The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-09

under obligation to take all measures possible to restore public order and to
 maintain the course of public life
 and indeed, according to the laws of the occupied country, in so far as there. exists no pinsurmountable hind rance.
 ''There is no doubt that provision for the insuring of the feeding of the
 population belongs to the work of maintaining public order and public life. But, owing to the circum- stances prevailing, this could only be done through the agricultural output of the occupied territory itself. If this production was endangered, and if there also was a particular lack of the labor power necessary for the work on the land, then it was neces- sary to use every available means to prevent a state of distress. In the
 matter of deciding what measures should be taken in such eases, the laws of the land are the first factor to be taken into consideration, accord ing to the article quoted; but if these laws fail, then, according to the final words of the article, the occupying power has the right to adopt it's own supplementary measures in the case of the difficulty thus created. In the case at hand the only way to do away with a state of distress was to com pei a part of the population to work in their own interest. That it really was a case of distress, and that the measures taken by the military au- thorities for the attainment of the object aimed at were imperative and efficacious, is amply proved by the of hn nj sta m nf the
 s'When the French government only after a quarter of year came for ward with its complaints against the measures adopted by the German
 army administration this affords the dearest kind of evidence that it was not matter of mitigating the alleged sufferings of the inhabitants of North ern France, but @ question of creating sentiment adverse to Germany among it's own and neutral peoples and that it had saved this means for @ time when the French government thought it was in need of stronger material far indictment. This time came a. the end of July. The comparatively insignificant results of the Somme of fensive that had been undertaken with an enormous display of force and an- nounced with an enormous amount of noise, the prospects of a third winter campaign, the impending opening of
 the French Chamber of Deputies and fna1lyl the wish to mobilize more neu- tra1 nations against the Central Pow CTS, all these were plainly the reasons that induced our enemies now to bring out the indignation that they had kept in cold storage for a quarter of year and rage over it.
 'This object would never have been accomplished through truthful pre- sentatton of the actual occurrences. Because of this, the enemy propa- gandists saw themselves obliged to re- sort to the expedient. as reprehensible as it is common to them, of giving the desired punch to the exposition of the circumstances by the addition of sensational inventions. The assertion that the persons transplanted had been sent, not to France but to Ger many, and that, fl. -hermore, they had been forced to work in the | trenches or in the munition factories. 1 was particularly adapted to this end. 1 The limit was reached in the asser- l ton expressed in letter from Pro! lessor Bossi of Genoa to the Popolo l d'Italia of Aug. 26 to the effect that | the women of Lille had been sent to | the country for the purpose of im- | moral traffic with German soldiers.
 ''All these assertions bear the self | inflicted brand of being a shameless web of lie, the sole object of which is | to drag the German name and the rep utation of the German Army in the | mire once more, to revive the sinking | war spirit of Entente countries and to | incite the neutrals against us'