New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-06


s,lds. that they might garner the last grain
=, wheat To the south France concerned her
ell almost as much with the harvest as with
the mobilization.
THE FIELDS ARE ROBBED OF THEIR
MEN; THERE ARE NO CROPS.
Rut the war struck Belgium unprepared-
N an industrial, if not in a military, sense.
Tn, hastv mobilization took many of the
farmers and field hands away, and the govern
r,nt had no time in the sudden, pressing duty
n resisting INVASION to set aside other laborers
sor This work. Here and there fields went I'M
,,-,.r.d for lack of men. And before any one
could touch the late crops the Germans were
uuon them, fighting skirmshes and pitched
battles all over the east and north. The rural
nopulation fed in great numbers from the
advance. as they have been fleeing every
where. Through all the strip which Germany
used as a route TO France / saw ruined har-
vests. The wheat was falling from the stalks;
N, cabbages were growing INTENDED. In the
region 10 the west of Brussels-about Client.
Bruses and Ostend-the peasants had more
tine. since the Germans did not take posses
SIGN Of that parl of Belgium until late in the
autumn Here, alone in all Belgium, was there
anything like full crop this year
The GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN CON-
SCIENCES DID NOT DISTURB.
The German army. in this war, has gone
back TO some of the ways of ancient warfare.
The custom Of taking hostages, for example,
vas sapposeS % be s--desd- issue by modern
srmies-one thought Of the days OF Julius
Cesar when he read on the walls OF every
town that Burgomeister So-and-So and Echi-
wins Ths-and-That had been seized as host
ages to answer with their lives for the good
behavior Of the populace. One thought OF
Alexander when you learned that in every
large city they occupied they demanded cash
tribute. Again, II carried you back to those
good old days when you learned that in every
town occupied By the Germans food supply
equivalent 70 several days provision for either
the garrison OF the main force had been COM
Wandered Immediately upon occupancy.
Brussels for example, had TO lay down at
once $1,000 pounds OF -four, besides proper
aonate supplies OF meat. salt and other rough
provisions. Mons when / saw it on the day
after the battle with the English, bore sign
ranmandeering not only certain supplies OF
God but all the gray cloth, the brown leather
tas mems shoes and the socks in the shops
And in all the path Of the German armies you
missed the sight of cattle in the fields. The
Germans had seized them, steers and cows
alike, Tor beef OF course. the custom OF living
o. the country is not unknown to modern
warfare, as old Southerners who lived in the
path OF Shermans army can testify. 1t re-
NAMED however, for the methodcal German
10 reduce the matter to an exact science.
IT MAY BE THAT WAR HAS BEEN AL
TOGETHER TOO POLITE.
I'd. am stating facts, not writing criti-
eiSm War is war Perhaps we have waged it
100 politely in the last century; perhaps 1t is
better to make it severe that II may be the
sooner over. l am obliged to say, also, that
iof many Of the supplies taken from private
auzens-such as beef animals-the conquerors
oic pay. either in cash. in "chits" or in or
GERS on the Bank OF France-orders whose
validity looked better in middle August than
co IN early September
~ must sec DclSluiu W uhNSA@No"N
conquest means TO subject people. can
seefcey express il in mere words, any more
nan can convey what war means as whole.
mere was manufacturing nation, producing
A'te raw material, depending for the materi-
ais Of industry. as well as for food, upon inn
ports for money, upon exports. Most OF
'nese industries stopped suddenly and abruptly
"nen the war came, because the young men
hso gone 10 the front. That was phenomenon
common 10 all the Continental countries IN
soiyed in this unparalleled mess. Even IN
Germany, with her admirable government-con-
nolled system, the wheels generally rested
curing the period OF mobilization. But the
est even France. pulled their industries TO-
gsther little. Factories manufacturing aru-
ess OF domestic consumption found ways 10
replace their soldier operatives or managers
" men immune from military service, by men
PAST the age for service or by women.
THE DEATH OF INDUSTRY IN BEL
GUM.
Even Germany found ways and means to get
ZONE supply Of raw materials Manufacturing
was resumed in France at about quarter OF the
normal production. in Germany at perhaps
cns-third These, by the way. are only guesses
Just now the French government is too busy