Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-18
"Louvain can be spoken of only in the past"
That is not true.

"Louvain can be spoken of only in the past"
| That is not true.
One Seventh of Louvain In Ruins
| A liberal estimate to the part of Louvain
| that lies in ruins is one-seventh. More conser
| vative observers of the opinion that one
| tenth of the entire city Is destroyed. ]
inclined to accept the larger estimate. Far
| from being "a city of the past Louvain is COM
| ing out of the heavy bewilderment which it's
sorrows laid upon it, and under German au-
| spices and with German assistance, is making
good progress in clearing away the wreckage.
In the daytime the people move freely through
the streets and do not terrorized. The
street venders, for example, drive n brisk and
good natured trade in picture postcards with
German soldiers
German officers and officials with whom I
have talked have spoken lightly of the
sufferngs of Belgium and they are sorry for
Belgium. You have been in Dinant," said the
secretary of the German Foreign Office Won
Jagow, to me. $50 have l." he added, land
1t is terrible but war is war, and it is tel.fold
more dreadful when the civil population takes
a hand in it."
And when it comes to the kind of resistance
OF reprisal-one cannot call 1t war-which the
franctireur makes, you, Sir Arthur, know what
the Waloons of Eastern Belgium are. Turbu-
lent trucuent, and unschooled they hght-no,
one cannot say fight but fire-from cellars.
from attics, and from behind hedges, using
the while the protection civilian garb confers
veritable noncombatants, but not accepting
the honorable risks that go with the uniform
of veritable soldier The adjActives which
mankind has applied to the lower orders of
this Walloon population and the facts of their
80 hn ND i,, 5oIo
school history. Brave, in lawless way, they
certainly are but often devious, and sometimes
treacherous
You know the old proverb concerning the IN
habltants of the ancient province of Hesbain.
part of the province of LIege-"Qui passe
dams lie Hesbain est combattu rendemain." And
the fact was, and is, that the enemy who passed
that way got his fighting in the back ION the
morrow"
Belgium Warned Walloons
The Belgian Government felt a lively appre-
hension of the suffering of which the Walloons
and their compatriots farther west would bring
upon the kingdom and throughout the week or
10 days of the advance from Liege to Brussels
many burgomasters and the Minister of War
issued daily, and sometimes hourly, proclama-
tions In which they pleaded with the people to
observe the laws of bearing on the OBJ
legations of civilians and gave them the most
explicit warning that the participation of civil
ians in the hostties would bring the most
terrible penalties on whole communities and on
innocent women, children and the aged. Copies
of these proclamations, addressed AUX Cvls,"
have by me. Their language Is often passion
ate in Its solicitude
asked an American gentleman who has lived
for fve years In Belgium and who loves the
ha anag ~ YoHra kha
Il refer to Lawrence sterne Stevens, an artist,
why these warnings had had 80 little effect
upon the Walloon peasants, miners and metal
workers. Because" he replied, the number of
illiterates is so large in Belgium that thousands
upon thousands OF the people could not read
the proclamations."
And so. impotent and fruitiess. these placards
stared the people In the face from boardlngs
and dead walls and the firing from behind walls
and hedgeroWs began. 1t was tragic, but It
was not war And 1t was so utterly barren OF
permanent results, and 1t drew such severe re-
prsals, that I could quite understand the point
of view of Major Boyer. German commandant
of Brussels, when he said, These Belgians do
not know what war means"
Only Guilty Punished
The event proved how justified were the APP
prehensions OF the Belgian Government re-
BarulnB lne sense Oh lhclE OpugAtlOnS as et-
VILLAINS which was entertained by the humble
folk of the countryside and OF the mining VIII
lages. Hundreds Of misguided persons were
shot and thousands Of dwellings were burned.
And yet. widespread is the ruin have wit
messed, l was amazed at the discrimination
the enemy displayed In melting out punishment
In Dinant. for example. the second and the
hfth house in long terrace OF, say. 10 houses.
would be destroyed. All the rest would be in
tact Manifestly the houses from which franc
tireurs had been taken had been burned. The
rest had been spared When you consider that
this discrimination was exercised during the
terrible hours OF street lighting, you win realize
that though the Germans, God knows. had
been severe, they had not been ruthless My
compafrlots dessrs. Thompson. Mecutcheon
and Cobb. observed time ana again during our
Belgian wanderlngs the proofs OF this reason
ably accurate justice dispensed under trying
conditions
u BFpsssls. % days after tie entry movsa
eaasiasss = Psszs