Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1918 — BELGIUM PLUNDERED AND TORTURED BY THE WAR-MAD GERMAN MILITARY [ARTICLE]

BELGIUM PLUNDERED AND TORTURED BY THE WAR-MAD GERMAN MILITARY

Never Has There Been Brigandage So-Methodical or So CompleteWar Contributions Alone slave Drained the Country of Money Raw Materials and AH Economic Equipment Carried Off—Famine Now Threatens.

Washington.—The people of the United States have a general idea of the awful condition existing in Belgium on account of the invasion of the Huns. Stories of atrocities have been published and it is one -unforgivable fact against the Germans that they can make no explanation for the outrageous treatment they have inflicted upon the Inoffensive people of a small, weak nation. If there was no other reason for keeping the war'spirit alive in the United States, until the wrongs of Belgium were under process of being righted, those wrongs would cry aloud to every decent-thinking person and make them insist that the war shall go on to a successful conclusion, and further that the perpetrators of the hideous deeds in Belgium be punished. The official Belgian information service has procured facts showing the sltuatiop of the Belgian territory occupied by the Germans at the present time. Not all of the stories that have been published from time to time give euch a complete summary of actual conditions as this statement compiled from the latest reports which show the great "necessity to continue the work that has been carried on for more than three years In America for the relief of the people in Belgium. It seems almost incredible that any nation calling itself civilized could inflict upon the people of a small nation the horrors which are described in the following. The Material Suffering. r In the material domain never has there been seen brigandage so methodical or so complete. War contributions alone have, up to the present time, drained the country of nearly two billions of francs. These are still being collected to the amount of sixty million francs a month. To this sum must be added fines upon scores of thousands of individuals and the levies and fines imposed upon the filmiest pretexts, upon numerous localities, the total of which amounts to several, hundred millions. The deposits of the national bank and the Genera? Society of Belgium, amounting to four, hundred thirty millions of marks were seized. The stocks of raw materials, the machinery, in short all the economic equipment have been requisitioned and carried away. At the beginning of 1915 the German depredations in Belgium were estimated at eight billion francs. It would be difficult to make even an approximate estimate of them today. The invaders have plundered and are often demolishing the factories, not only to send the machinery and the old Iron to Germany, but for the avowed purpose of ruining Belgian industry after the war. They are now plundering private domiciles. Their spoliations extend to bedding, clothing, casseroles, window knobs, rods and objects of art. All that centuries of a high civilization and long years of labor had accumulated In the country has been devoured by the monster. The bells in many churches, the statues in the public squares of Alost and’ Mons and the monuments in many cemeteries have been sent to the foundry. The systematic destruction of the forests goes on, on a large scale. More than two thousand barges have been seized. Horses have practically disappeared. Famine and Diseases. The cessation of labor, the obstacles placed to the employment of those without work, the requisitions of machinery and cattle, as well as vexations of all sorts have once more evoked that plague which we believed to have been forever overcome In Europe—famine. Working in close co-operation with i the Belgian and allied governments, the commission for relief in Belgium has striven by all possible means tc lessen its horrors and to facilitate the enormous task assumed by the national committee on food supply. In 1917 it has been confronted by stupendous dlffictilties; importations fell far short of needs, tonnage was lacking. and the enemy mercilessly torpe-

doed more than one relief vessel. The commission for relief in Belgium has made the most energetic efforts to assume a food supply and there has been a marked improvement over the past months. In November, for the first time in a long period, the national committee for relief and food supply has received more supplies than Its schedule called for. There are fair prospects for the shipment of all supplies called for by the schedule during the first quarter of 1918. If, however, the famine which seemed to threaten for the winter has been averted, the situation is still far from favorable, because of the great debilitation and general undernourishment of the population. According to people who are in a position to know, the population has unfortunately received only 14 per cent of the necessary fats and 29 per cent of the necessary starches, hence a serious condition of undernourishment and a constant "undermining of the general health. The securing of food Is the principal concern of all Belgians, rich as well as poor. Half the people must depend for food upon the soup kitchens organized by the national committee. The poor are obliged to stand in line, in order to obtain the portions allotted by the commission for the relief in Belgium. The wealthy have to pay exorbitant prices in order to procure the most indispensable articles. Those of the middle classes are most to be pitied, for they have too much pride to go to the soup kitchens and not enough money to buy food, with sugar at 90 cents a pound, flour at $1 a pound, beef at $1.50 a pound, fat at $2 a pound, butter at $3 a pound, chocolate at $4 a pound, coffee at $5 a pound, eggs from 16 to 22 cents each, and potatoes at $9 to sl3 a bushel. Only five pounds of potatoes are allowed a week, but the amount available is much less than this amount. People raise rabbits and eat dog. Tobacco has been replaced by strawberry leaves. People are rarely able to get enough to eat to satisfy hunger, and the, consequences of such

a regime become more and more alarming from the point of view of the public health. Tuberculosis has increased by leaps and bounds? at number of cases has increased 1,000 per cent.- All kinds of epidemics have claimed numberless victims, especially among children of two to ten years of age. Loss of weight, is general. The death rate has greatly increased. In one week Antwerp reported 104 deaths as against 37 births; Brussels 59 against 17. In some localities the death rate Is three times the normal rate. Forced Labor. The deportations' in condemning to slavery more than 100,000 of our fel-low-citizens, have still further added to the general distress. Husbands have been torn from their wives, and sons from their mothers; courageous workmen refusing to allow the labor of their hands to be used against their country, have been beaten, subjected to treatment the horror of which surpasses anything that has been seen heretofore, and sent back dying, to their native village. Ten per cent have died in Germany and many do not long survive their return to Belgium. < In March, 1917, the kaiser promised that the deportation to Germany’ would cease, but tne military authorities are constantly carrying off men, who are given hard work,- often behind the front. Information from a camp in Athus (Luxemburg) shows that the • food was so insufficient that the numbed of those there put to work was soon reduced to half. In spite of this, the same amount of work was required, so thfit a double task fell upon those who survived. The sanitary conditions in that camp are described as horrible. Abuses are especially frequent in. Flanders. Recalcitrants are sent to dangerous work at the front. Some of the men who have been requisitioned try to escape. In such cases the military authority imposes heavy fines upon the communes from which they come, arrests, in the streets, even in the churches, men who are held as hostages and after a few days sent to the front to replace those who escaped. A man who leaves his home for any reason is never sure of returning to it. Relatives, women, old men and children are arrested in their houses and imprisoned until the return of the fugitives. As disclosed from journals taken from German prisoners and from reports received through Holland, even women and girls are forced to dig trenches, to repair the roads, and to do other military works, often under the artillery fire. In Blankenberghe and other places boys of twelve years of age are placed at work of military character,. Moral Sufferings and Endurance. Successive attacks were and still are being made upon the Belgian people and its liberties. With impressive unanimity the bishops, headed by Cardinal Mercler, the constituent bodies, the notabilities of the political world, without distinction of par®, the magistracy, the bar, the universities have guided the public spirit. There Is no better witness to the bitterness of the struggle than the sanguinary activity of the exceptional courts created by the Germans to force the Belgians to obedience. German statistics show that for one year only there had already been more than 200.000 convictions. The judicial drama in which Miss Cavell perished is being constantly repeated, and not a week passes but that patriots fall before the bullets of a firing squad. On one day at Ghent, eighteen, of whom three were women, were put to death. The, long list of martyrs includes hundreds of names from all classes of society, from all the professions, from all ages, men, women, anj) even children. And If the executions have been by hundreds, the imprisonments and penal deportations have been by thousands.