The daily progressive-miner., 1917-02-08
WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC
 IN BLIGHTED BELGIUM M

The ECHO ue GdTiS puDliouSos III AtH
 edition of November 9th, 1916, the fol lowing interview of MT. H. Carton de
 Wiatt, the Belgian Minister of Justice concerning the removals, deportations and compulsory work imposed upon
 Belgian civilians by the high German
 authority:
 It is only too true, declared MT. Car
 ton de Wiatt, that the German au-
 thority is actually proceeding in Bel
 gium. throughout the whole military area, to veritable rallies of men which are a reproduction but on still lar ger scale of the crimes perpetrated
 a few months ago, under the pretence
 of agricultural labor to be done, in the invaded regions of France. About the
 middle of October, a decree bearing
 the signature of the Quartermaster
 General Von Sauberzweig, was posted
 in our Hainault and Flanders Con- munes. That decree stipulates that all
 persons who are ablebodied and who have recourse. themselves or their fam flies to "other peoples aid" may be for
 cibly compelled to work, even outside of their own domicile. The decree further states than any refusal to sub
 nit to this obligation shall be subject
 to a penalty of three years imprison- ment as a maximum, and fine of l0,- GOO marks, or to one or the other pen
 alty only.
 To fully realize the abominable character of such a compulsion it must be remembered that, owing to the departure of so many Belgians
 whom their military obligations have kept away from their homes for more
 than two years already and to the al most complete stand-still of our in- dustries and manufactures, one-third
 of our population are being assisted by the Relief Committee. The latter with the cooperation of the Belgian gov ernment and of the Allies and the in- tervention of both Spain and the Un- Iited States, are taking upon themselves an enormous obligation which, stricto jure. should be exclusively assumed by the occupying power.
 As soon as this notice had been duly
 posted, our fellow citizens whom the
 decree concerned were summoned in
 throngs at a time, in Courtrai, in Ghent in Bruges, in Termonde and in Alost
 and in several other localities, to the
 barracks, warehouses and empty mills and factories. Those who did not will lingly answer the summons were sci zed and arrested in their lodgings and forcibly conveyed to the official ren- dezyous. For the city of Ghent alone
 they numbered almost 5000 people,
 composed not only of workmen, un- employed or not, but also of numer- ous clerks and petty dealers and em- ployers They were all examined, looked over and manipulated, one after the other just as if they had been on a genuine slave market. The less TO-
 bust were eliminated and put aside.
 As to the rest, they were required to sign a document all printed in Ger
 man, by which they engaged themsel-
 yes to work under orders of the Ger
 man authorities. All the means of
 ordinary pressure were resorted to-; incarceration, threats, deprivation of freedom and food, and various other acts of brutality. They refused. In spite of their refusal they were carried off and deported towards unknown des-
 tinations. Every one of them was au-
 thorized to provide himself with a small bundle of clothing and a boring
 CT. The official notice giving them in- formation added, textually,- admirable l irony! Cash will be allowed to be
 taken also"