The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-09
BERLIN DEFENDS
 EXILE CASES BY
 THE HAGUE RULE
Rebukes France For Not Earlier Protesting Against Transplanting" Popu-
 lations.


 waited three months before issuing it's formal protest to neutral countries against the removal by the German authorities of some 10000 inhabitants of the cities of Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing from their homes last April for the purpose of compelling them to do farm work in the occupied part of France. the. German government, in an official stteYklent printed in the North German Gazette, charges the French government with having made it's com plain merely in the hope of intensity ing the hatred of the French people fer the Germans and of inducing some neutral powers to enter the lists against Germany.
 The publication of the protest of the French government caused considera- ble comment in many neutral coun- tries, and there was talk of action in favor of the deported civilians, most of whom were women and children, by the United States, Spain, Holland and the Vatican, but the only power that took definite steps to this end was Spain, whose repeated representations 10 the German government obtained a promise that the deported persons would be sent back home as soon as possible after the fall harvest work was done, according to a ca,blegram from Paris printed in the New York Times of Oct 8.
 The statement by the German gov ernment, in which the act of deporta- tion is referred to as "Verpf1anzung," (transplanting), which was briefly mentioned in cablegram at the time it was issued, reads as follows:
 During the last third of April, 1916, the supreme administration of the German army transplanted some 20,- 900 inhabitants of the northern French cities of Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing to the country. There is no doubt but that the French govern ment learned of this measure within very brief time. Only a short while after tl-, carrying out of this measure tho supreme army administration took occasion to enter into correspondence with the representatives of neutral government regarding the matter in question. Besides, the Gazette des Ar dennes (the newspaper printed in French by the Germans in the occu- pied territory has been transmitting communications from the transplant ed persons to their relatives since the French government took no stand in the matter and only at the end of. July, consequently, after about a quar- ter of ear, made it the starting point of a systematic campaign of incitation- against Germany which has spread over the whole world.
 '"The reception that these calumnies have found, particular y in neutral for eign lands, affords a fresh incentive for the follow ing detailed exposition:
 Neutral Aid Inadequate.
 "The actual facts in the course of the affair are follows:
 "In spite of the praiseworthy pro- visions taken by the Spanish-Ameri- can Relief Committee, the matter of feeding the inhabitants of the popu- lous cities of Lille, Rubaix and Tour coing, in the industrial part of north ern France, was encountering con- stantly increasing difficulties. Because of the sortage created by the interna- tionally illegal English blockade, food from Germany for the inhabitants of occupied France was available only in
 
 at the beginning of the year, in view of the repeated threats by the British that they would tighten the blockade, it was impossible to tell how long, if at all, the bringing in of American supplies would be allowed by Eng land. Therefore. if the supreme army administration wised to insure the feeding of the urban population
 Uyrax gencies. it was necessary to take ener- getfc measures. In view of the fact that as consequence of the English blockade large numbers of the city population were without work, while on the other hand. even with the com parative density of population in the rural districts a scarcity of labor was evident there. the transplanting of l