Chapter XI: Section 42: of act (2)

A meeting was called at a day's notice in an exhibition hall.
Everybody entered who wished to, Belgians or strangers, men, women,
and children. There were in all 600 or 700 persons. It was these
unknown persons, come together by chance, without control or
guarantee, that in a few moments, as an interlude in a speech,
proclaimed the election of twenty-two Deputies to the "Council of
Flanders" and fifty-two Provincial Councilors, Such was the
expression--without the knowledge of the people--of the will of the
Municipality of Brussels, which has 200,000 electors and almost
1,000,000 inhabitants.

PROTESTS OF CITY COUNCILS

Foreign occupation has not wholly destroyed legitimate and regular representation in Belgium. The Provincial Councils and the City Councils are still functioning. The administrative framework of the country survives. The municipal organization, so solidly rooted, has not ceased to exercise power. The Provincial and Municipal Councilors, like the Deputies and Senators, most of whom remain in the country, have been elected by universal, direct, and secret suffrage. They alone in the occupied territory are competent to express the true national opinion, and that opinion is strikingly voiced in the protest of the Flemish and Walloon members of Parliament, in that of the Common Councils of the capital and the large cities of Antwerp and Ghent, whose example has been followed by an increasing number of prominent citizens and local Governments of smaller towns in Flanders.

It has been demonstrated that the "Council of Flanders" is pursuing an enterprise of usurpation, that it is a tool of the invader, and that its members are in reality only agents of the German authorities. They went to Berlin a year ago to ask for administrative separation. Herr von Walraff met them at Brussels at the beginning of 1918 to arrange for political separation. When Tack and Borms were arrested by the Belgian police on the order of Belgian Magistrates it was the German functionaries who, by force, compelled their release, and they came out of prison by the side of the German officer who had liberated them. It was the Kommandantur of Antwerp that ordered the communal administration, disregarding its resistance, to authorize the "activist" demonstration of Feb. 3, and to have this protected by the police, in violation of orders of the Burgomaster that had been in force nearly four years. It was the German military headquarters, too, that forbade all demonstrations of other groups and commandeered the hall of the Chamber of Commerce, placing it at the disposition of the organizers of a demonstration judged by the Burgomaster to be one to wound public sentiment and endanger the public peace.[1]

[Footnote 1: Later the City Councils were forbidden by German authority to debate political questions, such as the autonomy of Flanders.]

At length Governor General von Falkenhausen stamped the "Council of Flanders" with the seal of German investiture, deciding by a decree of Jan. 18, 1918, (published Feb. 10,) that the appointment of the "council's" delegates was subject to his ratification, and that these delegates were called to collaborate with him in his legislative labors.

Thus one has the right to conclude that the whole organism of the "Council of Flanders" is only a foreign tool to serve the enemy in his designs of division and oppression. The delegates of the council cannot pretend to any independence, since the decree of Jan. 18 reduces them to the rôle of functionaries of German authority, named by that authority and expected to contribute, by their advice, to its political work.

THE DELEGATES OSTRACIZED

The Belgian people, without distinction of language, party, or condition, have, by impressive demonstrations, repudiated the faithless citizens who, joining hands with the enemy, have arrogated to themselves the right to speak in the name of the Flemings. The Flemings were the first to condemn the crime. To the protests of the Deputies and Senators and of the City Councils have been added those of the leading intellectual and political societies of Flanders. The Flemish Academy raised its voice to "affirm its fidelity to the Belgian Fatherland and its King." The Belgian Labor Party proclaimed that "not one of the 800 labor groups composing it, and not one of its authorized leaders, had been led astray or corrupted by the activist-separatist movement, either in Flanders or in Wallonia."

In the streets of Antwerp, of Malines, of Brussels, spontaneous uprisings which the German troops could not suppress voiced the scorn and anger of the crowds.

Crowning this expression of the popular will and giving it the sanction of law, the Brussels Court of Appeals, acting upon the protest of the Deputies and Senators, at a plenary sitting of all its united chambers, [Feb. 7, 1918,] ordered a hearing which ended in the arrest of delegates of the "Council of Flanders" on a charge of conspiracy against the form of the State, interference with public functions, and wicked attacks against the constitutional authority of the King, the rights of the chambers, and the laws of the nation. When the German authorities, protecting the guilty ones and acting in the guise of vengeance, caused the arrest of the Presidents of the Court, who had come in the august garb of justice to do their duty, the Court of Cassation, by a decree of Feb. 11, decided unanimously to suspend its sittings; the Courts of Appeals in Ghent and Liége, with all the courts of first instance and the courts of commerce, followed its example. The civic heroism of a whole people is summed up in that impressive gesture. There is no more eloquent page in history.

This nation can remain free. It stoically endures the presence and domination of the enemy in its territory. The foreign occupation that has lasted three and a half years has not broken its spirit or its will to resistance. The Flemish, like the Walloon communities, victims of the most frightful brutalities, subjected to a system of forced labor, decimated by deportations, have remained immovably faithful to King and country. The moral unity of the nation has continued intact.

FLEMISH QUESTION NOT NEW

The Flemish question does not imperil this unity. It dates much further back than the war and has often been a subject of lively debate. It is a question of interior policy which the nation alone must solve, after the war, independently, under its own free constitutional powers. Belgium has had the same Constitution since 1831, and has not dreamed of altering its principles, unless we except the proclamation of universal manhood suffrage in 1893. In eighty-three years of peace and prosperity there was not a single political party that cast doubt upon the validity of the fundamental charter--an eloquent proof of its plastic vitality and perfect harmony with the deepest needs of the nation's collective existence.

Equality before the law, (Article 6,) individual liberty, (Articles 7, 8, 9, 10,) liberty of religious faith, (Articles 14 and 15,) freedom in education, (Article 17,) freedom of the press, (Article 18,) the right of assembly, (Article 19,) liberty of association, (Article 20,) freedom as to language, (Article 21)--these are the essential axioms on which the nation's public life is based.[2]

[Footnote 2: Article 21 of the Constitution reads thus: "Employment of the languages used in Belgium is optional. It can be regulated only by law and solely for acts of public authority and for judicial proceedings."]

The Belgian Constitution, after guaranteeing respect for these fundamental principles, regulates the exercise of political powers, all of which, it declares, "emanate from the nation." (Article 25.) "The legislative power is exercised jointly by the King, the House of Representatives, and the Senate." (Article 26.) The Deputies are elected directly by all the Belgian citizens who are 25 years old and who have lived at least one year in the commune, those who fulfill certain requirements of knowledge or capacity being allowed one or two supplementary votes. (Article 47.) Senators are elected on the same principles, with the difference that the voters must be at least 30 years old. The Senate also includes a certain number of members elected by the Provincial Councils. (Article 53.) For both chambers the voting is obligatory and secret, and the division of seats is arranged on a system of proportional representation that safeguards the rights of minorities. Subject to the responsibility of his Ministers the King exercises the executive power. (Articles 63 and 64.)

Judicial power is exercised through courts whose members are not subject to removal. (Articles 99 and 100.) A jury alone can deal with criminal cases, political charges, and indictments brought against the press. (Article 98.)

Finally, side by side with the three great political branches, the provincial and communal Governments deal with all matters of local interest. Chief among them are--for the commune: the City Council, elected by direct vote, and the "College of Burgomasters and Aldermen," whose members are chosen by the Common Council, with the exception of the Burgomaster, who is appointed by the King; and for the province: the Provincial Council, directly elected, the "Permanent Deputation," elected by the Provincial Council, and the Governor, who represents the National Government.

SETTLING THE LANGUAGE ISSUE

This rapid sketch suffices to show the democratic and liberal nature of the Belgian Governmental system. Such institutions permit of free discussion and facilitate the peaceful solution of the most irritating internal problems. As the protest of the Flemish societies puts it, "The Flemings are not a conquered nation; they have the same electoral right as the Walloons; they have all the means for safeguarding their just rights."

Belgium has always lived an intense life, yet this has never compromised its unity. Three great parties, the Catholic, the Liberal, the Socialist, struggle for preponderance, and their action extends to all parts of the country without distinction of language. Each of them supports an identical program, in Flanders as in Wallonia, regardless of whether the citizens speak Flemish or French. The party lines have never corresponded with the linguistic lines. In each are found leaders of the Flemish movement, whose aspirations have given rise to many speeches, but have never been repudiated as anti-patriotic. This movement is thus described by the Flemish societies in their protest against the "Council of Flanders": "It is the expression of the fundamental principle that every population possesses the inalienable right to develop itself according to its own character and its own language, life, and historic personality." But it remains essentially national and declares itself, in the document just cited, unalterably hostile to the separation of the country into two Governments with two capitals, two Ministries, two Parliaments. The Flemish societies see in separation only "a weakening that will lead to a catastrophe for the Flemings, as well as for the Walloons." They add:

Our most sacred political and economic interests are menaced by
these absurd plans. The organic whole which has made of Belgium,
through its commerce and industry, its rivers, ports and railways,
its agriculture and workingmen, all working together under a single
Government through scores of years, an economic power of the first
order, would be dissolved, artificially weakened by contradictory
influences, enervated by divergent official policies. The narrow
particularism which in the past and present has done so much harm
would dominate. The balance between the different political,
religious, and social tendencies in our country would be destroyed,
and Belgium would be left in a state of crisis which, through long
years, would render almost impossible the relief of the country and
the curing of the wounds caused by the war.

RIGHTS OF FLEMISH TONGUE

In the years before the war the Belgian Parliament passed several laws intended to assure to the Flemish language the place that belongs to it in the national life, especially in the administrative, judicial, and educational departments. It will suffice to recall the law of May 12, 1910, on secondary schools, and the law of July 2, 1913, on languages in the army, making a knowledge of Flemish and French obligatory for admission to the National Military School. At the moment when the war broke out the Parliament was considering a proposition tending to organize Flemish high schools, and in a report to the King, Oct. 8, 1916, the Government declared itself "convinced that immediately upon the re-establishment of peace a general agreement of favorable sentiments, which it will try to promote, will assure to the Flemings, both in the higher schools and in all the others, that complete equality, in right and in fact, which ought to exist under the guarantees of our Constitution." (Moniteur, Oct. 8-14, 1916.)

Only after the war can the Government solve the problems arising out of the Flemish movement. The promoters of that movement themselves deplore the intervention of an alien power and scorn the traitors who have conspired with the enemy, accepting money and positions at his hand. It is as loyal Belgian citizens, they declare, that they are striving for reforms from which they expect a fuller intellectual development of Flemish communities, and they see in such culture a new force of unity for the nation, from which they by no means wish to be separated.

BELGIAN PREMIER'S VIEW

_Baron de Broqueville, the Belgian Prime Minister, said to a correspondent of The London Times:_

The Belgian people, after three and a half years of the most grinding oppression, have shown by the courageous defiance of enemy bayonets which brought about the collapse of the "activist" plot, that they have lost none of their sturdy resolve to be free; that the spirit which moved them to reject the German ultimatum of Aug. 2, 1914, is as strong as ever. * * *

Only one thing is worrying and humiliating in a quite special degree all Belgians in occupied territory. It is the fear lest abroad it may be imagined that there really is an "activist" movement in Belgium. All the reports we have received on this point amount to this: "No one in Belgium talks of this alleged movement, for it is nonexistent. There are a few miserable individuals in German pay--always the same--who intrigue and plot. All they have achieved is to arouse against them such feelings of repulsion and hate that they have been thrust forever forth from the nation, and nothing can cleanse them of their crime. For mercy's sake, beg people not to insult us by treating the agitation of these individuals seriously, and to stop seeing any agitation where there is nothing but the work of a few paid traitors.

It is in this sense that our compatriots write to us from behind the German barrier. There, as elsewhere, the most ardent advocates of Flemish claims reject foreign interference in internal policy, and they treat as traitors to the cause all those who accept bribes from the torturers of their country.

Stripping Belgian Industries

Germany's Use of the "Rathenau Plan" for the Exploitation of Belgium and Northern France

The German Government from the beginning of the war has systematically stripped the factories of Belgium and other conquered territory with the purpose, it is charged, of crippling industries in those countries, not only as a war measure, but as an economic means of preventing future competition. This phase of German war policy is treated in a brochure edited by Professors Dana C. Munro of Princeton, George C. Sellery of the University of Wisconsin, and August C. Krey of the University of Minnesota. It is issued by the United States Committee on Public Information under the title, "German Treatment of Conquered Territory." The editors find their text in this statement by Deputy Beumer, made before the Prussian Diet in February, 1917:

_Anybody who knows the present state of things in Belgian industry
will agree with me that it will take at least some years--assuming
that Belgium is independent at all--before Belgium can even think of
competing with us in the world market. And anybody who has traveled,
as I have done, through the occupied districts of France, will agree
with me that so much damage has been done to industrial property
that no one need be a prophet in order to say that it will take more
than ten years before we need think of France as a competitor or of
the re-establishment of French industry._

This exploitation for the benefit of German industry is an outgrowth of the plan suggested early in August, 1914, by Dr. Walter Rathenau, President of the General Electric Company of Germany, to establish a Bureau of Raw Materials for the War. The bureau (Kriegsrohstoffabtheilung) was made a part of the Ministry of War. Its operation in the occupied territories was explained in a lecture by Dr. Rathenau in April, 1916, as follows:

It was necessary to be sure of an increase in the reserve of raw
materials both by purchase in neutral countries and by monopolizing
all stocks found in the occupied territory of the enemy. * * * The
occupation of Belgium, of the most valuable industrial parts of
France, as well as of parts of Russia, made a new task for the
organization. It was necessary to make use of the stocks of raw
material of these three territories for the domestic economy of the
war, to use, especially, the stores of wool found at the centres of
the Continental wool market. Valuable stocks of rubber and of
saltpeter were to be used for the profit of the manufacturer at
home. The difficulties that are met with in keeping to the rules of
war while making these requisitions have been overcome. A system of
collecting stations, of depots and of organizations for distribution
was arranged which solved the difficulties of transportation,
infused new blood into industry at home, and gave it a firmer and
more secure basis.

BRAND WHITLOCK'S STATEMENT

This plan, which has given German industry "a firmer and more secure basis," was used not merely to "make war support war" by contributions wrung from the conquered peoples, but also to destroy future competition--in violation of The Hague Convention, (Articles 46, 52, 53,) which Germany had signed. In the first months of the war a pretense was still made of acting under military necessity, but this was soon abandoned. On March 4, 1915, Brand Whitlock, American Minister to Belgium, reported to the State Department:

The Federation of Belgian Steel and Iron Manufacturers forwarded a
protest to the German Governor General in Belgium, on Jan. 22, 1915,
complaining that the German authorities have invaded the Belgian
plants and seized the machinery and tools, which have been taken to
pieces and sent to Germany in great number; in many cases no receipt
was left in the hands of the legitimate owner to prove the nature,
number, and value of the seized tools. Machinery to the value of
16,000,000 francs ($3,000,000) had been taken away up to Jan. 22.

Furthermore, the Feldzeugmeisterei in Berlin has entered into a
contract with the firm Sonnenthal Junior of Cologne, which firm is
to collect, transport, and deliver to German manufactories of war
supplies all engines and tools seized in Belgium and France, and to
bring them back after the war is over.

This contract provides, also, that the Sonnenthal Company has the
right and even is compelled, in co-operation with the gun foundry at
Liége, to pick out in factories of the occupied territory those
machines which seem most useful for the manufacture of German war
supplies and to propose the seizure of the machinery.

The Royal Belgian Government protests, with indignation, against
these measures, which constitute a clear violation of Article 53 of
the regulations of the Fourth Hague Convention. The items enumerated
in Article 53 are limited and neither the seizure nor the transport
to another country of machinery and tools used in industry are
permitted; these implements must always be respected when they are
private property, (Article 46.)

By the removal of these tools, the efforts made by the manufacturers
in order to maintain a certain activity in the plants are nullified,
numerous workmen are obliged to remain idle and are facing
starvation. These measures will also retard the restoration of
industry after the war is over.

Furthermore, the German authorities disregard in a systematic way
the prescriptions of Article 52 of the above-mentioned regulations
of the Fourth Hague Convention, which stipulate that requisitions in
nature from towns and their inhabitants in the occupied territory
can only be permitted when they are directly destined for the army
of occupation.

UNJUST FINES

A dispatch from Minister Whitlock dated at Brussels, Aug. 2, 1915, gives a fuller memorandum on the subject, as follows:

Upon the arrival of German troops at Brussels, the city and communes
of the agglomeration were required to pay as a war contribution the
sum of 50,000,000 francs in gold, silver, or banknotes, the Province
of Brabant having to pay, in addition, the sum of 450,000,000
francs, to be delivered not later than Sept. 1, 1914.

The sum of 50,000,000 francs imposed on the City of Brussels was
reduced to 45,000,000 francs, but the city was later subjected to a
penalty of 5,000,000 francs on the ground that two members of the
German Secret Service had been attacked by the crowd without
assistance having been rendered by the Brussels police. On this
point it may be noted that when Mr. Max, the Burgomaster, at the
beginning of the occupation, asked the German authorities to inform
him of the names of the German secret police agents whom they
intended to employ, he was told that there were no German secret
police in Brussels.

In December, 1914, a contribution of 480,000,000 francs, payable at
the rate of 40,000,000 a month, was imposed on the provinces.

At the beginning of April, 1915, a fine of 500,000 marks was imposed
on the City of Brussels, which refused to repair the road between
Brussels and Antwerp--a State road the repair of which devolved upon
the State. But the German authorities had taken over the State
moneys, and should, therefore, have assumed the expense of the work.
Furthermore, this road is entirely outside of the territory of the
City of Brussels, and, finally, the city had not the administration
for the maintenance or construction of roads, and had neither
material nor personnel to carry on such work.

On Jan. 16, 1915, on Belgians who had voluntarily left the country
and had not returned by March 1, 1915, tenfold advance of personal
tax was made; and many taxes were imposed on communes as indemnity
for damages claimed by German citizens to have been suffered through
acts of the inhabitants at the time war was declared.

When the German Army arrived in Brussels, it requisitioned for the
daily support of the troops 18,000 kilos of wheat, 10,000 kilos of
fresh meat, 6,000 kilos of rice, 10,000 kilos of sugar, and 72,000
kilos of oats. Similar requisitions were made, in all cities in
which the German troops camped. The requisitions, however, exceeded
the needs of the troops in passing or in occupation, and a large
part of the requisitioned supplies was sent to Germany.

At Louvain the German authorities requisitioned 250,000 francs'
worth of canned vegetables and at Malines about 4,000,000 francs'
worth.

In Flanders and in part of Hainault the farmers were despoiled of
almost all their horses and cattle and the little wheat and grain
remaining. The little village of Middleburg, for instance, which
numbers 850 inhabitants, after having given up 50 cows, 35 hogs, and
1,600 kilos of oats, was forced to furnish in January and February,
1915, 100 hogs, 100,000 kilos of grain, 50,000 kilos of beans or
peas, 50,000 kilos of oats, and 150,000 kilos of straw.

At Ghent and Antwerp the German authorities found about 40,000 tons
of oil-cake, necessary for the feeding of cattle in Winter, and
seized it.

They also carried off several hundred thousand tons of phosphates
from Belgium for use in Germany.

Walnut trees on private properties, as well as on State lands, were
cut down and requisitioned.

Besides, draught horses--the result of a rational selection carried
on through more than a century and probably the most perfect Belgian
agricultural product--were carried off throughout all Belgium. Not
only did the German Army requisition horses necessary for its
wagons, mounts for its troops or artillery service, but it carried
away from the Belgian stock horses absolutely unfit for military
service, which were sent to Germany. The same is true as regards the
cattle.

All crude materials indispensable for Belgian industries were
requisitioned and sent to Germany--leather, hides, copper, wool,
flax, &c. Furthermore, if not the entire stock, at least the
greatest number possible of machinery parts, were shipped to Germany
to be used, according to German statements, in making munitions
which the Belgian factories had refused to produce.

At Antwerp, requisitions of all kinds of materials and products were
considerable, notably:

Francs.
Cereals 18,000,000
Oilcake, about 5,000,000
Nitrate, over 4,000,000
Oils--animal and vegetable--over 2,000,000
Oils--petrol and mineral--about 3,000,000
Wools 6,000,000
Rubber 10,000,000
Foreign leathers, to Dec. 1, about 20,000,000
Hair 1,500,000
Ivory, about 800,000
Wood 500,000
Cacao 2,000,000
Coffee 275,000
Wines 1,100,000

Cottons in large quantities--one house having been requisitioned to
the amount of 1,300,000 francs. Other enormous requisitions were
made on shop depots, &c., and are impossible of computation just
now.

PAYMENT WITHHELD

The requisitions from Antwerp, which Mr. Whitlock enumerates, were the subject of a protest by the Acting President of the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce on March 18, 1915. He valued these goods at more than 83,000,000 francs ($16,600,000) and stated that only 20,000,000 francs ($4,000,000) had been paid by the German authorities. The reply of Governor General von Bissing on Sept. 24 shows that up to that time payment had not been made. The reason is indicated in the following statement of German policy, published in the Frankfurter Zeitung Dec. 21, 1914:

The raw materials which the Imperial Government has bought in
Antwerp, Ghent, and other places will be paid for as soon as
possible. The payment will be made only after the goods have been
transported into Germany and after the valuation has been made, and
_the payment shall be made in such manner that no money shall be
sent from Germany to Belgium during the period of the war_.

Professor Munro and his fellow-editors have drawn freely upon the official texts printed in the work entitled "German Legislation for the Occupied Territories of Belgium," edited, in ten volumes, by Huberich and Nicol-Speyer, (The Hague, 1915-17.) These volumes cover the period from Sept. 5, 1914, to March 29, 1917, and contain a reprint of "The Official Bulletin of Laws and Ordinances" in German, French, and Flemish. The documents show that the first step under the Rathenau plan was to ascertain what raw materials and other supplies were accessible. Consequently, there were many ordinances commanding the declaration of certain wares. The following is an example:

Brussels, Dec. 11, 1914.

All stocks of benzine, benzol, petroleum, spirits of alcohol,
glycerine, oils and fats of any kind, toluol, carbide, raw rubber
and rubber waste, as well as all automobile tires, shall immediately
be reported in writing to the respective chiefs of districts or
commanders, with a statement of quantity and the place of storage.
* * *

If a report is not made the wares shall be confiscated for the State
and the guilty individual shall be punished by the military
authorities. (_From "German Legislation," &c., Vol. I., p. 95._)

Such a declaration made it easy for the military authorities later to acquire the wares either by direct requisition or by forced sales. The following are examples:

Brussels, Aug. 13, 1915.

Article 1. The stocks of chicory roots existing within the
jurisdiction of the General Government in Belgium are hereby
commandeered. (_From "German Legislation," &c., Vol. IV., p. 148._)

Brussels, Jan. 8, 1916.

Article 1. All wools (raw wool, washed wool, tops and noils, woolen
waste, woolen yarns, artificial wools, as well as mixtures of these
articles with others) and also all mattresses filled with the wools
above specified and now an object of trade or introduced into
trade, found within the jurisdiction of the General Government, are
hereby commandeered.

Wool freshly shorn or in any other way separated from the skin shall
also be subject to seizure immediately upon its separation. (_From
"German Legislation," &c., Vol. VI., p. 57._)

Between October, 1914, and March, 1917, there were ninety-two separate ordinances of the General Government commanding the declaration, forced sale, or confiscation of various materials. Of these, forty-five were issued in 1915 and thirty-five in 1916. How these decrees passed by rapid evolution from mere declaration to complete confiscation is instanced in these typical examples:

1. A decree issued at Brussels July 19, 1916, lists several pages of textile materials which are to be declared.

2. A decree of Aug. 22, 1916, enlarges the preceding list.

3. A decree drawn up July 19, 1916, but not published till Sept. 12, 1916, declares 75 per cent. of this material subject to seizure by the Militärisches Textil-Beschaffungsamt.

4. Later decrees of seizure cover materials overlooked in these.

STRIPPING BELGIUM OF METALS

Every scrap of metal in the conquered countries that could possibly be seized has been confiscated. The ordinance below is given as an example of the thoroughness of the system of requisitions. The prices to be paid were entirely too low, and the sixth section shows that the owners were not expected to part with their property willingly. The ordinance was issued at Brussels Dec. 13, 1916: