Chapter III: Part 3

Cardinal Mercier was in error, for the German authorities were able to imagine a much more terrible measure. In October, 1916, when the need for an additional labor supply _in Germany_ had become urgent, the German government established the system of forced labor _and deportation_ which has aroused the detestation of Christendom. The reader will not be misled by the clumsy effort of the German authorities to mask the real purpose of the decree.

THE DECREE OF OCTOBER 3, 1916.

"DECREE CONCERNING THE LIMITING OF THE BURDENS ON PUBLIC CHARITY....

[Sidenote: German verbal camouflage.]

"I. People able to work may be compelled to work even outside the place where they live, in case they have to apply to the charity of others for the support of themselves or their dependents on account of gambling, drunkenness, loafing, unemployment, or idleness.

"II. Every inhabitant of the country is bound to render assistance in case of accident or general danger, and also to give help in case of public calamities as far as he can, even outside the place where he lives; in case of refusal he may be compelled by force.

"III. Anyone called upon to work, under Articles I or II, who shall refuse the work, or to continue at the work assigned him, will incur the penalty of imprisonment up to three years and of a fine up to 10,000 marks, or one or other of these penalties, unless a severer penalty is provided for by the laws in force.

"If the refusal to work has been made in concert or in agreement with several persons, each accomplice will be sentenced, as if he were a ringleader, to at least a week's imprisonment.

"IV. The German military authorities and Military Courts will enforce the proper execution of this decree.

"The Quartermaster General, SAUBERZWEIG.
"GREAT HEADQUARTERS, _3d October, 1916_."

[Sidenote: Hindenburg's responsibility for deportations.]

The responsibility for this atrocious program rests upon the military rulers of Germany, who had labored so zealously to infect the army and the people with the principles of ruthlessness. It is significant that the decree of October 3, 1916, followed hard upon the elevation of Hindenburg to the supreme command with Ludendorf as his chief of staff. In his long report of January 16, 1917, Minister Whitlock says:

REPORT OF MINISTER WHITLOCK (continued)

[Sidenote: Was Bissing against deportations?]

"_Then, in August, von Hindenburg was appointed to the supreme command. He is said to have criticized von Bissing's policy as too mild; there was a quarrel; von Bissing went to Berlin to protest, threatened to resign, but did not. He returned, and a German official here said that Belgium would now be subjected to a more terrible régime--would learn what war was. The prophecy has been vindicated. Recently I was told that the drastic measures are really of Ludendorf's inspiration; I do not know. Many German officers say so._" (Continued on p. 54.)

If von Bissing had opposed the policy of deportation when his own judgment was overruled, he consented to become the "devil's advocate" and defended the system in public. Especially instructive is the following conversation reported by Mr. F.C. Walcott:

VON BISSING'S CONVERSATION WITH MR. WALCOTT.

"I went to Belgium to investigate conditions, and while there I had opportunity * * * to talk one day with Governor General von Bissing, who died three or four weeks ago, a man 72 or 73 years old, a man steeped in the 'system,' born and bred to the hardening of the heart which that philosophy develops. There ought to be some new word coined for the process that a man's heart undergoes when it becomes steeped in that system.

"I said to him, 'Governor, what are you going to do if England and France stop giving these people money to purchase food?'

"He said, 'We have got that all worked out and have had it worked out for weeks, because we have expected this system to break down at any time.'

[Sidenote: Bissing says deportation plans were carefully prepared.]

"He went on to say, 'Starvation will grip these people in 30 to 60 days. Starvation is a compelling force, and we would use that force to compel the Belgian workingmen, many of them very skilled, to go into Germany to replace the Germans, so that they could go to the front and fight against the English and the French.'

"'As fast as our railway transportation could carry them, we would transport thousands of others that would be fit for agricultural work, across Europe down into southeastern Europe, into Mesopotamia, where we have huge, splendid irrigation works. All that land needs is water and it will blossom like the rose.'

"'The weak remaining, the old and the young, we would concentrate opposite the firing line, and put firing squads back of them, and force them through that line, so that the English and French could take care of their own people.'

"It was a perfectly simple, direct, frank reasoning. It meant that the German Government would use any force in the destruction of any people not its own to further its own ends." (Frederic C. Walcott, in _The National Geographic Magazine_, May, 1917.)

A brief general view of the character of the deportations can perhaps be gained best from the report of Minister Whitlock.

REPORT OF MINISTER WHITLOCK (continued).

"_The deportations began in October in the Étape, at Ghent, and at Bruges, as my brief telegrams indicated. The policy spread; the rich industrial districts of Hainaut, the mines and steel works about Charleroi were next attacked; now they are seizing men in Brabant, even in Brussels, despite some indications and even predictions of the civil authorities that the policy was about to be abandoned._

[The étapes were the parts of Belgium under martial law, and included the province of western Flanders, part of eastern Flanders, and the region of Tournai. The remainder of the occupied part of Belgium was under civil government.]

[Sidenote: The deportations begin.] [Sidenote: Pitiable scenes.]

"_During the last fortnight men have been impressed here in Brussels, but their seizures here are made evidently with much greater care than in the provinces, with more regard for the appearances. There was no public announcement of the intention to deport, but suddenly about ten days ago certain men in towns whose names are on the list of chômeurs received summons notifying them to report at one of the railway stations on a given day; penalties were fixed for failure to respond to the summons and there was printed on the card an offer of employment by the German Government either in Germany or Belgium. On the first day out of about 1,500 men ordered to present themselves at the Gare du Midi about 750 responded. These were examined by German physicians and 300 were taken. There was no disorder, a large force of mounted Uhlans keeping back the crowds and barring access to the station to all but those who had been summoned to appear. The Commission for Relief in Belgium had secured permission to give to each deported man a loaf of bread, and some of the communes provided warm clothing for those who had none and in addition a small financial allowance. As by one of the ironies of life the winter has been more excessively cold than Belgium has ever known it, and while many of those who presented themselves were adequately protected against the cold, many of them were without overcoats. The men shivering from cold and fear, the parting from weeping wives and children, the barriers of brutal Uhlans, all this made the scene a pitiable and distressing one._

"_It was understood that the seizures would continue here in Brussels, but on Thursday last, a bitter cold day, those that had been convoked were sent home without examination. It is supposed that the severe weather has moved the Germans to postpone the deportations._" (Continued on page 67.)

Cardinal Mercier attempted to persuade the German authorities to abandon their terrible plans, reminding them of their solemn promises in the past:

"MALINES, _19th October, 1916_.

"Mr. GOVERNOR GENERAL:

[Sidenote: Another "Scrap of Paper."]

"The day after the surrender of Antwerp the frightened population asked itself what would become of the Belgians of age to bear arms or who would reach that age before the end of the occupation. The entreaties of the fathers and mothers of families determined me to question the governor of Antwerp, Baron von Huene, who had the kindness to reassure me and to authorize me in his name to reassure the agonized parents. The rumor had spread at Antwerp, nevertheless, that at Liége, Namur, and Charleroi young men had been seized and taken by force to Germany. I therefore begged Governor von Huene to be good enough to confirm to me in writing the guarantee which he had given to me orally, to the effect that nothing similar would happen at Antwerp. He said to me immediately that the rumors concerning deportations were without basis, and unhesitatingly he sent me in writing, among other statements, the following: 'Young men have no reason to fear that they will be taken to Germany, either to be there enrolled in the army or employed for forced labor.'

"This declaration, written and signed, was publicly transmitted to the clergy and to those of the Faith of the province of Antwerp, as Your Excellency can see from the document enclosed herewith, dated October 16th, 1914, which was read in all the churches. [Printed on preceding pages.]

"Upon the arrival of your predecessor, the late Baron von der Goltz, at Brussels I had the honor of presenting myself at his house and requested him to be good enough to ratify for the entire country, without time limit, the guarantees which General von Huene had given me for the province of Antwerp. The Governor General retained this request in his possession in order to examine it at his leisure. The following day he was good enough to come in person to Malines to bring me his approval, and confirmed to me, in the presence of two aides-de-camp and of my private secretary, the promise that the liberty of Belgian citizens would be respected.

"To doubt the authority of such undertakings would have been to reflect upon the persons who had made them, and I therefore took steps to allay, by all the means of persuasion in my power, the anxieties which persisted in the interested families.

"Notwithstanding all this, your Government now tears from their homes workmen reduced in spite of their efforts to a state of unemployment, separates them by force from their wives and children and deports them to enemy territory. Numerous workmen have already undergone this unhappy lot; more numerous are those who are threatened with the same acts of violence.

[Sidenote: Mercier's moving appeal.]

"In the name of the liberty of domicile and the liberty of work of Belgian citizens; in the name of the inviolability of families; in the name of moral interests which the measures of deportation would gravely compromise; in the name of the word given by the Governor of the Province of Antwerp and by the Governor General, the immediate representative of the highest authority of the German Empire, I respectfully beg Your Excellency to be good enough to withdraw the measures of forced labor and of deportation announced to the Belgian workmen, and to be good enough to reinstate in their homes those who have already been deported.

"Your Excellency will appreciate how painful for me would be the weight of the responsibility that I would have to bear as regards these families, if the confidence which they have given you through my agency and at my request were lamentably deceived.

"I persist in believing that this will not be the case.

"Accept, Mr. Governor General, the assurance of my very high consideration.

"D.J. CARDINAL MERCIER,
"_Arch. of Malines_."

Municipal governments in Belgium appealed to the German authorities to observe their solemn promises. The two documents which follow illustrate Belgian appeals and German answers.

RESOLUTION OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF TOURNAI, OCTOBER 20, 1916.

"In the matter of the requisition made by the German authorities on October 20, 1916 (requisition of a list of workmen to be drawn up by the municipality) * * *

"The municipal council resolves to maintain its attitude of refusal.

"It further feels it its duty to place on record the following:

"The city of Tournai is prepared to submit unreservedly to all the exigencies authorised by the laws and customs of war. Its sincerity can not be questioned. For more than two years it has submitted to the German occupation, during which time it has lodged and lived at close quarters with the German troops, yet it has displayed perfect composure and has refrained from any act of hostility, proving thereby that it is animated by no idle spirit of bravado.

[Sidenote: Council of Tournai refuses immoral and illegal demands.]

"But the city could not bring itself to provide arms for use against its own children, knowing well that natural law and the law of nations (which is the expression of natural law) both forbid such action.

"In his declaration dated September 2, 1914, the German Governor General of Belgium declared: 'I ask none to renounce his patriotic sentiments.'

"The city of Tournai reposes confidence in this declaration, which it is bound to consider as the sentiment of the German Emperor, in whose name the Governor General was speaking. In accepting the inspiration of honor and patriotism, the city is loyal to a fundamental duty, the loftiness of which must be apparent to any German officer.

"The city is confident that the straightforwardness and clearness of this attitude will prevent any misunderstanding arising between itself and the German Army."

GERMAN REPLY TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF TOURNAI.

"TOURNAI, _23rd October, 1916_.

[Sidenote: And is roundly lectured and fined.]

"In permitting itself, through the medium of municipal resolutions, to oppose the orders of the German military authorities in the occupied territory, the city is guilty of an unexampled arrogance and of a complete misunderstanding of the situation created by the state of war.

"The 'clear and simple situation' is in reality the following:

"The military authorities order the city to obey. Otherwise the city must bear the heavy consequences, as I have pointed out in my previous explanations.

"The General Commanding the Army has inflicted on the city--on account of its refusal, up to date, to furnish the lists demanded--a punitive contribution of 200,000 marks, which must be paid within the next six days, beginning with to-day. The General also adds that until such time as all the lists demanded are in his hands, for every day in arrears, beginning with December 31, 1916, a sum of 20,000 marks will be paid by the city.

"HOPFER, _Major General_,
"_Etappen-Kommandant_."

The Commission Syndicale of Belgian workingmen also attempted to induce the German authorities to abandon their terrible plans.

"COMMISSION SYNDICALE OF BELGIUM,
"_Brussels, 30th Oct., 1916_.

[TO THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF BELGIUM.]

"EXCELLENCY: The measures which are being planned by your administration to force the unemployed to work for the invading power, the deportation of our unhappy comrades which has begun in the region of the étapes, move most profoundly the entire working class in Belgium.

"The undersigned, members and representatives of the great central socialist and independent syndicates of Belgium, would consider that they had not fulfilled their duty did they not express to you the painful sentiments which agitate the laborers and convey to you the echo of their touching complaints.

"They have seen the machinery taken from their factories, the most diverse kind of raw materials requisitioned, the accumulation of obstacles to prevent the resumption of regular work, the disappearance one by one of every public liberty of which they were proud.

[Sidenote: Workmen recite their wrongs at German hands.]

"For more than two years the laboring class more than any other has been forced to undergo the most bitter trials, experiencing misery and often hunger, while its children far away fight and die, and the parents of these children can never convey to them the affection with which their hearts are overflowing.

"Our laboring class has endured everything with the utmost calm and the most impressive dignity, repressing its sufferings, its complaints and heavy trials, sacrificing everything to its ideal of liberty and independence. But the measures which have been announced will make the population drain the dregs [of the cup] of human sorrow; the proletariat, _the poor upon whom unemployment has been forced_, citizens of a modern state, are to be condemned to forced labor without having disobeyed any regulation or order.

[Sidenote: And appeal for decent treatment.]

"In the name of the families of workmen among which the most painful anxiety reigns at present, whose mothers, whose fiancées, and whose little children are destined to shed so many more tears, we beg Your Excellency to prevent the accomplishment of this painful act, contrary to international law, contrary to the dignity of the working classes, contrary to everything which makes for worth and greatness in human nature.

"We beg Your Excellency to pardon our emotion and we offer you the homage of our distinguished consideration.

"(Appended are signatures of members of the National Committee and the Commission Syndicale.)"

Von Bissing in his reply, November 3rd, practically admitted the truth of the complaint by attempting to justify the measures protested against. The arguments which he used are taken up and refuted in the letter of the Commission Syndicale, November 14, which follows:

"COMMISSION SYNDICALE OF BELGIUM,
"_Brussels, 14th Nov., 1916_.

"To His Excellency BARON VON BISSING,
"_Governor General in Belgium_.

"EXCELLENCY: The Secretaries and representatives of the socialistic and independent labor Unions of Belgium have, with a painful disappointment, taken cognizance of the answer which you were good enough to make to their petition of October 30th, concerning the deportation of laborers to Germany, and it is in the name of the working classes as a united whole that we are making a final effort to prevent the consummation of an act, without precedent, directed against its liberty, its sentiments, and its dignity.

[Sidenote: Socialists refute Bissing's arguments.]

"You say that many industrial works have been closed on account of the lack of raw materials brought about by the blockade by the enemy. Permit us, Excellency, to remind you that the allied powers manifested very clearly their intention to permit the importation into Belgium of raw materials required by our industries, provided, with a very natural provision, that no requisitions should be made, except those mentioned in Article 52 of the Hague Convention, that is to say those necessary to the 'occupying army,' and that an international commission, the Commission for Relief in Belgium, should have the right to supervise the destination of the manufactured products.

"Instead of agreeing to such a proposal, we have seen the occupying authorities systematically remove the machinery, implements, machines of all kinds, the engines and raw materials, metals, leather, and wool, limit production, aggravate continually the difficulties of transactions. When communes or committees have desired to employ workmen without employment on works of public utility, obstacles have been thrown in their way and finally in many cases their undertakings have been stopped and broken. In a word, as fast as the most tireless efforts were strained to employ as many hands as possible, other men were constantly thrown out of work.

[Sidenote: And proudly praise the Belgian workman.]

"You state also that unemployment is caused by the laborers' hostility to work. The whole past of our working class protests against this accusation with every bit of energy that still remains in them. Where is there to be found in the whole world a working class which has made of such a small country such a great industrial and commercial power? And we, who for the last 25 years have been the enthusiastic witnesses of the magnificent efforts of our brother workmen, in the matter of their material and moral betterment, we proudly affirm that it is not among their ranks that one can find men so degraded as to prefer to receive a charitable assistance which barely furnishes them with sufficient food to an honest wage given in remuneration for free and fruitful work.

"What is true, however, is that the Belgian workmen, conforming to the same article 52 of the Hague Convention which only admits requisitions of labor 'for the needs of the army of occupation and in case these requisitions do not imply an obligation to take part in the war against their country,' have refused the most tempting offers, not wishing to build trenches nor to repair forts nor to work in factories which manufacture war materials. This was their right and their duty. Their attitude deserved respect and not the most humiliating of punishments.

"You refer to your decrees of August 15th, 1915, and of May 15th, 1916, in which are mentioned the possible punishment of any workmen who receive support and refuse work suited to their capacities and carrying with it a proper wage. Those who know with what care and with what minute detail the conditions, under which the unemployed have the right to receive assistance, have been established might perhaps think that these menaces were, to say the least, useless. But as you yourself say, these decrees declare in their article 2 that every motive of refusal to work will be considered valid if it is admitted by international law.

[Sidenote: Laborers see through the German scheme.]

"For these cases of refusal, the German Authorities reserved the right to cause these recalcitrants to appear before Belgian tribunals and later before German military tribunals. It is therefore certain that the unemployed have the right to refuse to work for any motive approved by international law. When summoned before the tribunal they have the right to employ counsel in their defense and to state clearly their reasons for refusal. One might, of course, say that it is not a question obliging the workmen to participate in military enterprise; but it is only too evident that every Belgian deported to Germany will take the place there of a man who to-morrow will go to reinforce the ranks of the enemy. We should like to know, Excellency, whether these tribunals carry on their functions.

"You fear that continued unemployment may depreciate the physical and moral status of the workmen. We, who know them, have more confidence in them. We have seen them suffer with a stoicism which exists only in proud and high souls. Did not the splendid idea come from them, of organizing throughout the entire country a vast chain of educational work for the unemployed in order to develop their technical knowledge and to increase their professional value? The _Comité National_ was not, alas, authorized to undertake this magnificent enterprise. Is it the idea that it is through forced labor, performed with black despair, like slaves, that our unhappy brothers will keep up their physical and moral energy?

[Sidenote: The Germans have no right to talk about unemployment of Belgians.]

"You fear also that 'the assistance which they receive will at length weigh down Belgian economic life.' We can with difficulty believe that Belgians, as you say, have had the smallness of soul to grudge in that form the bitter piece of bread and the little soup which have formed the food of so many working families for so many months; and what, after all, do the twelve million francs amount to that are distributed each month to from 500,000 to 600,000 unemployed, in comparison with the destruction, beyond reckoning, of goods and lives which the horrors of a war in which it has not the slightest responsibility have cost and still cost our country? With the most unshakable faith in our destinies; we, the most nearly interested, know that in the near future Flanders and _Wallonie_ will rise again, glorious, in history.

[Sidenote: All Belgians understand the German scheme.]

"Excellency, our heart and our reason refuse, then, to believe that it is for the good of our class and to avoid an additional calamity to our country, that thousands of workers are suddenly torn from their families and transported to Germany. Public sentiment has not been deceived and in reply to the grievous complaints of the victims, there echo the indignant protests of the entire population, as expressed by its representatives, its communal magistrates, and those persons who constitute the highest incarnation of law in our country.

"Furthermore, the arbitrary and brutal manner employed in the execution of these sad measures has raised all kinds of doubts regarding the object in view: the need, above all, is to obtain workmen in Germany, for Germany's profit, and for the success of its arms.

"While at Antwerp they did not take any young men from 17 to 31 years who were under the régime of control, in the Borinage they call all the men from 17 to 50 years of age; in Walloon Brabant all men over 17 years, without making any distinction between the employed and unemployed. Men of all professions and of all conditions have been taken--bakers, who have never ceased to work in our co-operatives of the Borinage, for example; mechanics, who always had employment; agricultural workmen, merchants * * * At Lessines on the 6th instant, 2,100 persons were taken away, all workmen up to 50 years of age. Several cases are cited where old men with five or six of their sons have been exiled thus by force.

[Sidenote: The tears of the mothers and the children.]

"Distressing scenes occur everywhere. The unhappy ones gathered together in the public squares are rapidly divided into gangs. They had been directed to bring a small amount of baggage; they are taken at once to the railway station and loaded in cattle cars. They are not allowed to say good-bye to their families. No opportunity is given to them to put their affairs in order, even the most pressing ones. They do not know where they are going, nor for what work, nor for how long. Taken away at the beginning of the winter, after two years of privations, having no further resources and no means to provide themselves with warm clothing or with other indispensable articles, what privations are they going to endure? How will they live there? In what state will they return? This mystery and this anxiety are the cause of the ceaseless tears of the mothers and little children. Distress and despair reign in the homes.

"Listen, Excellency, to these tears and these sobs. Do not permit our past of liberty and independence to be ruined. Do not permit human rights to be violated in its holy of holies. Do not permit the dignity of our working classes, which has been acquired after so many centuries of effort, to be trodden under foot.

"It is to law and humanity that we appeal, solemnly and with the hope of being heard, for we have the profound conviction that by our voice, at this tragic hour, the great voice of the working class of the entire civilized world expresses its sorrow and its protest.

"Accept, Excellency, the homage of our most distinguished consideration."

(Here follow the signatures of the Members of the _Comité Nationale_ and of the _Commission Syndicale_.)

"We transmit this letter and previous correspondence to the Ministers and representatives of Foreign powers at Brussels, as well as to our comrades of the Commission Syndicale des Syndicats in Holland."

The files of the State Department contain authentic copies of very many such moving protests. The foregoing ones are taken from this pathetic collection, and from it may be cited, by way of further illustration, some passages from two others:

PROTEST OF BELGIAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

"BRUSSELS, _9th November, 1916_.

"To his Excellency, BARON VON BISSING,
"_Governor General in Belgium_.

[Sidenote: Belgian legislators recite the wrongs of Belgium.]

"EXCELLENCY: It seemed that no suffering could be added to those under which we have already been weighed down since the occupation of our country. Our banished liberty, our destroyed industry and commerce, our raw products and instruments of work taken out of the country, the public fortune ruined, want succeeding to wealth in families formerly most prosperous, privations, anxieties, and mourning. * * *

[Sidenote: The "summary and sorrowful" procedure of the Germans.]

"Is there need to relate the scenes which the region of the étape has been the theater of for several weeks, and which are now being reenacted, during the past days, in the territory of the Government General, where this scourge threatens to extend from commune to commune until its victims are counted by hundreds of thousands? The notices posted on the walls and reproduced in the papers tell sufficiently what it is. Everywhere the same procedure, summary and sorrowful: arrests in mass, men classified arbitrarily among the unemployed, herded together, divided into groups, sent toward the unknown. * * *

"The authorities prefer to give them work in Germany, where the representatives of the [German] Industrial Bureau promise them 'good wages,' if they consent to work there 'voluntarily,' and where they may expect, in case of refusal, famine wages. What physical and moral depression is counted on in order to force their hand?

[Sidenote: Everyone knows what Germany wants Belgian workers for.]

"True, it has been asserted that the work which is offered to them will be nonmilitary in character; but voices have replied on every side: 'in taking the place of a German workman, the Belgian workman permits Germany to increase the numerical forces of its armies.' The most odious work is that whose results are used against the fatherland. To serve Germany is to fight against their own country. To compel our workmen to do this is nothing else than an act of force contrary to international law (referred to by Your Excellency in your proclamation of August 15th, 1915), and contrary also to the spirit, if not to the text, of the Fourth Convention of the Hague of 1907. * * *

"They adjure Your Excellency to employ with the military authorities the high prerogatives which are yours from your position to prevent the consummation of an act without precedent in the history of modern wars, and they beg you to accept the assurance of their most distinguished consideration."

[Signatures of Belgian Senators and Deputies.]

PROTEST OF CARDINAL MERCIER.

"ARCHBISHOPRIC OF MALINES,
"_Malines, 10th November, 1916_.

"Mr. GOVERNOR GENERAL:

"I refrain from expressing to Your Excellency the sentiments which have been evoked in me by your letter of reply to the letter which I had the honor to address to you on October 19th, relative to the deportation of the unemployed.

[Sidenote: German perfidy.]

"I have recalled with melancholy the words which Your Excellency, dwelling upon each syllable, pronounced in my presence, after your arrival at Brussels: 'I hope that our relations will be loyal * * * I have received the mission of dressing the wounds of Belgium.'

"My letter of October 19th recalled to Your Excellency the engagement taken by Baron von Huene, military governor of Antwerp, and ratified a few days later by Baron von der Goltz, your predecessor as Governor General at Brussels. The engagement was explicit, absolute, unlimited as to time: 'The young men need not fear being taken to Germany, either to be enrolled in the army _or to be employed at forced labor_.'

"This engagement is being violated every day--thousands of times in the last fortnight.

"Baron von Huene and the late Baron von der Goltz did not say conditionally, as your despatch of the 26th of October would seek to imply: 'If the occupation does not last longer than two years men fit for military duty shall not be taken into captivity;' they said categorically: 'Young men, and with greater reason, men who have reached an advanced age, shall not _at any moment of the occupation, either be made prisoners or employed at forced labor_.' * * *

"The decrees, posters, and comments of the press, which were intended to prepare public opinion for the measures now being taken, pleaded especially two considerations: The unemployed, so they declared, are a danger to public security; they are a charge upon governmental charity.

[Sidenote: The Belgians have got no charity from the Germans.]

"It is not true, I said in my letter of October 19th, that our workmen have troubled, or even anywhere threatened the public peace. Five million Belgians and hundreds of Americans are the astonished witnesses of the dignity and the flawless patience of our working class. It is not true that the workmen deprived of work are a charge upon the occupying power for the charity which is dispensed by their administration. The _Comité National_, in which the occupying government has no active part, is the sole purveyor of subsistence to the victims of enforced idleness. * * *

[Sidenote: The German plan makes Belgians war against their own country.]

"Each Belgian workman will liberate a German workman who will add one more soldier to the German army. There, in all its simplicity, is the fact which dominates the situation. The author of the letter himself feels this burning fact, for he writes: 'nor is the measure one which affects the conduct of war _properly speaking_ (_proprement dite_)'. It is, then, connected with the war _improperly speaking_ (_improprement dite_); which can only mean that the Belgian workman, although he does not bear arms, will free the hands of a German workman who will take up the arms. The Belgian workman is forced to co-operate, in an indirect but evident manner, in the war against his country. This is manifestly contrary to the spirit of the Hague Conventions.

"Here is another statement: _unemployment is not caused either by the Belgian workman or by England; it is brought about by the régime of the German Occupation_.

[Sidenote: No disorder is caused by Belgians.]

"The occupying government has seized considerable supplies of raw material intended for our national industry; it has seized and shipped to Germany the machinery, tools, and metals of our factories and our workshops. The possibility of national labor being thus suppressed, there remained one alternative to the workman: to work for the German Empire, either here or in Germany; or to remain idle. Some thousands of workmen, under the pressure of fright or of hunger, accepted, with regret for the most part, work for the enemy; but four hundred thousand workmen and workwomen preferred to resign themselves to unemployment, with its privations, rather than injure the interests of the fatherland; they lived in poverty, with the aid of a meager relief allowed them by the _Comité national de secours et d' alimentation_, under the supervision of the protecting ministers of Spain, America, and Holland. Calm, dignified, they bore without a murmur their painful lot. In no part of the country was there a revolt or even the semblance of one. Employers and employees awaited with patience the end of our long martyrdom. Meanwhile, the communal administrations and private initiative endeavored to alleviate the undoubted inconveniences of unemployment. But the occupying power paralyzed their efforts. The _Comité National_ attempted to organize a professional school for the use of the unemployed. This practical instruction, respectful of the dignity of our workmen, was meant to keep up their skill, increase their capacity for work, and prepare for the restoration of the country. Who opposed this noble movement, the plan of which had been elaborated by our large manufacturers? Who? The occupying government.

[Sidenote: Communes not allowed to furnish work for unemployed.]

"Notwithstanding all this, the communes made every effort to give work to the unemployed upon undertakings of public utility; but the governor general made these enterprises depend upon permission which, as a general rule, he refused. There are numerous cases, I am assured, where the General Government authorized undertakings of this kind upon the express condition that they should not be undertaken by unemployed.

"They were seeking to create unemployment. They were recruiting the army of the unemployed. * * *

"The letter of October 26th says that the first responsibility for the unemployment of our workmen rests upon England, because she has not allowed raw materials to enter Belgium.

[Sidenote: England not to blame.]

"England generously allows foodstuffs to enter Belgium for the revictualling [of the country], under the control of neutral States--Spain, the United States, and Holland. She would allow raw materials necessary for industry to enter the country under the same control if Germany were willing to agree to leave them to us, and not to seize the finished products of our industrial work.

[Sidenote: Germany robs Belgians and inflicts privations.]

"But Germany, by various proceedings, notably by the organization of its _Centrales_, over which neither the Belgians nor our protecting ministers can exercise any efficacious control, absorbs a considerable portion of the products of agriculture and of the industry of our country. The result is a considerable increase in the cost of living, which causes painful privations for those who have no savings. * * *

[Sidenote: Deportation is slavery.]

"Deportation is slavery, and the heaviest penalty of the penal code after that of death. Has Belgium, who never did you any wrong, deserved at your hands this treatment which cries to heaven for vengeance?

"Mr. Governor General, in the beginning of my letter I recalled the noble words of Your Excellency: 'I have come into Belgium with the mission of dressing the wounds of your country.'

"If Your Excellency could penetrate into the homes of workingmen, as we priests do, and hear the lamentations of wives and mothers whom your orders cast into mourning and into dismay, you would realize far better that the wound of the Belgian people is gaping.

[Sidenote: Cold calculation of Germans.]

"Two years ago, we hear people say, it was death, pillage, fires, but it was war! To-day it is no longer war, it is cold calculation, intentional destruction, the victory of force over right, the debasement of human personality, a cry of defiance to humanity.

"It depends upon you, Excellency, to silence these cries of a revolted conscience; may the good God, whom we call upon with all the ardor of our soul for our oppressed people, inspire you with the pity of the good Samaritan!

"Accept, Mr. Governor General, the homage of my highest consideration.

"D.J. CARD. MERCIER,
"_Arch. of Malines_."

In less moving phrases, but in deadly corroboration, the continuation of the report of Minister Whitlock says:

REPORT OF MINISTER WHITLOCK (continued).

[Sidenote: Appalling stories of German behavior.]

"_The rage, the terror, and despair excited by this measure all over Belgium were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans poured into Brussels. The delegates of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, returning to Brussels, told the most distressing stories of the scenes of cruelty and sorrow attending the seizures. And daily, hourly almost, since that time appalling stories have been related by Belgians coming to the Legation. It is impossible for us to verify them, first, because it is necessary for us to exercise all possible tact in dealing with the subject at all, and secondly because there is no means of communication between the Occupations-Gebiet and the Etappen-Gebiet. Transportation everywhere in Belgium is difficult, the vicinal railways scarcely operating any more because of the lack of oil, while all the horses have been taken. The people who are forced to go from one village to another must do so on foot or in vans drawn by the few miserable horses that are left. The wagons of the breweries, the one institution that the Germans have scrupulously respected, are hauled by oxen._

[Sidenote: A foul deed.]

"_The well-known tendency of sensational reports to exaggerate themselves, especially in time of war, and in a situation like that existing here, with no newspapers to serve as a daily clearing house for all the rumours that are as avidly believed as they are eagerly repeated, should of course be considered; but even if a modicum of all that is told is true there still remains enough to stamp this deed as one of the foulest that history records._

"_I am constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that tend to bear out the stories one constantly hears of brutality and cruelty. A number of men sent back to Mons are said to be in a dying condition, many of them tubercular. At Malines and at Antwerp returned men have died, their friends asserting that they have been victims of neglect and cruelty, of cold, of exposure, of hunger._" (Continued on page 74.)

A vivid sketch of the deportations from Mons, drawn by a participant, may well be cited here:

[Sidenote: "The woes of slavery."]

"I will take the 18th of November of last year [1916]. A week or so before that a placard was placed on the walls telling my capital city of Mons that in seven days all the men of that city who were not clergymen, who were not priests, who did not belong to the city council, would be deported.

"At half past five, in the gray of the morning on the 18th of November, they walked out, six thousand two hundred men at Mons, myself and another leading them down the cobblestones of the street and out where the rioting would be less than in the great city, with the soldiers on each side, with bayonets fixed, with the women held back.

"The degradation of it! The degradation of it as they walked into this great market square, where the pens were erected, exactly as if they were cattle--all the great men of that province--the lawyers, the statesmen, the heads of the trades, the men that had made the capital of Hainaut glorious during the last twenty years.

"There they were collected; no question of who they were, whether they were busy or what they were doing, or what their position in life. 'Go to the right! Go to the left! Go to the right!' So they were turned to the one side or the other.

"Trains were standing there ready, steaming, to take them to Germany. You saw on the one side the one brother taken, the other brother left. A hasty embrace and they were separated and gone. You had here a man on his knees before a German officer, pleading and begging to take his old father's place; that was all. The father went and the son stayed. They were packed in those trains that were waiting there.

"You saw the women in hundreds, with bundles in their hands beseeching to be permitted to approach the trains, to give their men the last that they had in life between themselves and starvation--a small bundle of clothing to keep them warm on their way to Germany. You saw women approach with a bundle that had been purchased by the sale of the last of their household effects. Not one was allowed to approach to give her man the warm pair of stockings or the warm jacket, so there might be some chance of his reaching there. Off they went!" John H. Gade, in _The National Geographic Magazine_, May, 1917.

The Belgian women sent a touching appeal to Minister Whitlock:

THE APPEAL OF THE BELGIAN WOMEN.

"BRUSSELS,
"_November 18, 1916, 46 Rue de la Madeleine_.

"His Excellency Mr. BRAND WHITLOCK,
"_Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the United States of America_.

"MR. MINISTER:

"From the depths of our well of misery our supplication rises to you.

"In addressing ourselves to you, we denounce to your Government, as well as to our sisters, the women of the nation which you represent in our midst, the criminal abuse of force of which our unhappy and defenseless people is a victim.

"Since the beginning of this atrocious war we have looked on impotently and with our hearts torn with every sorrow at terrible events which put our civilization back into the ages of the barbarian hordes.

[Sidenote: No shadow of excuse for deportations.]

"Mr. Minister, the crime which is now being committed under your eyes, namely, the deportation of thousands of men compelled to work on enemy soil against the interests of their country, can not find any shadow of excuse on the ground of military necessity, for it constitutes a violation by force of a sacred right of human conscience.

"Whatever may be the motive it can not be admitted that citizens may be compelled to work directly or indirectly _for_ the enemy _against_ their brothers who are fighting.

"The Convention of The Hague has consecrated this principle.

"Nevertheless, the occupying power is forcing thousands of men to this monstrous extremity, which is contrary to morals and international law, both these men who have already been taken to Germany and those who to-morrow will undergo the same fate, if from the outside, from neutral Europe and the United States, no help is offered.

[Sidenote: The women of Belgium have kept back their tears.]

"Oh! The Belgian women have also known how to carry out their duty in the hour of danger; they have not weakened the courage of the soldiers of honor by their tears.

"They have bravely given to their country those whom they loved. * * * The blood of mothers is flowing on the battle-fields.

"Those who are taken away to-day do not go to perform a glorious duty. They are slaves in chains who, in a dark exile, threatened by hunger, prison, death, will be called upon to perform the most odious work--service to the enemy against the fatherland.

"The mothers can not stand by while such an abomination is taking place without making their voices heard in protest.

"They are not thinking of their own sufferings, their own moral torture, the abandonment and the misery in which they are to be placed with their children.

[Sidenote: The rights of honor and conscience.]

"They address you in the name of the inalterable rights of honor and conscience.

"It has been said that women are 'all powerful suppliants.'

"We have felt authorized by this saying, Mr. Minister, to extend our hands to you and to address to your country a last appeal.

"We trust that in reading these lines you will feel at each word the unhappy heartbeats of the Belgian women and will find in your broad and humane sympathy imperative reasons for intervention.

"Only the united will of the neutral peoples energetically expressed can counterbalance that of the German authorities.

"This assistance which the neutral nations can and, therefore, ought to lend us, will it be refused to the oppressed Belgians?

"Be good enough to accept, Mr. Minister, the homage of our most distinguished consideration."

(Signed by a number of Belgian women and 24 societies.)

The United States Government did not fail to respond to this touching appeal and to others of a similar nature. The American Embassy at Berlin promptly took up the burning question of the deportations with the Chancellor and other representatives of the German Government. In an interview with the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Grew was handed an official statement of the German plans, which is, in translation, as follows:

THE GERMAN MEMORANDUM ON BELGIAN "UNEMPLOYMENT."

[Sidenote: More German camouflage.]

"Against the unemployed in Belgium, who are a burden to public charity, in order to avoid friction arising therefrom, compulsory measures are to be adopted to make them work so far as they are not voluntarily inclined to work, in accordance with the regulation issued May 15, 1916, by the Governor General. In order to ascertain such persons the assistance of the municipal authorities is required for the district of the Governor General in Brussels, while in the districts outside of the General Government, i.e., in the provinces of Flanders, lists were demanded from the presidents of the local relief committees containing the names of persons receiving relief. For the sake of establishing uniform procedure the competent authorities have, in the meantime, been instructed to make the necessary investigations regarding such persons also in Flanders through the municipal authorities; furthermore, presidents of local relief committees who may be detained for having refused to furnish such lists will be released."

Mr. Grew pointed out that the deportations were a breach of faith and would injure the German cause abroad. In his official summary of the negotiations which he carried on he says:

[Sidenote: Mr. Grew points out that Germany excites public opinion against her.]

"I then discussed in detail with the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the unfortunate impression which this decision would make abroad, reminding him that the measures were in principle contrary to the assurances given to the Ambassador by the Chancellor at General Headquarters last spring and dwelling on the effect which the policy might have on England's attitude towards relief work in Belgium. I said I understood that the measures had been promulgated solely by the military government in Belgium and that I thought the matter ought at least to be brought to the Chancellor's personal attention in the light of the consequences which the new policy would entail. Herr Zimmermann intimated in reply that the Foreign Office had very little influence with the military authorities and that it was unlikely that the new policy in Belgium could be revoked. He stated, however, in answer to my inquiry, that he would not disapprove of my seeing the Chancellor about the matter."

[Sidenote: Mr. Grew appeals to the Chancellor]

Mr. Grew accordingly took up the whole question with the Chancellor, and among other arguments urged the promises which the German Government had solemnly made to the Belgian civilians through Baron von Huene and Baron von der Goltz. [These pledges are set forth in detail in Cardinal Mercier's letter of October 19th, 1916, quoted in full on preceding pages.] Mr. Grew found it impossible to persuade the Chancellor to secure the abandonment of the policy of deportations, and thereupon urged that the policy should be modified. His formal statement of this phase of the negotiations is as follows:

"The points of amelioration which I then suggested as a concession to Belgian national feeling and foreign opinion were as follows:

"1. Only actual unemployed to be taken, involving a more deliberate and careful selection.

"2. Married men or heads of families not to be taken.

"3. Employees of the Comité National not to be taken.

[Sidenote: and asks certain concessions]

"4. The lists of the unemployed not to be required of the Belgian authorities, but to be determined by the German authorities themselves, as a concession to Belgian national feeling, and the Belgians, who had already been imprisoned for refusing to supply these lists, released.

"5. Deported persons to be permitted to correspond with their families in Belgium.

"6. Places of work or concentration camps of deported persons to be voluntarily opened by the German Government to inspection by neutral representatives.

* * * * *

"A few days later Count Zech, the Chancellor's adjutant, called on me and communicated to me informally and orally the following replies to the various suggestions which I had made for concessions and points of amelioration:

[Sidenote: but with slight success.]

"1. Only actual unemployed were to be taken. The selections would be made in a careful and deliberate manner.

"2. Married men or heads of families could not in principle be exempted, but each case would be considered carefully on its merits.

"3. Employees of the _Comité National_ are regarded as actually employed and therefore exempt.

"4. It was essential that the Belgian authorities should co-operate with the German authorities in furnishing lists of unemployed, in order to avoid mistakes. Only one Belgian had been imprisoned for refusing to give such lists, and orders had now been given for his release.

"5. Deported persons would be permitted to correspond with their families in Belgium.

"6. Places of work and concentration camps would in principle be open to inspection by Spanish diplomatic representatives.

"American inspection might also be informally arranged if desired.

* * * * *

"On December 2nd, the Minister at Brussels communicated to me the text of a telegram which he had sent to the Department on November 28th, stating that he had been encouraged by the report of the results of my interview with the Chancellor." * * *

The telegram to which Mr. Grew refers was the following:

MINISTER WHITLOCK'S TELEGRAM OF NOVEMBER 28, 1916.

"BRUSSELS, VIA THE HAGUE, _November 28, 1916_.

"SECRETARY OF STATE,
"_Washington_.

[Sidenote: Germans are deporting the skilled Belgian workmen.]