The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-12-15

from the communities the lists OF
working men out OF work. Most Of the
communities proudly refused.
Three DEGREES from the general
government prepared the way for the
execution which rs In force today.
Under date of Aug. Is. 1915, first
decree imposes, under penalty of i'm
prisonment and fine, forced work on
the idle but adds that the work is
to be executed in Belgium, and that
non compliance will be adjudged by
Belgian tribunals.
"A second decree, dated May 2, 1916,
reserves the right Of the German
authorities, to supply work to the Idle
and threatens a fine Of three years
Imprisonment and 10000 marks i'm
posable on anybody executing or
ordering to be executed work not ap-
proved Of by the general government.
Under the same decree. the right
to Judge infractions which had re-
mained with the Belgian tribunals,
passes from the Belgian to the Ger
man tribunals.
"A third decree, dated May 13, 1916,
authorizes the governors, the military
commanders and the chiefs of arron-
easements to order that the un-
employed be conducted by force TO
the places where they must work This
was already "OThluB,
in Belgium.
Now it is no longer a question Of
forcible working in Belgium, but in
Germany, and for the benefit Of the
Germans.
ITO give San appearance of plausi-
bility to these violent measures, the
occupying power insisted in the Ger
man press, both in Germany and Bel
gium, on these two pretexts: the un-
employed constitute a danger to public
order, and burden on official beneVo-
lence.
ITO this we replied in a letter ad-
dressed to the governor general and
to the head of the political department,
on October 18th, as follows:
"'You are we'll aware that public or
der Is in no wise threatened and that all
influences, moral and CIVIL would sup
port you spontaneously were 1t In dan
ger.
"'The unemployed are not a bur-
den on official benevolence. 1t is not
from your funds that they receive as
sistance.'
TN his reply the governor general
no longer urges these two first con-
siderations, but he alleges that 'doles
to the unemployed from whatever
source they may come at present. must
finally be q charge upon our finances,
and that It is the duty of a good ad-
ministrator to tighten such charges;
he adds that prolonged unemployment
would cause our workmen to lose their
technical proficiency, and that in the
time Of peace to come they would be
useless to industry
True, there We're other ways In
which our finances might have been
protected. We might have been spared
thnan 1ANgina xxyhiah hnVa now
reached the sum Of one billion francs,
and are still mounting up at the rate
of 100000 a month; we might have
been spared those requisitions in kind,
which amount to several thousands or
millions, and are exhausting us.
There are other ways Of providing
for the maintenance Of professional
skill among our work people, such as
leaving to Belgian industry its ma
chinery and accessories, its raw ma
terials and its manufactured goods,
which have passed from Belgium into
Germany. And 1t is neither to the
quarries nor to the lime kilns to which
the Germans themselves declare they
will send our unemployed, that our
specialists will go to complete their
professional education.
"The naked truth is that every de-
ported workman is another soldier fol-
the German army. He will take the
place Of German workman, who will
be made into a soldier. Thus the sit
uation which we denounce to the civil
lied world may be reduced to these
terms: Four hundred thousand work
men have been thrown out Of work by
no fault OF their own, and largely on
account Of the regime of the occupa-
ton. Sons, husbands, and fathers OF
families, they bear their unhappy lot
without murmuring, respectful of public
order; national solidarity provides
their most pressing wants; by dint oi
unselfsh thrift and self-denial they
escape extreme destitution, and they
await with dignity and in q mutua
affection which our national sorrows
have intensified, the end of our COM
mon ordeal
! Groups of soldiers introduced them.
selves forcibly in the homes of these
people, tearing the young people out o.
the arms of their parents, the hus
band from his wife. the father from hi
children, at the point of the bayone
they block the entrances to the homes
preventing wives and mothers from
rushing out to say last farewell t.
them: they align the captiyes il
groups OF forty or fifty and push then
iforcibly into freight cars; the locomo
| tive is under pressure, and as soon a
1 a train load is ready, an officer give
THE signal and they depart. Thus an
Iother thousand Belgians reduced t
lslavery, without previous trial, con
ldemned to the penalty which come
next in cruelty. to the death penalty
deportation. They don't know hov