The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-14
PROTEST OF CARDINAL mERCiER AGAINST THE
 BELGIAN DEP0RTATl0N

N>~~ ~~A~~~- Mercier's protest against the depor- tation of Belgians to Germany, only brief excerpts of which came in the cable dispatches, has been received here by the Associated Press in it's full text, as follows:
 'Malines, Nov. [, 1916. r
 Every day the military authorities deport from Belgium into Germany thousands of inoffensive citizens to oblige them there to perform forced babor.
 ~As early as October 1s we sent e the Governor General a protest, a copy of which was handed to the representatives of the Holy See. of Spain, the United States and Holland. in Brussels, but the Governor General replied ito it that nothing could be done.
 At the time of our protestation. the orders of the Occupying Power threatened only the unemployed; to- day every abie-bodied man is car ried off, pellmeIl, assembled in freight cars. and carried off to unknown parts, like a herd of slaves. The ere- my proceeds to regions. Vague ru- mors had come to our ears that arr rests had been made in Tournau, Ghent and Alost, but we were not aware of the conditions under which they had been made. Between Oc- tober "A and November 2, it occurred in the region of Mons. sQuievrain. Saint Guislain. Jemappes, in punches of 800 to 1,2O0 nena day. The next, and the following days, it occurred in the Acknowledgement of Nivelles. Here is a. specimen of the announcement concerning the proceedings:
 Y By order of @the Kreischef every male person over 1T years old. shall present himself. Place Saint Paul, in Nivelles. on November 8, 1916, at 8 o'clock (Belgian tinae) o'clock Central Tfme) bringing with him his Identification card and eventually his card from the Meldeamt. ~
 Only small handbaggage is per-
 ..Those not presenting themselves will be forcibly 4deported into Ger many and will besides he liable to a heavy fine and to long imprisonment.
 n'Ecclesiastics, physicians. lawyers and teachers are exempt from this order. A
 { asThe mayors will be held respon- sfbIe for the proper execution of this order which must be brought imme- diately to the knowledge of the in habitants.'
 Between the announcement and the dep6rtation there is an interval of only24 hours.
 Under. pretext of public works to be performed on Belgian soil. the Occupying Power had attemDted to obtain from the communities the lists of working men out of work. Most Of the communities proudly re- fused.
 .sThree decrees from the General Government prepared the way for the execution which is in force to-day.
 sunddr date Of August 16, q 91 5, 2 first decree imposes. under penalty of Imprisonment and fine. forced work on the iQfs; but adds that the work is to be executed in Belgium. and that pon-compliance will be adjudged by Belgian Tribunals.
 "A second decree, dated May 2, 1916. reserves the right of the Ger man authorities. to supply work to the idle and threatens fine of three years Imprisonment and 20,000 marks impossible on anybody execut- ing or ordering to be executed work not approved of by. the General Gov erlment
 ..Under the same decree. the right to judge infractions which had re- 14AainedI with the Belgian tribunals. passes from the Belgium to the Ger man tribunals. "A third decree. dated May 13, 1916, saalthorizes the Governors. the military commanders and the chiefs of arrondissements ito order that the unemployed be conducted by force to the places where they must work This was already foreible working, although in Belgium.
 .sfyow it fs no longer a question of fnrcible working iii Belgium, but in Germany and for the benefit of the Germans.
 gro give an appearance of pIansi- bility to these violent measures, the Occupying Power insisted in the Ger man Press, both in Germany and Bell kilina, on these two pretexts: the un- employed constitute danger to pulp lic order. and a burden on official benevolence.
 ..To this we replied in a letter ad- dressed to the Governor General and to the head of the Political Depart ment. on October IS, as follows:
 You are we'll aware that public order is Tn no wise threatened and that all influences, moral and civil, would support you spontaneously were it Tn danger.
 The unemployed are not a bur- den on official benevolence. it is not from your funds that they receive as- sistance.
 III his reply the Governor General 10 yonger urges these two first ctr. alterations. but he alleges that sdoles to the unemployed from whatever source they may come at present, must finally be a charge upon our finances, and that it is the duty of a good administrator to tighten such charges: he adds that prolonged un- employment would cause our work men to lose their technical proficien- cy, and that in tKe time of peace to come they would be useless to indus try
 s"Truesss there were other ways in which our finances might have been protected. We might have been spar ed those war levies which have now reached the sum of One Billion Frencs. and are still mounting up at the rate of 40 millions a month. we might have been spared those reuuis- ftions in kind, which amount to sev- eraI. thousands Of millions, and are exhausting Us.
 There are other ways of provid- ing for the maintenance of profes- 01rf11 arrnnO