Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-03-20

a regime become more and more alarm
Ing from the point Of view of the pub
lie health. tuberculosis has increased
by leaps and bounds; at Bruges the
number of cases has increased 1,OOC
per cent. All kinds of epidemies have
claimed numberless victims, especially
among children of two to ten years OF
age. Loss Of weight Is general. The
death rate has greatly increased. In
one week Antwerp reported 104 deaths
as against 81 births; Brussels SO
against II. In some localities the
death rate is three times the normal
rate.
Forced Labor.
! The deportations in condemning TO
slavery more than 100000 of our feI.
low-citizens, have still further added to
1 the general distress. Husbands have
been torn from their wives, and sons
from their mothers; courageous work
men refusing to allow the labor of thei.
hands to be used against their country.
have been beaten, subjected to treat
ment the horror of which surpasses
| anything that has been seen hereto
fore, and sent back dying, to their ma
tive village. Ten per cent have died
In Germany and many do not long sur
vive their return to Belgium.
In March, 1917, the kaiser promised
that the deportation to Germany would
cease, but the military authorities are
constantly carrying off men. who are
given hard work, often behind the
front. Information from camp in
Athus Luxemburg) shows that the
food was so insufficient that the num-
Der of those there put to work was
soon reduced to half. In spite of this,
the same amount of work was re-
quired, so that double task fell upon
those who survived. The sanitary
conditions in that camp are described
as horrible. Abuses are especially fire.
Quent in Flanders. Recalcitrants are
sent to dangerous work at the front.
Some of the men who have been requi-
sitioned try to escape. In such cases
the military authority imposes heavy
fines upon the communes from which
they come. arrests, in the streets, even
In the churches, men who are held as
hostages and after few days sent to
the front to replace those who escaped.
A man who leaves his home for any
reason is never sure of returning to 1t.
Relatives, women, old men and chill
dren are arrested in their houses and
imprisoned until the return of the fu-
gitives. AS disclosed from journals
taken from German prisoners and from
reports received through Holland, even
women and girls are forced to dig
trenches, to repair the roads, and to
do other military works. often under
the artillery fire. In Blankenberghe
and other places boys of twelve years
of age are placed at work of military
character.
Moral Sufferings and Endurance.
Successive attacks were and still are
being made upon the Belgian people
and its liberties. With impressive
unanimity the bishops. headed by Car
dlnal MERCER, the constituent bodies,
the nOtabilities of the political world.
without distinction of party, the magis-
tracy, the bar, the universities have
guided the public spirit. There is no
better witness to the bitterness of the
struggle than the sangHinary activ-
ity of the exceptional courts created
by the Germans to force the Belgians
TO obedience. German statistics show
that for one year only there had al
ready been more than 100000 convic-
tons. The judicial drama in which
Miss Cavell persisted is being constant
~ repeated, and not a week passes but
that patriots fall before the bullets of
firing squad. On one day at Client,
eighteen. of whom three were women,
were put to death The long list Of
martyrs includes hundreds Of names
from all classes of society. from all the
professions, from all ages. men, wOm-
en-, and even children. And il the ex-
ecutions have been by hundreds, the
imprisonments and penal deportations
have been by thousands.