A permit has to be secured by the Government to purchase wood for a fire and soap is almost unobtainable. We were lucky in finding that the maid at our house had some wood and soap, but we are to replace it. Money is no good here at all, as there is absolutely nothing in the stores. There are thousands in Roumania who have absolutely no underclothing, no socks, or shoes, and they can not be purchased here. Russia is the nearest place; so we expect some of us will be selected to go to Odessa, Kiev, Moscow or Petrograd to buy large supplies of one kind or another. Wednesday, September 19th -- Up this morning about eight o’clock. Had tea and bread, no butter. Nothing of special importance today. I was nearly starved at lunch, and the wine, which we have at every meal instead of water, had some little effect on account of an empty stomach. Not that I felt uncomfortable, but I knew I had drunk wine. The lunch was very good, or rather seems so to me because of my hunger. We had cabbage (different in taste from our cabbage and not so white), a kind of Brunswick stew with meat and a few vegetables, a pastry and coffee. Much talk with the Generals and Colonels and back to the Legation. I believe I overlooked saying that upon our arrival in Jassy, September 16th, and while we were out looking at the city, our freight car, with all of our medical, surgical and food supplies was detached from our train. Upon our return its loss was discovered and we were all greatly chagrined and worried, because we had brought these supplies fifteen thousand miles, only to lose them upon our arrival at our destination. Mr Ertell immediately got very busy and found that the Russians had taken it down the road, claiming it as their own, through error, and we finally got it back the same night. Everybody rested a whole lot easier, but that night -- and since -- we have had a guard placed over the supplies, which are now in the magazine. Mr. Laptew, the Roumanian officer, who has been looking after us, visited my room tonight and talked very interestingly for an hour or so. Mr. Laptew speaks English fluently. He advised me that the population of Roumania before the war was about eight million and the Army about six hundred thousand. The present Army is only about three hundred thousand under arms. He estimated deaths of Roumanians, both military and civil, during the war, at about three hundred thousand, or nearly four per cent. of the entire population. This is equivalent to a country having a population of one hundred millions losing four millions. Only Roumanians can own real estate in Roumania. A stranger, or foreigner, may own a house or building, but not ground. Another interesting thing is that should a Roumanian lady marry a foreigner, she would have to sell her lands and her children would not be Roumanians; but, at the proper age, they could become naturalized. However, should a Roumanian gentleman marry a foreign lady, the children would be Roumanians and the land would, of course, continue along in the family. Mr. Laptew is by profession an Agricultural Engineer, and is familiar with American machines for agricultural work. He says they have not been in use in Roumania to any great extent because of cheap labor, but after the war America should be able to sell large quantities of this machinery because labor will be scarce. Roumania, prior to the war, was only about one half the size it has been. Russia has a good slice and Austria the balance; and it was with the hope and probably the promise of the return of all or a large portion of this long lost territory, that she entered the war. At the present writing, instead of gaining territory, she has lost about three to four-fifths of what she had when she entered the war. He also stated that a law has just been passed here giving the land to the peasants. No one person will be allowed to own more than one thousand acres, while there are now many who own many times that acreage. He says the peasants are not able to pay for it, and in his opinion are too lazy to work what they already have. He understands the financial scheme to be that the Government will issue bonds and pay for the land with these bonds -- bearing possibly three or three and a half per cent. and turn the land over to the peasants. It sounds more like Russia than Roumania. There are a great many Jews in Roumania but they have absolutely no rights. This is the law, and after the war it is very likely that the Jew will be given some consideration in the readjustment of affairs. This afternoon about six o’clock, several of us were invited to have tea with Minister Vopicka. We not only had tea and toast, but also jam, and it was really a treat as it seems we are always hungry now presumably because of the lack of a proper breakfast. I eat very little breakfast at home, but there is a great deal of difference between hot tea and black bread fort breakfast and hot coffee, eggs and bread and butter. If you don’t believe it, try it for a week. In answer to his inquiries we told the Minister what we had for breakfast and he told us to come to the Legation for breakfast, but of course we will not do this. It seems that we make a whole lot of fuss over this breakfast matter. It isn’t that we are starving, but the fact that it is so strange and that it breaks into a life-long habit, besides there is not a great deal of nourishment in what we are served at the Staff Headquarters. The Minister is best described as a jolly fellow well-met, a rough diamond, and a worker. He is doing wonders in the way of co-operating with the Commission in its work here and goes after things in a thoroughly American fashion and produces results. After Mr. Laptew left me, about 10:30 P.M., Schribman came in and Mrs. Shouberg invited us into her room and we were favored with some cantaloupe. It is a very large cantaloupe, nearly as large as a watermelon and very good. It is now 11:30 and I must retire. Thursday, September 20th -- Nothing of particular importance today. Two groups of our Commissioners will make trips this week to points near the front investigating matters regarding the location of a hospital. The Colonel is extremely busy with the various heads of the government, as well as the King and Queen. He and the Queen are very frequently seen, unaccompanied except by the Chauffeur automobiling to the various sections, personally investigating conditions. We have been advised that our entire party will be granted an audience by the Queen tomorrow morning and several of the boys are very much excited over it. A meeting will be held today in the Colonel’s rooms of the Commissioners, which I will have to attend. As it will be at 9:00 P.M., I will be tied up for the rest of the evening. I bought some Roumanian money today, eleven lei for a dollar, or one lei about nine cents. Their money compares with ours as follows: Bani -- Cents Lei -- Dollars Ordinarily a lei is worth twenty cents, the same as a Franc. No one in our entire party has yet received any mail. The Minister, Mr. Vopicka, has received postal card advices from Petrograd of mail shipments and he is wiring Petrograd to send on the sacks by courier, and we hope to receive some news from home shortly. While we are seeing new and strange things and are kept pretty busy, as the days pass by without mail, we all are becoming a little unhappy. A mass of information has been requested from the Government here in the form of a Questionnaire, to enable the Commission to carry on its work intelligently. It looks as though the Commission will return to the States within about six weeks or two months, arriving home possibly by Christmas, provided they go via the Atlantic through Norway and Sweden. Friday, September 21st -- We all met at the Legation today at 10:30 A.M., as this is the day of the presentation to the Queen. There was naturally an undercurrent of excitement. Everybody was as neat as they could be, with uniforms pressed, hair clipped, or trimmed, shoes and belts polished, etc., ready for the great event. Eventually, off we went marching in a body to the Queen’s Palace -- which is a temporary palace, as the real palace is at Bucharest, which place is now in the hands of the enemy. The Minister and the Colonel lead, the Minister on the right and the Colonel on the left, then the Commissioners, Staff, Doctors and Nurses, all by twos. We passed on through the gates, being saluted at every turn. In this connection I might mention that the Roumanians are very serious in the matter of salutes, and Jassy, now being a military post for the Russians as well as the Roumanians, one is kept busy saluting whenever one is on the streets. The Russian soldiers, since their new state of freedom, salute no one, not even their own officers. This seems a very bad start indeed for liberty. Download 399.67 Kb. Share with your friends:
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