Part 8

"_The Spanish Legation which, because of the fact that Spain is charged with the protection of Belgian interests in Germany, claims precedence in this matter, * * * makes a demand for the return of each and every one who applies, and sends in about two hundred names each day. The Dutch Legation * * * forwards each request that is presented, and, owing to the fact that after the fall of Antwerp, assurances were given by the German Authorities through the Dutch Government to Belgian refugees in Holland that they would not be deported should they return to Belgium, they are receiving a great many. I am told that they submit over fifteen hundred each day._ * * *

"_We have a great many requests, and although we try not to discriminate we attempt to pick out the most deserving cases, though now that I have written that phrase I feel a certain shame in it because all the cases are deserving._

[Sidenote: Germans rarely allow food packages to reach deported Belgians.]

"_I have had requests from the burgomasters of ten communes from La Louvière, asking that permission be obtained to send to the deported men in Germany packages of food similar to those that are being sent to prisoners of war. Thus far the German authorities have refused to permit this except in special instances, and returning Belgians claim that even when such packages are received they are used by the camp authorities only as another means of coercing them to sign the agreements to work._

"_It is said that, in spite of the liberal salary promised those who would sign voluntarily, no money has as yet been received in Belgium from workmen in Germany._" (Concluded on p. 78.)

The American Government was not content with informal recommendations to the German Government, and on December 5, 1916, the American representative at Berlin laid this formal protest before the German chancellor:

FORMAL PROTEST OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.

[Sidenote: A solemn protest by United States.]

"The Government of the United States has learned with the greatest concern and regret of the policy of the German Government to deport from Belgium a portion of the civilian population with the result of forcing them to labor in Germany, and is constrained to protest in a friendly spirit but most solemnly against this action which is in contravention of all precedent and those humane principles of international practice which have long been accepted and followed by civilized nations in their treatment of noncombatants in conquered territory. Furthermore, the Government of the United States is convinced that the effect of this policy if pursued will in all probability be fatal to the Belgian relief work so humanely planned and so successfully carried out, a result which would be generally deplored and which, it is assumed, would seriously embarrass the German Government."

[Sidenote: Other neutrals support American protest.]

This protest was followed by those of the Pope, the King of Spain, the Government of Switzerland, and other neutrals. They were of no avail, except, perhaps, to lead the German authorities to draw a tighter veil over their detestable proceedings. But the evidence has in some measure come through, although the full facts will not be known until the liberation of heroic Belgium.

In the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ of December 2, 1916, the following protests appeared, made, respectively, by Socialist Deputy Haase and Deputy Dittmann, members of the Reichstag:

PROTESTS AGAINST DEPORTATIONS HEARD IN REICHSTAG.

"Thousands of workmen in the occupied territory have been compelled to forced labor; we earnestly ask the government to restore to these workmen their liberty, especially in Belgium. In truth, we [the Germans] find no sympathy in neutral countries; even the Pope has made a protest against this procedure, and several neutral states have done the same. Common sense itself demands that we abandon this procedure which moreover is in opposition to the Hague Convention to which we have agreed."

"In opposition to the Secretary of State, I must recall that when formerly the Belgian workmen who had fled to Holland returned to Belgium, Governor General von Bissing promised that these Belgian workmen would under no circumstances be deported to Germany. This reassuring promise has not been kept."

Ambassador Gerard's interesting testimony appears in his recent book:

AMBASSADOR GERARD'S EVIDENCE.

[Sidenote: American indignation at deportations.]

"The President [during my visit to America in 1916] impressed upon me his great interest in the Belgians deported to Germany. The action of Germany in thus carrying a great part of the male population of Belgium into virtual slavery had roused great indignation in America. As the revered Cardinal Farley said to me a few days before my departure, 'You have to go back to the times of the Medes and the Persians to find a like example of a whole people carried into bondage.'

"Mr. Grew had made representations about this to the Chancellor and, on my return, I immediately took up the question.

[Sidenote: Gerard not permitted to visit deported Belgians.]

"I was informed that it was a military measure, that Ludendorf had feared that the British would break through and overrun Belgium and that the military did not propose to have a hostile population at their backs who might cut the rail lines of communication, telephones and telegraphs, and that for this reason the deportation had been decided on. I was, however, told I would be given permission to visit these Belgians. The passes, nevertheless, which alone made such visiting possible were not delivered until a few days before I left Germany.

[Sidenote: Some of them call on him.]

"Several of these Belgians who were put to work in Berlin managed to get away and come to see me. They gave me a harrowing account of how they had been seized in Belgium and made to work in Germany at making munitions to be used probably against their own friends.

"I said to the Chancellor, 'There are Belgians employed in making shells contrary to all rules of war and the Hague Conventions.' He said, 'I do not believe it.' I said, 'My automobile is at the door. I can take you, in four minutes, to where thirty Belgians are working on the manufacture of shells.' But he did not find time to go.

"Americans must understand that the Germans will stop at nothing to win this war, and that the only thing they respect is force." James W. Gerard, _My Four Years in Germany_, 1917, pp. 351-52.

A similar point of view is expressed in an article entitled "Vae Victis" from the Hungarian newspaper _Nepszawa_ of Budapest (quoted in K.G. Ossiannilsson, _Militarism at Work in Belgium and Germany_, 1917, pp. 53-54).

HUNGARIAN OPINION ON DEPORTATIONS.

"Mechanical skill, and especially qualified mechanical skill, is for the moment a more important factor than usual, and as it must be obtained where it can be obtained, Belgium has had to suffer in accordance with the old saying which always holds good: _Vae victis_ (woe to the vanquished). In Poland, mechanical skill and the arms which exist there are mobilized under 'the glorious and fortunate banners of Poland'; in Belgium under 'the banner of necessity.'"

[Sidenote: The Germans are using the Belgians for war work.]

"* * * The question remains: for what kind of work will the Germans use the Belgians? * * * Every kind of work in Germany is war work, whether it is called agricultural or industrial work. As the deported Belgians have not given their consent, their use is contrary to international law, and the policy of the Germans in Belgium and Poland is equally to be deplored. Instead of aiming at bringing us nearer peace, it serves to embitter our opponents and to rouse more hatred towards us amongst the neutrals. Many times and more and more we have had occasion to observe that the neutrals show more sympathy for Belgium than for any other belligerent."

[Sidenote: Belgians still being deported, September, 1917.]

The news dispatches indicate that the deportation and forced labor of Belgians still continue. In a dispatch from Havre (New York _Evening Post_, September 13, 1917) it is stated: "The removal of the civilian population of Belgium continues, according to advices received here. The town of Roulers, immediately behind the battle line in Flanders, has been evacuated completely. Ostend is being emptied gradually, and two thousand persons already have been sent from Courtrai." In another dispatch from Havre (_Washington Post_, September 24, 1917) it is stated that "the German military authorities at Bruges, Belgium, are conscripting forcibly all the boys and men of that city between the ages of 14 and 60 to work in munition factories and shipyards. The rich and poor, shopkeepers and workmen, all are being taken, only the school-teachers, doctors, and priests escaping."

REPORT OF MINISTER WHITLOCK (concluded).

[Sidenote: German capacity for blundering.]

"_One interesting result of the deportations remains to be noted, a result that once more places in relief the German capacity for blundering, almost as great as the German capacity for cruelty. Until the deportations were begun there was no intense hatred on the part of the lower classes, i.e., the workingmen and the peasants. The old Germans of the Landsturm had been quartered in Flemish homes; they and the inmates spoke nearly the same language; they got alone fairly well; they helped the women with the work, the poor and the humble having none of those hatreds of patriotism that are among the privileges of the upper classes. It is conceivable that the Flemish population might have existed under German rule; it was Teutonic in its origin and anti-French always. But now the Germans have changed all that._

[Sidenote: Germans will be hated for generations.]

"_They have dealt a mortal blow to any prospect they may ever have had of being tolerated by the population of Flanders; in tearing away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and a father or a son and brother they have lighted a fire of hatred that will never go out; they have brought home to every heart in the land, in a way that will impress its horror indelibly on the memory of three generations, a realization of what German methods mean, not, as with the early atrocities, in the heat of passion and the first lust of war, but by one of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a deed coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said to have wept in its execution, and so monstrous that even German officers are now said to be ashamed._

"WHITLOCK."

Mr. Hoover's mature conclusions on the German practices in Belgium, which he has written for this pamphlet, reinforce the detailed evidence already presented.

MR. HOOVER'S CONCLUSIONS.

SEPTEMBER, 1917.

I have been often called upon for a statement of my observation of German rule in Belgium and Northern France.

I have neither the desire nor the adequate pen to picture the scenes which have heated my blood through the two and a half years that I have spent in work for the relief of these 10,000,000 people.

[Sidenote: Belgian atrocities are the result of the "system."]

The sight of the destroyed homes and cities, the widowed and fatherless, the destitute, the physical misery of a people but partially nourished at best, the deportation of men by tens of thousands to slavery in German mines and factories, the execution of men and women for paltry effusions of their loyalty to their country, the sacking of every resource through financial robbery, the battening of armies on the slender produce of the country, the denudation of the country of cattle, horses and textiles; all these things we had to witness, dumb to help other than by protest and sympathy, during this long and terrible time--and still these are not the events of battle heat, but the effects of a grinding heel of a race demanding the mastership of the world.

All these things are well known to the world--but what can never be known is the dumb agony of the people, the expressionless faces of millions whose souls have passed the whole gamut of emotions. And why? Because these, a free and democratic people, dared plunge their bodies before the march of autocracy.

I myself believe that if we do not fight and fight now, all these things are possible to us--but even should the broad Atlantic prove our present defender, there is still Belgium. Is it worth while for us to live in a world where this free and unoffending people is to be trampled into the earth and to raise no sword in protest?

HERBERT HOOVER.

FRANCE.

[Sidenote: German practices were the same in all occupied regions.]

In France the German system of forced labor and deportations, with its attendant callousness, brutalities, and horrors, was the same as in Belgium. Inasmuch as the German system in action has been adequately illustrated in the foregoing pages on Belgium, it will suffice in this part simply to show the real identity of German practice in the two occupied regions. This can be done from the official documents and from a summary by Ambassador Gerard. The harrowing details may be gathered from the scores of depositions which accompany the note addressed by the French Government to the Governments of the neutral powers July 25, 1916. These are on file in the State Department, and have also been translated, along with the official documents, in _The Deportation of Women and Girls from Lille_, New York, Doran.

PROCLAMATION OF THE GERMAN MILITARY COMMANDANT OF LILLE.

"The attitude of England makes the provisioning of the population more and more difficult.

"To reduce the misery, the German authorities have recently asked for volunteers to go and work in the country. This offer has not had the success that was expected.

[Sidenote: German proclamation at Lille, April, 1916.]

"In consequence of this the inhabitants will be deported by order and removed into the country. Persons deported will be sent to the interior of the occupied territory in France, far behind the front, where they will be employed in agricultural labor, and not on any military work whatever. By this measure they will be given the opportunity of providing better for their subsistence.

"In case of necessity, provisions can be obtained through the German depots. Every person deported will be allowed to take with him 30 kilograms of baggage (household utensils, clothes, etc.), which it will be well to make ready at once.

"I therefore order that no one, until further orders, shall change his place of residence. No one may absent himself from his declared legal residence from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (German time), unless he is in possession of a permit in due form.

"Inasmuch as this is an irrevocable measure, it is in the interest of the population itself to remain calm and obedient.

"COMMANDANT.

"LILLE, _April, 1916_."

NOTICE DISTRIBUTED TO HOUSES IN LILLE.

"All the inhabitants of the house, with the exception of children under fourteen and their mothers, and also of old people, must prepare themselves for transportation in an hour and a half's time.

[Sidenote: Inhabitants of Lille given 90 minutes to get ready to depart.]

"An officer will decide definitely what persons will be taken to the concentration camps. For this purpose all the inhabitants of the house must assemble in front of it; in case of bad weather they may remain in the passage. The door of the house must remain open. All protests will be useless. No inmate of the house, even those who are not to be transported, may leave the house before 8 a.m. (German time).

"Each person will be permitted to take 30 kilograms of baggage; if anyone's baggage exceeds that weight, it will all be rejected without further consideration. Packages must be separately made up for each person and must bear an address legibly written and firmly affixed. This address must contain the surname and the Christian name and the number of the identity card.

[Sidenote: Must carry their own cooking utensils.]

"It is absolutely necessary that each person should, in his own interest, provide himself with eating and drinking utensils, as well as with a woolen blanket, good shoes, and body linen. Everyone must carry his identity card on his person. Anyone attempting to evade transportation will be punished without mercy.

"ETAPPEN-KOMMANDANTUR."

[LILLE, _April, 1916_.]

PROTEST OF BISHOP CHAROST, OF LILLE, ADDRESSED TO GENERAL VON GRAEVENITZ.

"MONSIEUR LE GÉNÉRAL: It is my duty to bring to your notice the fact that a very agitated state of mind exists among the population.

"Numerous removals of women and girls, certain transfers of men and youth, and even of children, have been carried out in the districts of Tourcoing and Roubaix without judicial procedure or trial.

[Sidenote: The Bishop protests against deportations.]

"The unfortunate people have been sent to unknown places. Measures equally extreme and on a larger scale are contemplated at Lille. You will not be surprised, Monsieur le Général, that I intercede with you in the name of the religious mission confided to me. That mission lays on me the burden of defending with respect but with courage, the Law of Nations, which the law of war must never infringe, and that eternal morality whose rules nothing can suspend. It makes it my duty to protect the feeble and the unarmed, who are as my family to me and whose burdens and sorrows are mine.

[Sidenote: Appeals to the humanity of the commander.]

"You are a father; you know that there is not in the order of humanity a right more honorable or more holy than that of the family. For every Christian the inviolability of God, who created the family, attaches to it. The German officers who have been billeted for a long time in our homes know how deep in our hearts we of the North hold family affection and that it is the sweetest thing in life to us. Thus to dismember the family by tearing youths and girls from their homes is not war; it is for us tortures and the worst of tortures--unlimited moral torture.

[Sidenote: The methods of deportation a danger to morals.]

[Sidenote: Hopes for restoration of the deported.]

"The violation of family rights is doubled by a violation of the sacred demands of morality. Morality is exposed to perils, the mere idea of which is revolting to every honest man, from the promiscuity which inevitably accompanies removals _en masse_, involving mixture of the sexes, or, at all events, of persons of very unequal moral standing. Young girls of irreproachable life, who have never committed any worse offense than that of trying to pick up some bread or a few potatoes to feed a numerous family, and who have besides paid the light penalty for such trespass, have been carried off. Their mothers, who have watched so closely over them and had no other joy than that of keeping their daughters beside them, in the absence of father and sons fighting or killed at the front--these mothers are now alone. They bring to me their despair and their anguish. I am speaking of what I have seen and heard. I know that you have no part in these harsh measures. You are by nature inclined toward justice; that is why I venture to turn to you; I beg you to be good enough to forward without delay to the German High Military Command this letter from a Bishop, whose deep grief they will easily imagine. We have suffered much for the last twenty months, but no stroke of fortune could be comparable to this; it would be as undeserved as it is cruel and would produce in all France an indelible impression. I cannot believe that the blow will fall. I have faith in the human conscience and I preserve the hope that the young men and girls of respectable families will be restored to their homes in answer to the demand for their return and that sentiments of justice and honor will prevail over all lower considerations.

"ALEXIS ARMAND, "_Bishop_."

ADDRESS OF PROMINENT CITIZENS OF ROUBAIX AND TOURCOING TO THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE.

"To Monsieur RAYMOND POINCARÉ, "_President of the French Republic, Paris_.

"SIR: We have the honor to express again our most sincere gratitude to you for your most kind reception, a few days ago, of the deputation which went with feelings of legitimate emotion to inform you of the deportation of lads and girls, which the German authorities have just carried out in the invaded districts.

"We have collected some details on the subject from the lips of an honorable and trustworthy person, who succeeded in leaving Tourcoing about ten days ago; we think it our duty to bring these details to your notice by reproducing textually the declarations which have been made to us:

"'These deportations began towards Easter. The Germans announced that the inhabitants of Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lille, etc., were going to be transported into French districts where their provisioning would be easier.

[Sidenote: The procedure of the deportations.]

"'At night, at about 2 o'clock in the morning, a whole district of the town was invested by the troops of occupation. To each house was distributed a printed notice, of which we give below an exact reproduction, preserving the style and spelling. [See second document, above.]

"'The inhabitants so warned were to hold themselves ready to depart an hour and a half after the distribution of the proclamation.

"'Each family, drawn up outside the house, was examined by an officer, who pointed out haphazard the persons who were to go. No words can express the barbarity of this proceeding nor describe the heartrending scenes which occurred; young men and girls took a hasty farewell of their parents--a farewell hurried by the German soldiers who were executing the infamous task--rejoined the group of those who were going, and found themselves in the middle of the street, surrounded by other soldiers with fixed bayonets.

[Sidenote: Sometimes a kind-hearted officer could not carry out the brutal orders.]

"'Tears of despair on the part of parents and children so ruthlessly separated did not soften the hearts of the brutal Germans. Sometimes, however, a more kind-hearted officer yielded to too great a despair, and did not choose all the persons whom he should--by the terms of his instructions--have separated.

"'These girls and lads were taken in street cars to factories, where they were numbered and labelled like cattle and grouped to form convoys. In these factories they remained twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-six hours until a train was ready to remove them.

"'The deportation began with the villages of Roncq, Halluin, etc., then Tourcoing and Roubaix. In towns the Germans proceeded by districts.

[Sidenote: Numbers deported.]

"'In all about 30,000 persons are said to have been carried off up to the present. This monstrous operation has taken eight to ten days to accomplish. It is feared, unfortunately, that it may begin again soon. The departures took place in freight cars to the sound of the "Marseillaise."

"'The reason given by the German authorities is a humanitarian (?) one. They have put forward the following pretexts: provisioning is going to break down in the large towns in the north and their suburbs, whereas in the Ardennes the feeding is easy and cheap.

[Sidenote: Young men and girls lodged in "disgraceful promiscuity."]