The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-12-10

erican banker who was working to
ameliorate conditions in Belgium and
Poland)
Whitlock gives this picture OF the
actual deportations:
"They began in October at Client
and at Eruges as my brief kilograms
indicated. The policy spread; the
rich industrial district Of Hainaut, the
j'mines and steel WORKS ABOUT Char
leroi were next attacked; now they
are Selling men IN Brabant even in
Brussels despite SOME Indications and
even predictions Of the civil authOri-
ties that the policy was about to be
Abandoned. ....- s.... ;,
During the last fortnight men have
been impressed here in Brussels but
their seizures here are made evidently
with greater care than in the pro
vinces With more regard for the ap-
pearances There was no public an
nouncement Of the intention to de.
port but suddenly abou: ten days ago
certain men in towns whose names
are on the list of chomeurs received
summons notifying them to report at
a given day; penalties were fixed for
failure to respond 20 the summons
and there was printed on the card
an offer of employment by the Ger
man government either in Germany
or in Belgium. On the first day, OF
about 1890 men ordered to present
themselves at the Care du Midi, about
$50 responded. There were examined
by German physicians, and 300 were
taken. There was no disorder, large
force Of mounted Uhlans keeping back
the crowds and barring access to the
station to all but those VINO had been
summoned to appear.
"The commission for relief in Bel
GUM had secured permission to give
to each deported man loaf of bread,
and some Of the communes provided
warm clothing for those who had none
and in addition, a small financial al
lowance.
LAS 'oy one Of the ironies of life, the
winter mas been more excessively cold
than Belgium has ever known it, and
I, while many Of those who presented
themselves were adequately protected
against the cold, many Of them were
without overcoats. The men shivering
from cold and fear, the parting from
weeping wives ana children, the bar
tiers Of brutal Uhlans, all this made
the scene a pitiable and distressing
one. 't
The rage, the terror, the despair
excited by this measure all over Bel
GUM were beyond anything we had
| witnessed since the day the Germans
poured into BRUSSELS. The delegates
OF the commission for relief in Bel
! GUM returning to Brussels, told the
most distressing stories OF the scenes
OF cruelty and sorrow attending the
seizures. And daily, hourly almost,
since that time appalling stories have
been related by Belgians to- the lega.
ton. 1t is impossible for us to verify
them, first because it is necessary for
us to exercise all possible tact in
dealing with the subject at all. and,
secondly, because there is no means
tof communication between the occupa-
( tions-Gebiet and the Etappen-Ge-
bet. ....
Transportation everywhere in Bel
| gimu is difficult, the vicinal railways
scarcely operating any more because
! of the lack OF oil, while all the horses
! have been taken. The people who are
forced to go. from one village to, an
other must do so on foOr or in vans
drawn by the few miserable. horses
that are left. The wagons OF the brew
cries, the one institution that the Ger
mans have respected, are hauled by
! oxen" .r....
The well-known tendency Of sensa-
tional reports to exaggerate them.
selves. Whitlock points out, gives &C.
casion for great prudence in believ-
| ing rumor, but he adIs That even II
a modicum Of all that is told is true
there still remains enough to stamp
this deed as one of the foulest that
history records. ,.
Then he adds:
81 am constantly in receipt OF re-
ports from all over Belgium that tend
\ to bear out the stories one constantly
hears Of brutality and cruelty. A mum
Der of men sent back to Mons are said
to be in dying condition, many OF
them tuSercular At Malines and Ant
werp returned men have died, theil
friends asserting that they have been
victims OF neglect and cruelty, OF cold
OF exposure and of hunger
Whitlock and the Spanish and
Dutch Minister'S protested against the
deportation Of men who were at work
already, because they clearly did not
come within the brutal German order
that all unemployed men should be
deported The Spanish Legation
lodged protests concerning abou
srv .len day and the Dutch about a.
high as 1900 Whitlock at that time
estimated that 100000 persons hat
oeen deported, of whom only 200
were returned
Eelgian burgomasiers asked Whit
lock 10 obtain permission to sent
packages of food to the deported, sim
liar to those sent to prisoners OF war
but, except in special instances, Thu
was refused.
Whitlock concludes his report a
, follows:
4 1nvN