New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-19

gians and flooded the country with posters
announcing big German victories on 'he
western front and quoting articles from
the "Vlamsche Gazet" urging the Belgian
nation 70 come TO its senses and ask ior
peace. 49,, ,Lo
II is these infamous lies which were the
pretext for cabling broadcast the news
that Belgium was tired of the war; but 10
use the vernacuar Of the street, no one
among the Allies fell for ii.
After nearly twenty months Of German
occupation Belgium, and particularly Brus-
sells. is living in q constant state OF terror
The civilian population is at the mercy
of any nformer or any uniformed scounure'
who wishes 70 advertise his patriotism 10Y
money. Il ia not necessary. 10 prove my
assertion, TO point out individual cases
Let us take the official manual Of the Ger
man officers entitled "Kriegsgebrauch IN
Landkrieg" and we find, on page 1l5, the
following:
"Ruthlessly to employ the necessary
means of the defence and intimidation is
not only right but duty for every com
mander of an army
On page we read:
IAN officer will realize that war neces
sarily entails certain severity and sun
more that the only true humanity resides
in the ruthless employment Of such sever
ity."
From page 81 We CLEAN the following gem:
Experience has shown that a contriou-
ton Of money produces the greatest effect
on civil population"
These few extracts are sufficient to show
what German occupation means. No laws
of war are considered; the Officers
Manual scars above the Hague rules. The
civilians rights do not exist.
Besides this manual every German super
Tor commanding officer possesses a book
of secret instructions called "LInterprete
Mlitaire." ("Zum Gerbrauch i'm Feindes-
land') meaning "The Military Interpreter for
Use in the Enemy's Country"
II is to be noted that this book Of in
structions was edited in Berlin in 1905,
EIGHT years before the war broke out, and
contains, as the introduction says, "the
French text Of the greater part Of the docu-
ments, letters, procamations and certain
orders of which it may be necessary to
make use in time of war"
Among the many formulas for whole
sale repression contained in that book, let
US pick at random the following:
81 have TO acknowledge receipt of your
letter dated the Of this month IN
which you bring to my notice the great
difficulty which you expect to meet in pay
ing the contributions. can but regret
the explanation which you thought proper
10 give me on this subject The order in ques-
ton which emanates from my government is
so clear and precise and the instructions
which have received in the matter are so
categorical that if the sum due by the town
of . is not paid, the town will be
burned down without pity
Please pause minute, neutral reader,
and remember that the above formulas
were published in 1906, in French, at Ber-
lin for the use Of German commanding Of
iccrs in Belgium and France, eight years
ago, and then ask yourself who is the real
aggressor in this war
The reign of terror to-day is the same
as it was before Belgium was conquered.
Leading citizens of Brussels, such as
Burgomaster Adolphe Max, such Mr..
Thoodor, the president of the Bar Asso-
cation, are confined in German prisons
without having been tried before court.
What was their crime? Burgomaster Max
became a criminal when he denied an as
sertion made in a proclamation by Lieu
tenant General Won Kolewe, governor of
Liege. As for the president of the Bar
Association, he committed the unpardon-
able offence of protesting against the SEN