Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 147, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1918 — DEATH RATE IN BELGIUM IS HIGH [ARTICLE]

DEATH RATE IN BELGIUM IS HIGH

Under German Occupation, 111 Treatment and Poor Food Kill Thousands. WORSE THAN AN EPIDEMIC Mortality in Civil Life Greater Than on Battlefield —Situation Can Only Be Worse, Says Legation— One Execution Daily. Washington.—The existing death rate in Belgium is as high as at the time of the most terrible epidemics and greater than that on the, battle field, due to the extremities to which German occupation has reduced the country. In addition, at least one Belgian dally is executed by the German authorities, according to a statement made public by the Belgian legation. The statement came from Havre and read as follows: “Not taking into account the losses on the field of battle Belgium has suffered heavily in Its civilian population through the Invasion and occupation of Its territory by the Germans. “1. Civilians killed during the invasion, August-September, 1914 —Although we are not’ yet in possession of a complete list of the civilians killed by the Germans during those fateful days, we know the number of victims to be well over 5,000. For the following provinces we have approximate estimates: Namur, more than 1.800; Luxembourg about 1,200; Liege, more than 1,000; Brabant, 897; Hainaut, about 300. Most of these victims fell In the towns where, under pretext of the existence of sharpshooters, German fury knew no limits. Dinant counted 606 victims; Andenne, more than 200; Tamlnes, more than 400; Louvain, 210; Aerschot, about 150; Namur, about 75. Deportees’ Death Rate High. “2. Among the deportees the mortality resulting from privations, 111 treatment, underfeeding, etc., exceeds largely the normal percentage of deaths. Some, too, have met death on the battle fields, where the Germans forced them to do auxiliary work. If we possess ample information about individual places and undeniable testimony on the broken health of the returned deportees in general, we are, however, unable to quote figures. “3. The electrified wire which makes the Belgians prisoners in their own country accounts for a great number of victims, especially among young people, who try to escape in order to Join the army, or among couriers, who try to smuggle news in or out of Belgium. In less than a year, between August, 1916, and July, 1917, 160 persons were electrocuted. Since then the average number of victims has increased, owing to'the strengthening of the guards and the putting up of new wires. “4. The deatli penalty? pronounced by the German military courts for crimes of patriotism, levies a heavy toll on the population. It is estimated that each day one Belgian at least suffers the supreme penalty. “The unsatisfactory food situation, due to the requisition of the homegrown foodstuffs and the sinking of many relief ships, the use of unsuitable substitutes, the lack of fuel, as a result of the exploitation by Germany for her own consumption, and for exportation, of the Belgian coal fields, has dangerously increased the death rate. “Deaths from hunger and cold are not unusual, but it is mostly indirectly that the underfeeding of the population causes numerous premature leaths, for, through lack Of physical strength, many people are subject to rickets or pretuberculosis, and so become unable to resist slight illness which, under normal conditions, would not prove fatal. As to the bad effect of unsuitable substitutes, it will suf-

fice to recall the diseases contracted by the deportees through the use of raw rutabagas and the paralysis of the brain and of the marrow or the special kind of jaundice provoked by the use of lupin seeds as a substitute for coffee berries. White Plague Prevalent. “The death rate all over Belgium, but especially in the large towns, is as high as at the time of the most terrible epidemics. A Brussels paper, appearing with the consent of the German censorship, admits that ‘there are more civilian dead from lack of sufficient food than Belgian soldiers fallen on the battlefield.’ On the other hand, a report on the ‘Work of the War Orphans’ in Belgium shows that in 1917 there were fewer orphans of soldiers fallen in the war than of civilians killed during the same period and of deportees dead in consequence of their deportation. “Cardiac affections and cerebral hemorrhages account for the greater part of the deaths, tuberculosis, especially under the form of tubercular meningitis, for almost as many. Typhoid lever, caused by the occupying army, has occasionally levied a heavy toll on the civilian population. “The situation in 1918 can only grow worse; it is undeniable that the physical standard of the nation is lowering dangerously, and that the effects of the German occupation on the health of the people will make themselves felt for a long time after the war.”