Gilpin observer., 1917-12-27
WHITL0CK'SST0RY
OF DEPORTA1|0NS
Report Of German Disregard Of
Human Rights on File In
State Department.
OVERWHELMED WITH HORROR
Minister to Belgium Declared Il Was
Difficult to Write Calmly and Justly
In View Of the Huns Gratu-
ltous Cruelty.

Facts concerning tho deportation
Of Belgians and the forced labor er-
torted BY the Hun" military lead
ers. Which ercited the indignation of
tho ciuilised world. hate been thus
officially set forth:
The plan of setting forth the essen
tial facts Of the deportations and
forced labor Of Belgians Is set forth
by the committee on public informa-
ton as follows: the documents, that
Is to say, small fraction Of those
which could be cited. tell the story, and
only such comments are added as are
needed to enable the reader to easily
grasp the connection of events.
"The deportations were the
most vivid. shocking, convincing, single
happening in all our enforced observa-
ton and experience of German dis
regard of human suffering and human
rights in Belgium. Kellogg
in Atlantic Monthly. October. 1917.
A summary Of the whole situation,
down to January. 1917, can be OBJ
tained by reading continuously the re-
port of Minister Whitlock, taken from
the files Of the state department. This
tells Of the brutality Of the deporta-
tions.
Legation of the United States Of
America, Brussels, Jan. 49, 1917.
"The Honorable. the Secretary Of
State. Washington.
"Sir: have had 1t in mind, and l
might say. on my conscience, since
the Germans began to deport Belgian
workmen early in November, to pre-
pare for the department a detailed
report on this latest instance of bru-
tality, but there have been SO many
obstacles in the way Of obtaining EVIL
dence on which a calm and judicious
| opinion could be based, and one Is
SO overwhelmed with the horror of the
thing itself, that 1t has been, and even
now is, difficult to write calmly and
Justly about 1t. 1have had to content
myself with fragments Of dispatches
have from time to time sent to the
department and with doing what I
could, little as that can be, to allevi-
ate the distress that this gratuitous
cruelty has caused the population of
this unhappy land.
WhltIoeIe Opposed Belgian Idea.
"In order to understand fully the
situation, 1t Is necessary to go back to
the autumn of 1914. At the time we
were organizing the relief work, the
Comite National-the Belgian relief Or
ganization that collaborates with the
commission for relief in Belgium
proposed an arrangement by which
the Belgian government should pay
to its own employees left In Belgium,
and other unemployed men besides.
the wages they had been accustomed
to receive. The Belgians wished to
do this both for humanitarian and pa
triotic purposes; they wished to pro-
vide the unemployed with the means
Of livelihood, and, at the same time,
to prevent their working for the Ger
mans. / refused to be connected In
any way with this plan, and told the
Belgian committee that It had many
possibilities of danger; that not only
would 1t place a premium on idleness,
but that 1t would ultimately exasper-
|
was adopted, and has been continued
in practice, and on the rolls of the
Comite National have been borne the
names of hundreds Of thousands
some 100000, / believe-of idle men
receiving this dole, distributed through
the communes.
1.-THE presence Of these unemployed,
| howeyer was n constant temptatiOn
to German cupidity. Many times they
sought to obtain the lists Of the cho-
meurs but were always foiled by the
claim that under the guarantees COW
ering the relief work, the records of
the Comite National and its various
suborganizations were immune. Rath-
or than risk any interruption Of the
ravitaillement, for which, while loath
to own any obligation to America, the
Germans have always been grateful,
since II has had the effect of keeping
the population calm. the authorities
never pressed the point, other than
with the burgomasters Of the COM
munes. Finally, however, the mill
tary party, always brutal, and with an
astounding ignorance Of public opin.
ion and of moral sentiment, deter
mined to put these idle men to work.
General Won Bissing and the civil
portion Of his encourage had always
been and even now are opposed to this
policy, and I think have sincerely done
what they could, first, to prevent Its
-. .... .s~a, a. NHen@en